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Archive for the ‘House, Senate’ Category

Of ALEC, ‘ATM Piyush,’ smoking guns, corporatocracy and the resurrection of the spirit of ‘Network’ actor Peter Finch

Posted in ALEC, American Legislative Exchange Council, Governor's Office, House, Senate, Legislature, Legislators on April 19, 2012| 9 Comments »

The furtive presence of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) staff members in Louisiana prior to the opening of the 2012 legislative session taints every action of the legislature and every bill endorsed by the administration to this point.

More than that, it calls into question the values of every legislator who is either a member of ALEC or took money from ALEC corporate members, or both.

Heretofore, we have harrumphed and ranted at the direct influence on the agenda of the administration and certain legislators acting as proxy for Gov. Bobby Jindal and ALEC. The aura of ALEC was there but we could not prove it.

We knew, of course, that it had to be more than coincidence that key committees were stacked with members who had taken large contributions—some for the maximum amounts allowable under law—from ALEC or Jindal himself—or both.

We also knew it was more than coincidence that the spate of “reform” bills tracked similar bills filed in virtually every other Republican-controlled statehouse—from Wisconsin to Florida to New Mexico to Arizona to Ohio.

But we could never point to a particular bill or group of bills and say definitively that ALEC was the author or sponsor.

Yes, we knew that ALEC holds regular conclaves, conferences, seminars and annual meetings all over the country to draft legislation to spoon-feed legislators for them to dutifully take back home and regurgitate to their constituents in the name of “reform” and “good government.”

But we could only speculate openly and though such speculation was done with the confidence we were right, it was still speculation.

Until now.

Until Rep. Greg Cromer, the ALEC State Chairman for Louisiana since 2010, resigned from the organization in a huff on Tuesday.

His reason? “It has been brought to my attention that there have been meetings and/or activities with ALEC staff members within the state of Louisiana I have not been privy to,” he wrote in his resignation letter. “As a courtesy I believe I should have been notified as to any activities that ALEC staff were expected to participate in within the state of Louisiana.”

That’s it. ALEC reps met secretly with legislators to go over proposed legislation for the upcoming legislative session. And Cromer was left out.

A freelance writer reported that the meeting was between ALEC staffers, representatives of the conservative State Budget Solutions and the chairmen of the House and Senate retirement committees, Rep. Kevin Pearson (R-Slidell) and Sen. Elbert Guillory (D-Opelousas), respectively.

Not so, says Cromer through an intermediary; it was another meeting. But through that same spokesperson he refused, when asked, to identify which meeting it was that piqued him so—not because the meeting was held, mind you, but because he was not informed of the meeting…or invited.

Apparently a clandestine meeting is okay so long as the state ALEC chairman is included and not left out of the loop.

And therein lies the cotton-pickin’ rub, as ol’ Billy Wayne Shakespeare would say if he were around today.

But thanks to Rep. Cromer’s apparent inadvertent outing of ALEC when he alluded to that pre-session meeting of the minds, we now have conclusive evidence of the heavy hand of ALEC in the affairs of the State of Louisiana. The smoking gun, if you will. The ultimate consultant, working for corporate America to better the lives of all the Joe Sixpacks out there in the hinterlands of working class Louisiana.

Now that we know with certainty that ALEC staffers did indeed meet with legislators before the session, whoever those legislators may have been, we can now jump up onto the soap box and cry foul at the top of our collective lungs.

Every living, breathing soul in Louisiana should emulate the late actor Peter Finch in the movie Network and call his or her legislators and repeat that classic line: “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.”

Every living, breathing soul in Louisiana should then pose this question to their respective legislators, especially to those have accepted bribes…er, campaign money from ALEC and Jindal: “Why are you not putting the interests of your constituents ahead of those of Piyush ‘ATM’ Jindal and the corporatocracy of the American Legislative Exchange Council?”

And ask your legislators if they are so weak-willed that they cannot ask tough, intelligent questions or challenge the governor? Are they so inept and so disconnected with the people of this state that it has somehow become necessary to allow the corporate members of ALEC, many of whom do not even pay taxes (see Wednesday’s LouisianaVoice post), to determine which laws and policies are best for the State of Louisiana?

Ask them if things are really so muddled up in Baton Rouge that decisions affecting millions of lives in this state must now be made by a series of consultants at contract costs that are draining the state of dollars faster than any of the state pension unfunded accrued liabilities?

And finally, while you’re at it, demand that the legislature go back and undo everything it has done in the name of Piyush and ALEC. All ALEC/Jindal-sponsored bills that have been approved by committees, the House and the Senate should be proclaimed null and void by acclamation. Tell the legislators that everything they have done to this point is tainted by the stain and smell of ALEC.

Send emails, make phone calls and if they don’t respond, you go back, Jack…, and do it again. And again. Keep asking until you get an answer.

As things stand right now, every voter in this state should feel insulted, incensed and infuriated.

And every legislator who accepted ALEC or Piyush “ATM” Jindal money should be ashamed and humiliated and feel more than a little soiled.

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Notable Quotables (In their own words)

Posted in ALEC, American Legislative Exchange Council, House, Senate, Legislature, Legislators, Notable Quotables on April 18, 2012| 10 Comments »

“We are not and will not be defined by ideological special interests who would like to eliminate discourse that leads to economic vitality, jobs and fiscal stability for the states.”

–Ron Scheberle, Executive Director of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), in a press release lamenting what he described as a “coordinated and well-funded intimidation campaign against corporate members of ALEC.

“It has been brought to my attention that there have been meetings and/or activities with ALEC staff members within the state of Louisiana that I have not been privy to. As a courtesy I believe I should have been notified as to any activities that ALEC staff were expected to participate in within the state of Louisiana.”

–State Rep. Greg Cromer (R-Slidell), State ALEC Chairman since 2010, in his letter informing legislative colleagues of his resignation from ALEC in protest of his being left out of the loop in secret discussions between ALEC representatives and House and Senate Retirement Committee Chairmen Kevin Pearson (R-Slidell) and Elbert Guillory (D-Opelousas), respectively.

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First it was corporations bailing out; now the parade of Louisiana Legislators exiting ALEC membership begins

Posted in ALEC, American Legislative Exchange Council, Governor's Office, House, Senate, Legislature, Legislators, Taxes on April 18, 2012| 13 Comments »

At least one member of the Louisiana Legislature has seen enough of the inner workings of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

Even as ALEC Executive Director Ron Scheberle bemoans what he calls a “coordinated and well-funded intimidation campaign against corporate members of the organization,” State Rep. Greg Cromer (R-Slidell) has announced that he is resigning from the organization after serving as its State Chairman since 2010.

Cromer emailed his resignation on Tuesday to Laura Elliott, ALEC’s director of state programs

ALEC, by the way, has now officially abandoned social issues in favor of stressing economic programs as a result of national criticism of the “Stand Your Ground” law following national backlash over the shooting death of Travon Martin by a community watch volunteer.

ALEC, that crowning citadel of corporatocracy, extends its tentacles much further into the bowels of state legislatures than just the “Stand Your Ground” law in Florida that led to Martin’s shooting death.

More recently, it marshaled its forces behind the chairmen of the House and Senate retirement committees to plan an all-out assault on state employees’ retirement plans that opponents insist are unconstitutional.

A secret meeting with the two chairmen prompted Cromer to resign from ALEC in protest to being left out of the discussions.

The organization, comprised of some 300 major corporations and about a third of all state legislators in the U.S., writes legislation covering a multitude of issues. Those bills are then spoon-fed to the legislators to take back home and to push through their respective legislatures and state assemblies.

State Sen. Neil Riser (R-Columbia) for example, is pushing his bill to make it legal to carry firearms to school, to churches and on college campuses. That could be one of the last ALEC-sponsored social issues to be considered anywhere in the U.S.

As we have said here on numerous occasions, ALEC writes legislation to promote privatization of state programs such as health care, prisons, schools and other agencies. It also pushes the approval of school charters, school vouchers and a general reduction in the size of government.

ALEC also bestowed its coveted Thomas Jefferson Freedom Award for “outstanding public service” upon Gov. Bobby Jindal at last August’s annual meeting in New Orleans.

But one of its premier programs is its concerted effort to offer generous tax breaks to its corporate members which in turn creates budget crises like that being faced by the State of Louisiana today.

Tax breaks in Louisiana over the past five years have combined to cost the state $18.7 billion, according to figures provided by the Louisiana Department of Revenue.

That’s $400 million more than the $18.3 unfunded accrued liability (UAL) of the state’s four retirement systems.

The primary complaint of ALEC members is the high tax rate to which businesses are subjected—a tax rate that ALEC says drives many U.S. corporations overseas in search of friendlier business climates (read: cheap, sweatshop labor).

But just how severe is the tax burden to corporate America? Really?

To answer that, let’s restrict the results to ALEC members as we take a look at three things: profits and taxes from 2008-2010, and political contributions from 1989-2012. A minus sign under the column headed taxes signifies a tax return as opposed to taxes paid.

And just for fun, we’ll also throw in total tax subsidies enjoyed by a few cureent or immediate past members of ALEC

To borrow a phrase from a beer commercial, here we go:

• General Electric—$44 billion income, $4.7 billion tax refund (-11%), $8.4 billion in tax breaks, $21.2 million in campaign contributions;

• Eli Lilly—$10.6 billion income, $214 million paid in taxes (2%), $10 million in campaign contributions;

• Verizon—$27.8billion income, $951 million tax refund (-3%), $12.3 billion in tax breaks, $21 million in campaign contributions;

• AT&T—$32.2 billion income, $4.3 billion in taxes (13%), $14.5 billion in tax breaks, $48.2 million in campaign contributions;

• Boeing—$10.2 billion income, $75 million tax refund (-1%), $3.6 billion in tax breaks, $17.2 million in campaign contributions;

• Coca-Cola—$30.7 billion income, $1.7 billion in taxes (5%), $2.5 billion in tax breaks;

• Merck—$26.9 billion income, $1.4 billion in taxes (5%), $2.9 billion in tax breaks;

• Wal-Mart—$63.1 billion income, $15.7 billion in taxes (25%), $2.5 billion in tax breaks, $11 million in campaign contributions;

• Chevron—$93.6 billion income, $4.5 billion in taxes (5%), $12.2 million in campaign contributions;

• IBM—$54.6 billion income, $1 billion in taxes (3%), $8.3 billion in tax breaks;

• Altria Group—$15.4 billion income, $4.4 billion in taxes (29%), $25.8 million in campaign contributions;

• Dow Chemical—$4.5 billion income, $508 million tax refund (-11%).

Of the 12 corporations listed here, nine had tax rates of 5 percent or less. Only two, Altria and Wal-Mart had tax rates comparable to individual wage earners in America.

Even in the face of these figures, Scheberle insists on wringing his hands over the “coordinated and well-funded intimidation campaign” against corporate members of the organization.

“ALEC is an organization that supports pro-growth, pro-jobs policies and the vigorous exchange of ideas between the public and private sector to develop state-based solutions,” he said. “Today, we find ourselves the focus of a well-funded, expertly-coordinated intimidation campaign.

“Our members join ALEC because we connect state legislators with other state legislators and with job creators in their states,” he said. “They join because we support pro-business policies that promote innovation and spur local and national competitiveness. They’re ALEC members because they’re more interested in solutions than rhetoric.”

Apparently, they resign from ALEC for that same reason.

Cromer announced on Tuesday that he is resigning from the organization after learning that he was left out of the loop in a pre-session meeting between ALEC staff members and House Retirement Chairman Kevin Pearson (R-Slidell) and Senate Retirement Chairman Elbert Guillory (D-Opelousas).

“It has been brought to my attention that there have been meetings and/or activities with ALEC staff members within the state of Louisiana that I have not been privy to,” Cromer wrote in his resignation letter that went out as an email to key lawmakers and staffers.

Jeremy Alford, a Baton Rouge writer, said in New Orleans’ Gambit and The Independent of Lafayette:

“Representatives from ALEC and State Budget Solutions, a conservative-leaning non-profit, urged them (Pearson and Guillory) to model their attack plan after the successful (retirement) reform efforts launched in Utah in 2010. Legislators there moved the Utah system closer to defined contribution and hybrid plans. They also passed laws that changed how retirees can return to work.”

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Piyush up to political chicanery as SB51 omitted from Senate calendar on Tuesday; are contents being hidden from public?

Posted in ALEC, American Legislative Exchange Council, Governor's Office, House, Senate, Legislature, Legislators, Retirement, Transparency on April 17, 2012| 14 Comments »

Andy Griffith as Sheriff Andy Taylor on The Andy Griffith Show once drawled, “Ohhh, there’s mischief afoot. Yeah, mischief afoot.”

That well may be the case with Senate Bill 51 that raises the state employee retirement age.

First, a little background.

The Senate Retirement Committee was originally scheduled to meet Monday at 9:30 a.m. As opponents gathered in the committee room and overflowed into the hallway, however, word came down that the meeting would be delayed because of a lack of a quorum.

In contemporary American Politic, that normally translates to the administration does not have the necessary votes to get the bill out of committee.

But this committee was wrapped and packaged by Gov. Bobby Jindal, so that explanation wouldn’t seem to hold water. After all, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and Jindal had combined to contribute more than $102,000 to five of the seven committee members.

That fact alone should offer sufficient evidence that the fix was in. It’s already been shown to work for education bills and prison sales.

So, why the delay?

Apparently, there were some glitches with the bill despite assurances from the administration that provisions of the bill—and companion bills that change the final average compensation (SB47) and SB52 that increases most rank and file contributions by 3 percent—are constitutional.

For two hours committee members met with administrative officials to tweak SB51, coordinating retirement ages with time of service ostensibly so as to adversely affect as few state employees as possible.

In reality, the administration was drafting a more palatable substitute bill so as to neutralize criticism of Jindal’s retirement package by the Legislative Auditor and Gary Lawson of Strasburger Law Firm of Dallas. State Auditor Daryl Purpera retained the firm to conduct an analysis of the proposed retirement bills.

The Strasburger 38-page report opined that most of the retirement package would be ruled unconstitutional if subjected to a legal challenge.

Publicly, the administration pooh-poohed the Strasburger report but the two-hour delay Monday said proponents were having second thoughts.

Lawson, contacted as he prepared to return to Dallas, said he had no opportunity to review the substitute bill and the amendments before being called to testify in opposition to the bill.

“Nobody knows what’s in the bill,” he said, “least of all the committee members themselves.”

That didn’t stop committee members, heavily indebted to ALEC and Jindal for generous campaign contributions from one or both, from rubber-stamping their approval of the bill.

Then on Tuesday things began to take a strange turn on the Senate floor.

The Senate divides daily proceedings into the “Morning Hour,” and “Regular Order.” It is during the “Morning Hour” that Senate Secretary Glenn Koepp reads into the record the reports from each committee meeting of the day before.

This is the official report on which bills have been amended and moved favorably by the respective committees. Koepp also reads reports from several committees.

This is an important technical step in the process because it officially gets the bill out of committee and back on the Senate calendar. When this is done, the amendments are posted online. The amendments remained “proposed” until the following day when they are adopted by the body (in this case, the full Senate) and the bill is passed to Second Reading.

The report from the Retirement Committee, however, was not included during Tuesday’s “Morning Hour.”

Then, on Tuesday evening, after the Senate completed its calendar for the day, the body “reverted” to the “Morning Hour,” a normal procedure that allows Koepp to read communications from the House or from the governor.

It was at this point that Koepp suddenly read into the record the report from the Senate Retirement Committee from Monday. He reported SB33, SB47, SB52 and SB740, all “favorably as amended.”

SB51, the most controversial of the lot, the one that raises the retirement age to 67, was not among those reported by Koepp.

That means that the bill is technically still in committee and more importantly (and more ominously), it means that the substitute bill and its mystery amendments are still unavailable to the public.

More than 24 hours after the committee voted out a bill that not one member of the committee had read, the public still has no idea what the substitute bill is, what it says or what it does.

Frank Jobert, executive director of the Louisiana Retired Employees Association, expressed his puzzlement at the omission of SB51 in Koepp’s report.

“Perhaps they (the administration) don’t have the votes on the (Senate) floor,” he said. “I believe even the committee members don’t know what they voted for and are hesitant to go further down this road until they know what they passed out of committee merely to please the governor.”

Jobert added that he had heard that the 3 percent employee contribution increase might yet be ruled a tax or a fee by the Senate leadership “which could cause them to start over in the House or stymie the measure because it is a non-fiscal session. This remains to be seen.”

The Louisiana Constitution prohibits consideration of taxes in even-numbered years and last year, when Jindal attempted a similar move, then-House Speaker Jim Tucker said any increase in contributions imposed on state employees would constitute a tax.

Jindal has consistently rejected efforts to increase taxes—at least on his corporate supporters. He had no problem with forcing college tuition increases and apparently has no compunctions about imposing the 3 percent increase on employees’ contributions.

While the reasons for omitting SB51 from the report remain unclear, one thing is for certain: the action was intentional on the part of the administration.

The bill has to be made public at some point in time, so why the parliamentary chicanery? The only possible explanation is to keep the contents of the bill away from public scrutiny for another day or so in order to allow less time for opponents to react.

Jindal Communications Director Kyle Plotkin earlier Tuesday issued a statement about a fake Facebook posting in which someone impersonated the governor’s Deputy Chief of Staff Kristy Nichols as telling state employees, “We are watching you.”

In that statement, Plotkin said, “We have big challenges and need to have a substantive debate about the issues. These underhanded attacks distract from the issues. It’s unfortunate and surprising that someone would stoop this low to try and win.”

Substitute “tactics” for “attacks” and we couldn’t agree more.

Just another day in the Piyush transparent, ethical and accountable administration.

Michief afoot, indeed.

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Piyush Push continues with Senate Retirement Committee hearings today; will legislators man up to this governor?

Posted in ALEC, American Legislative Exchange Council, Governor's Office, House, Senate, Legislature, Legislators, Retirement on April 16, 2012| 11 Comments »

Now that Piyush Jindal has shoved the education reform bills down our throats with minimal time for debate and even less attempt at actually reading the bills, he is ready to turn his attention to his state retirement reform package.

First up are three bills by Sen. Elbert Guillory (D-Opelousas). Senate bills 51, 52 and 740 are scheduled to be heard by the Senate Retirement Committee, which Guillory chairs, beginning at 9 a.m. on Monday.

The bills may have Guillory’s name on them but make no mistake: they were written by corporate members of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and spoon-fed to Guillory to introduce at Jindal’s behest.

SB 51 would require rank and file state employees who are members of the Louisiana State Employees’ Retirement System (LASERS) to work until age 67 before being able to realize full retirement benefits. Those retiring before that age would receive sharply reduced benefits under terms of the bill.

SB 52 would require members of LASERS, who have not had a pay raise for three years, to contribute an additional 3 percent of their salaries. Originally, that increase was to have been offset by a corresponding reduction in the amount the state contributes. The money saved by the state would have gone into the state General Fund to help Jindal fill in a big hole anticipated in the state budget.

That would have meant that employees would not have realized any advantage either toward reducing the LASERS unfunded accrued liability (UAL) or in providing increased retirement benefits, thereby defining the increase as a tax—illegal during an even-number year’s legislative session.

Now, though Jindal, in his usual method of smoke and mirrors economics, says the 3 percent additional will go to pay down the UAL.

The really curious thing about Jindal’s incessant barking about the UAL is that LASERS presently has a UAL of $6.3 billion, only about a third of the total UAL of the four retirement systems–teachers ($10.8 billion), school employees ($863 million) and state police ($313 million), yet he continuously blathers as if the entire amount is the liability of LASERS alone.

Smoke and mirrors.

The governor soldiers on with his ALEC-inspired bills despite a report by the Dallas law firm Strasburger & Price which says that virtually all components of the retirement bills would be ruled unconstitutional if subjected to legal challenges—as they will most surely will be.

The report was commissioned by Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera.

Jindal dismissed the Strasburger report through his press lackeys, saying the analysis was conducted without a thorough read of the bills and that the 38-page analysis was done with no examination of case law.

It appears that the Strasburger report was the document that did not receive a thorough read—from the governor and his “brown shirts,” to borrow a term from Rep. Sam Jones (D-Franklin)—because the report specifically cited case law from 18 other states and a handful from right here in Louisiana as legal precedents.

Smoke and mirrors.

If Jindal’s bills are passed and somehow survive legal challenges (highly unlikely), we might brace ourselves for an attempt in his three-plus years left as governor (He is not going to be Romney’s veep, though there is a chance he may run for the U.S. Senate against Mary Landrieu) to reduce benefits for already retired state employees. We certainly would not put it past him.

Regardless of the legal outcome of the retirement bills, he will probably make another run at abolishing Civil Service as he did through Rep. John Schroeder (R-Covington) two years ago.

In contrast to Jindal’s slash and burn tactic of benevolent governance, the words of former Gov. Edwin Edwards come to mind. Quoted in the book Bad Bet on the Bayou by Tyler Bridges, Edwards, who grew up the son of a sharecropper, said, “I remember when government made it possible for electricity to be brought to my house.”

He was referring to President Franklin Roosevelt’s Rural Electrification Act of 1936, when Edwards was just nine.

“I remember when the government made it possible for a (school) bus to pick me up and drive me eight miles into town,” he continued. “I remember when government made it possible for me to eat a free hot lunch at school. I remember when government made books available to me that I otherwise would not have been able to have.”

If the governor pushes his retirement bills through, then the sins of Edwin Edwards will pale by comparison to the cumulative harmful effects of Jindal’s privatization of the Office of Risk Management, the Office of Group Benefits, Medicaid, his “reforms” to education and state employee retirement, his cutting of higher education, thereby forcing tuition increases, his granting of tax cuts to favored corporations, his allowing friendly former legislators to settle into do-nothing jobs at six-figure salaries (jobs for which they are woefully unqualified), and the sale of state prisons.

No matter what the shortcomings of Edwin W. Edwards, he never shafted teachers or state workers. For that matter, he never turned his back on Louisiana’s working citizens. Nor did he ever dodge a reporter’s questions or refuse an interview—claims Jindal could never make. When a reporter left a message for Gov. Edwards to return his or her call, it was Edwards, not some flunky, who personally returned the call.

But enough with the reminiscing; let’s turn our attention to the makeup of the respective House and Senate retirement committees and the key campaign contributions of the members of those two committees.

The heavy hand of ALEC is ever-present, as is that of Jindal himself.

Following are members of the Senate Retirement Committee and the contributions received from corporate members of ALEC and from Jindal’s own campaign fund:

• Guillory—$45,200 from Alec, $7500 from Jindal;

• Page Cortez (R-Lafayette), vice chairman—$2500 from Jindal;

• Conrad Appel (R-Metairie)—$2500 from Jindal;

• A.G. Crowe (R-Pearl River)—$4500 from ALEC, $2500 from Jindal;

• Gerald Long (R-Natchitoches)—$35,000 from ALEC, $2500 from Jindal;

• Barrow Peacock (R-Bossier City)—No contributions;

• Jonathan Perry (R-Kaplan)—No contributions.

Both Crowe and Long are members of ALEC.

Following are members of the House Retirement Committee and the contributions received from corporate members of ALEC and from Jindal’s campaign:

• Kevin Pearson (R-Slidell), chairman—$2500 from Jindal;

• Nick Lorusso (R-New Orleans), vice chairman—$6500 from ALEC;

• Anthony Ligi (R-Metairie)—$20,500 from ALEC, $5000 from Jindal;

• Jack Montoucet (D-Crowley)—$6000 from ALEC;

• Alan Seabaugh (R-Shreveport)—$11,750 from ALEC, $2500 from Jindal;

• Kirk Talbot (R-River Ridge)—$5000 from Jindal;

• Jeff Thompson (R-Bossier City)—No contributions;

• Paul Hollis (R-Covington)—No contributions;

• Sam Jones (D-Franklin)—No contributions;

• Edward Price (D-Gonzales)—No contributions;

• Eugene Reynolds (D-Minden)—No contributions.

Lorusso, Ligi, Montoucet, Seabaugh and Talbot are ALEC members.

One state employee said in a recent email to LouisianaVoice that Jindal’s proposed comprises on his retirement bills “are in no way acceptable.” The compromises, he said, “are still breaking a contract with state employees.”

Here is the rest of that email:

“Sometimes people forget that pensions are the sole source of retirement planning for many state employees. We receive no match on any IRAs we may be able to afford on our relative low salaries and we are not allowed to contribute to Social Security.

“I think some legislators need to be reminded that they do not answer to a political party, to a governor, or to their largest campaign contributors. They answer to the people, the taxpayers and the voters of this state. And contrary to what many legislators believe, state employees are, in fact, people, taxpayers and voters. We have the same financial obligations that private sector employees have, yet we are ‘solely’ asked to bear the burden of a historically irresponsible legislature.

The true measure of a society is how it treats the weakest among it. State employees are the weakest among all civil servants; therefore, we have been intentionally targeted. Our hands are tied by ridiculous civil service regulations that do not afford us the same opportunity as teachers or law enforcement officers to speak on issues that directly impact us. In addition, many state employees have been intimidated into thinking that they cannot speak out against these reforms for fear of retribution.

“This targeted approach is both abusive and discriminatory towards state workers. In my opinion, (legislators’) true character will be especially clear after this vote. While many of us are afraid to speak out, we can vote. We can sign a recall petition. So, please do not play unnecessary politics with the livelihoods of your constituents.”

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