This story is from the Wall Street Journal, by way of RealClearPolitics.com. For me, it's an uplifting story about a Rhode Island democrat who got a significant pension reform bill through her state legislature in a blue state. The deal shifts all public workers from a defined-benefit system to hybrid plans which uncludes a modest annuity and a defined contribution component AND increases the retirement age from 62 to 67 AND suspends COLA increases until the pension system (currently at 50% funded) reaches a more sustainable level.
The democrat in question is a mother of 2, the state treasurer, and a venture capitalist to boot. How'd she do it? She hit the road, talking to people across her state and educating them about the problem. She went to the unions and told them they'd been lied to by prior politicans, and that the system is broken, and that the future of the entire pension system was in doubt. [This state is the one where the city of Central Falls went bankrupt and got a lot of press coverage about it. Many retired policemen and firemen there have had their pensions cut in half.]
She formed a 12-member committee to work out solutions, included the unions, accountants, and consultants. They met over a 3-month period and got it done. A lot of union members protested at the state assembly, but it was popular with the public and was passed overwhelmingly. 77 of the 94 democrats voted for it, perhaps fearing for their jobs if they didn't.
A democrat who saw the writing on the wall and did something about it without raising taxes. It is high time that cities, counties, and states across the country followed her example and fixed a growing problem that will eventually become a disaster for almost everybody. Educate the public, sit down at a table with every stakeholder being represented and find ways to make things better. Color me impressed with the democrats in Rhode Island.
RealClearPolitics - The Democrat Who Took on the Unions
The democrat in question is a mother of 2, the state treasurer, and a venture capitalist to boot. How'd she do it? She hit the road, talking to people across her state and educating them about the problem. She went to the unions and told them they'd been lied to by prior politicans, and that the system is broken, and that the future of the entire pension system was in doubt. [This state is the one where the city of Central Falls went bankrupt and got a lot of press coverage about it. Many retired policemen and firemen there have had their pensions cut in half.]
She formed a 12-member committee to work out solutions, included the unions, accountants, and consultants. They met over a 3-month period and got it done. A lot of union members protested at the state assembly, but it was popular with the public and was passed overwhelmingly. 77 of the 94 democrats voted for it, perhaps fearing for their jobs if they didn't.
A democrat who saw the writing on the wall and did something about it without raising taxes. It is high time that cities, counties, and states across the country followed her example and fixed a growing problem that will eventually become a disaster for almost everybody. Educate the public, sit down at a table with every stakeholder being represented and find ways to make things better. Color me impressed with the democrats in Rhode Island.
RealClearPolitics - The Democrat Who Took on the Unions
