The Mayor; The Hypocrite

Did you happen to read the article January 18, 2011, on the Voice of San Diego, written by Liam Dillon, titled “Mayor: I Like My Pension Just Fine” ? Before you read further into this post you might want to take the time to read what the mayor had to say about his pension from the police department. When you finish, tell me if the word “HYPOCRITE” comes to mind.

The arrogance and hypocritical actions taken by this mayor are unconscionable. In the mayor’s State of the City address he said, “It’s clear that public employee pensions, which once brought order to government, are now a destabilizing force. They undermine public confidence, put assets at risk, and disrupt our ability to forecast costs. They are a vestige of a time when life spans were shorter, people stuck with one job, and city workers accepted less pay for greater security.” When asked by Dillon if he was still going to take his pension, the mayor said, “I am. I earned it over 26 years. I don’t feel guilty about that at all.” Hypocrite.

The mayor told Dillon pensions made sense when he retired as chief in 1999. His was legitimate he said, because he didn’t take any of the city’s controversial benefits, such as purchasing extra service time or entering into the DROP. Funny, since his taking a salary for his job as mayor and at the same time taking his retirement from the city is JUST LIKE participating in DROP. The only difference; he gets to spend BOTH of his at the same time where we all have to wait til we leave service. Hypocrite.

The arrogance of his comments is pathetic. He “earned” his retirement over 26 years. So tell me what the hell I have done for the past 32 years? I entered DROP, so I guess in some way I didn’t earn my retirement and am being given a gift? How pathetic he has become. Hypocrite.

Before the mayor was elected he knew the truth about city employee wages and benefits. He knew the truth about DROP; Retiree medical and how it came to exist; purchase of service credits; the retirement payment “pick-up” the city agreed to pay in-lieu of pay raises, and yet he jumped on the band wagon attacking these the moment he entered into the arena of politics. He openly said he would not get elected by telling the truth about these hot topic items. Hypocrite.

Fast forward to today and he continues the assault and refuses to tell the truth. The analysis of DROP has yet to be made public. Care to venture a guess why? Because, it did not come back in support of the many lies and half truths he and others have been spewing for the last seven years. If the study was made public, it would dispel all of the lies and arguments for eviscerating public employee wages and benefits. Hypocrite.

The saddest part of this is the toll on human lives and the complete disregard of this toll, by the mayor. His planned attack on retiree medical, next on his agenda, will again cause the exodus of hundreds of senior, experienced employees from the ranks of the department and other positions within the city’s employees. The unwillingness of the mayor to honor decades old promises and in the same breath say he earned his and is not apologetic for receiving them is criminal. Hypocrite.

Stand by folks, there is more to come from all of this. Contracts between the City of San Diego and its Employees are not worth the paper they are written on. The city attorney will find a loop hole or violation of the city’s charter to void anything agreed to and promised, in an attempt to excise the city from its promises to employees. The “pre-1986” employees who stand to lose the most in this next round will be the first to flee when the mayor eliminates retiree medical from their benefits. Stand by.