San Diego Union Tribune
A proposed ballot measure by Mayor Jerry Sanders and City Councilman Kevin Faulconer would alter San Diego’s pension system in profound ways that they say would save a projected $1.6 billion for taxpayers over the next three decades. The measure calls for the most strict cap on public-safety pensions among the state’s largest cities, a switch to a 401(k) for new hires in all other city jobs and a cap on the city’s overall payroll for five years.
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina on Tuesday endorsed an initiative aimed at the November ballot that is designed to curb the political power of public employees unions. “Today, public employees unions do far more than simply advocate for fair pay or safe working conditions or equal rights from their employers,” the former Hewlett-Packard CEO said in a speech to the Fairbanks Republican Women Federated. “They have become the costly backbone of special interest politics in this state and the nation.”
California voters will have the opportunity in June to replace partisan primaries with a system in which candidates of all parties will be listed on the same ballot and the top two vote-getters would advance to the general election, regardless of party. Proposition 14 was placed on the ballot at the insistence of state Sen. Abel Maldonado, a Santa Maria Republican who extracted the concession from reluctant legislators in exchange for his decisive vote to pass the budget last year. If the measure is approved, it would take effect for the 2012 elections.
A decision on whether to give San Diego voters the option of making the strong-mayor form of government permanent has been delayed. The City Council’s 6-2 vote yesterday fell along party lines, with Democrats supporting a delay and Republicans wanting to put it on the June 8 ballot. The delay was sought by Councilwoman Donna Frye, who opposes the strong-mayor form of government. Voters temporarily created the government structure by approving Proposition F in 2004.
Five of the six budget measures on California’s special election ballot yesterday failed to get enough votes to pass. The measures were pushed by governor Arnold Schwarzenegger as a fix to the state’s budget woes. Only measure 1F, which prevents state officials from getting pay increases during bad economic times, passed.