Jim Miller, State Capitol reporter for the Press Enterprise, has an even-handed write-up on the condition of public employees in California. Much has been made of the three furlough days Governor Schwarzenegger has imposed on state workers, resulting in a 14% pay cut.  However, these folks still have a job.  Miller points out the following:

"The number of government employees in California fell from 2.52 million in July 2008 to 2.5 million in July 2009, a 0.9 percent drop, according to the California Economic Development Department.

By comparison, all non-agricultural salary employment fell 5.1 percent during that time. The state's unemployment rate was 11.9 percent, 13.9 percent in San Bernardino County and 14.7 percent in Riverside County."

Public employee unions have fought the furloughs, but have offered no other budgetary solution aside from raising taxes. Perhaps they should embrace reality and accede to necessary layoffs, such as the private sector has endured. (We all know the state could live without a few bureaucratic functions.) Compared to layoffs, furloughs simply spread the pain to all employees. Moreover, they retain the costs for the state. There is still overhead to pay in the luxurious public employee benefits and the pay cut is temporary, meaning better budget times will result in an immediate 14% increase in payroll expenses. For the unions, it means all members retain their jobs; hence, these employees stay in the union (providing greater strength in numbers) and the unions continue to collect union dues, filling their coffers.

People who advocate more spending, bigger government jobs, and higher taxes can’t see the forest for the trees. Cuts are painful. But the quicker government shrinks, the quicker the private sector will respond, which will create jobs for everyone – current public employees included.

Last week, the CSEA (CA State Employees Association) staged a protest at Assemblyman Cook's District Office in Yucaipa.  Key word "staged."  There's a video of their efforts on youtube, but we won't further their nonsense by linking it.

One of the CSEA's crack organizers claims, on video, that Cook was "hiding" from protestors. Hey, what a great soundbyte! Cook hides from protestors! Except it was Wednesday July 8. Even Cook's grandkids could probably tell you that he's in the State Capitol from Monday through Thursday on most weeks (including the week of the protest). Perhaps the CSEA should check with their expert legislative committee, or visit the official Assembly web page during non-work hours, to figure out the Assembly's schedule. More likely, the head mouthpiece was lying to rile up the crowd. (And according to District Office staffers, the CSEA knew Cook wasn't there.)

The protestors also shouted "Teach 'em or jail 'em!" Does anyone even know what that means? Jail the kids? For the record, as a professor at public universities, Cook was often frustrated by budget cuts or the occasional student, but he never wanted to jail his pupils. Call him a bleeding heart.

Cook was up in Sacramento doing his job that Wednesday, such as working on his legislation to help improve IHSS for seniors and disabled persons. All of this begs the question, shouldn't these protestors be at work? If the CSEA members have all of this time to spare for protests and money to spend on mailers going out to 40,000 of Cook's constituents, maybe the budget cuts aren't as harmful as they purport.

Everyone has a right to protest, including the CSEA. But let's be accurate and avoid lies when you're assailing someone, all in the name of your union.

- JPCstaff