"Assembly Leaders Withdraw Staffers' Pay Hikes"

That was the next day's story L.A. Times headline following the Part 1 pay hike announcement. "Assembly leaders withdraw staffers' pay hikes; Speaker Karen Bass and minority leader Michael Villines acknowledge that the raises for 136 were ill-advised, given the state's budget crisis," by Patrick McGreevy, April 23, 2009, Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-govt-payraise23-2009apr23,0,4194428.story What a difference a day makes. The alarm clock went off and somebody finally woke up there. The comment and speculation in the story go beyond the simple observation that giving raises was the worst choice of actions under the current circumstances. And again, I remind you that these two, Karen Bass and Mike Villines are the leaders of their respective parties in state Assembly, so contrary to their actions, they cannot be complete idiots, but they are obviously capable of making idiotic decisions. And that demonstration alone should cause you to become vigilant as a voter and not eat up all that is spooned up for you by any politician without applying your own independent examination of what's there. You may soon discover more reasons to examine more things that they do "for the good of the public."

The story noted that the hopes for the politicians to have the voters approve their tax plans was damaged by this move. Bass made a few more comments that have her own way of interpreting things built in.

"I absolutely don't want the people who oppose public education to use this as some sort of club against the responsible, urgently needed ballot initiatives Californians will be voting on," Bass said at a Capitol news conference. She said she would not rule out future pay hikes.

When she says "people who oppose public education" she's way off base. The opposition to the idea of carrying a heavier tax burden does NOT in any way automatically mean anyone is against public education. Public education is a good thing, but it's not done very well, especially here in L.A. where it looks to be done poorly. The Bass comment reflects her own perception of persons with opposing viewpoints, and unless you agree here, then you are "against public education."

Secondly, Bass included for a description, "the responsible, urgently needed ballot initiatives..." and that's HER opinion. The ballot initiatives themselves are not "responsible" but are to remedy irresponsible spending by the legislature. The "urgently needed" part is BECAUSE of the financial hole that they have dug for California. Absolutely NO responsibility is ever taken by politicians for HOW things came to be. They only tell you how bad the situation is NOW, as if it was a surprise to everyone that it happened.

And, lastly, think for a moment about Bass's comment, "She said she would not rule out future pay hikes." Politicians, both appointed and elected, along with their staffs, go into public service nowadays without any real acknowledgment of the idea that they are supposed to be "Public Servants." As such, they are supposed to work for the good of the public above all else. You are not supposed to come away from such a job with the idea of achieving any accumulation of wealth, but many do have that objective in their mind and act on it. Expecting pay raises, especially in a very troubled economy, is wrong. If there is not enough money in that job as it is, then leave. There is no one FORCED to enter public service, and all go into it with their eyes wide open. If an easy payday is the real attitude held, it's and expectation that needs to be changed and automatic or large pay raises should not be assumed.

[Jon] Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn., also is suspicious that Bass did not rule out raises later this year.

"The implication of what the speaker said is that she will be open to the raises after the election," he said.

The story shows the attempt to be postive on the big error made. The tax measures on the next ballot (May 19) really are loaded with more taxes and deception that the legislators purposely put in to achieve their goal of approval of the tax measures. Giving them more money only allows them to waste more money as this "pay raise" choice of action was a sort of "Freudian slip" but in a non-verbal level of expression of the real nature of their thoughts.

Google searches of the topic will show you more of the same type of spin applied for all the governmental-side screw ups. The only thing that the legislators really work on is trying to figure out WHICH people they want to tax and HOW MUCH it will be.

And, that's at the state level. The city-level style of operation is about the same. It's hard to have a positive attitude about this, other than to try to reduce the amount of waste and self-indulgence undertaken by the persons paid to do a job and not let such things slip by unnoticed.

A private sector remedy for such things is "termination." The public sector remedy is different. It's usually only elections as your main opportunity to be heard- and they CAN be "fired" by NOT re-electing them. As too often seen, it's now becoming deception done as a cooperative effort of both parties as mentioned here with the ballot measures, and not telling you the truth. In that case, when elections do come, a concerted effort to NOT re-elect that party member can send the strongest message for changing their ways. Most politicians don't worry about it since it's not happened before, but only recently becoming used as a remedial device. They are so arrogant and in need of a reality check, courtesy of the voters. That attitude of theirs has got to change and it can be changed this way