Democrats ran both the Senate and House when the economy crashed. Bush was little better than a Democrat in most of his policies, but even his administration warned of the coming housing loan crash 17 times. If you blame Republicans, you need to blame Barney Frank and many other Dems too.

Stop being so partisan and biased and tell the WHOLE truth.

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Will anyone even notice ? That is what scares government. That the public might someday realize that all the so called “services” are really not needed. Its all fluff. Its all hype.

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And the union answer is to go on strike to prevent any change. You cannot have it both ways either come into line with the income or we we go bankruptcy. If the union has any problem with this go work it out with your bought politicians who got us into this mess.

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You expect the same level of services, but are unwilling to pay. The definition of greed and welfare.

The PD should track the decline in government employment. EVERY job is a good job, because employed people spend money and support even those who lack the education and experience to qualify for a government job.

I’m so sorry you’re a loser, or writing from Mommy’s basement. I’m equally sorry you hate unions, who might improve your circumstances.

As I’ve suggested before, let’s contract out all government services to the lowest bidder. Already underway. What’s your problem with that?

Your medical care can come from the emergency room. Your paramedics can be paid minimum wage. Your cops can move to more reasonable places, and you can have minimum wage “security guards.”

You can pay directly for maintenence of your own roads. Full cost, every year.

You can close the courts and empty the jail. Convert it to a resort destination? A concrete B&B?

These issues did not exist before republicans crashed the economy.

Where is the personal responsibility?

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No Mam! I’m not buying it. I’m also not going to pass $1.5 BILLION in pension debt to
my children or grandchildren either. It’s time to be responsible for your own pensions like
the rest of us! We are not interested in paying you 100% of your wage and your inflated
benefits after your early retirement, regardless of the amount in the tax coffers.

Sonoma County using real numbers is the most debt ridden County is California. Its debt
per capita is worse than Greece. Hardworking taxpayers have no sympathy for the
entitlist attitudes. Going on strike is just another slap in the face for those of us that pay
your wage and illegally obtained benefits. You work for the taxpaying citizens, not vice
versa.

If I were a County Supervisor I would send out an email asking for voluntary staff
reduction to 24 hours a week starting the day of the proposed strike. Thereafter the
payroll checks would be reduced and pension benefits removed for the “Part Timers” who
volunteered.

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The only department in the county that is doing it right is the Family Support Department. They halved their management, increased their rank and file and are raking in the money. IT MAKES SENSE. Some county departments have 2 rank and file to each manager. This is deplorable and it costs the tax payers big time. The public needs to demand change at the top, not the bottom where SEIU employees are because the rank and file got hit in 2008 with layoffs and cuts while ALL management kept their jobs AND THEIR PERKS. I would recommend a State proposition requiring an 11 rank and file to 1 manager (11:1) then there would be plenty of funds for more county road crew employees to FILL IN THOSE POTHOLES

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Unions are a necessary component to a healthy capitalist system.

A capitalists only goal is profits and when practiced in it’s purest form, capitalism inevitably leads to abusive employee exploitation.

Unions are the solution to that problem.

But Government isn’t a capitalist system.

Government isn’t concerned with “profits” and therefore has no reason to exploit workers.

Any “abuse” or “exploitation” a Government worker may experience on the job is purely a mismanagement problem that can be resolved by existing laws and policies making Unions redundant at best.

As far as Unions “helping to drive up wage and benefits” in the public sector, that’s a very telling statement you make!

NOW you’re talking about “greed” aren’t you?!!

So I’m supposed to support Public Sector Unions so I can pay my mechanic twice what he’s worth to fix my car because that’s what the union forces my city to pay?

Thank you for helping me make my point!

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Note to union-haters: public sector unions help drive up wage and benefit standards in the private sector. That’s a good thing. The problem is not that county workers have such great jobs, it’s that the Wall Street consensus since Reagan has lowered standards in the private sector.

The strike is the key to the power to stand up to management. That’s why non-union workers keep getting less and less share of the pie, because they have no collective bargaining power. That’s Politics 101.

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While our community’s roads are deteriorating, parks going UNMAINTAINED, and county workers are laid off, management positions have been PROTECTED.

In fact, there are LESS than 6 line staff for each manager – and it is commonly accepted that there should be between 9and 11 line staff per manager.

Please go to the internet – just check out the states of Oregon and Texas – THEY cleaned up their government and provide MORE county and city services AT LESS MONEY. Oregon and Texas SHOWS waste of TAXPAYER money can be accomplished and MORE services provided.

Sonoma County CAN maintain, preserve and protect PUBLIC SERVICES through smart budget decisions. It CAN reform structural inefficiencies and invest in our ROADS, LIBRARIES, PUBLIC HEALTH, and LAW ENFORCEMENT.

In these tough economic times, I urge the Board of Supervisors of the County of Sonoma, to invest in OUR community by stopping the structural mismanagement.

Please visit http://WWW.FIXSONOMA.ORG

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I often find it odd that the “party of Lincoln” has abandoned it’s respect for working people, in favor of preference to the management class.

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Steveguy-I guess you didn’t read my post below regarding the hidden from the public negotiations with this refuse company on that 30 year contract. The PD does stories on what they want. They print the letters they want. SEIU has been in regular contact with the PD. SEIU has been whistle blowing for years and the PD has printed articles directly from management and the BOS. The strike is desperation because county employees tend to be a polite bunch. The BOS has again decided to balance their budget on the backs of the rank and file. 2008 taught the employees a lesson and they should have gone on strike then. Oh, and how do you think Deis got canned, oops, resigned along with the previous CAO and Amy Cooper’s (Amy is a gem and an asset to this county) previous boss? SEIU was protecting their members.

Ricardo Sorentino-you may have been right about the county employees pre 2008 but these “secure” jobs are being contracted out, wages have been cut, county workers are dropping their family members off insurance because of the high expense, and high paid managers are being added in place of the rank and file. The brunt of the 2008 budget losses came from the rank and file in layoffs while the management making the decision protected themselves, their income and ALL THEIR PERKS. Out of 570 county jobs lost in the last 10 years, 567 were rank and file and THREE were managers.

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We do. It’s called “elections” and we keep re-electing these people over & over again.

Why?

Because the unions can offer a candidate instant votes and “volunteers” to staff a campaign giving them the loudest voice in the election.

There is no way to “curtail” the influence a Union has on the people responsible for re-distributing our wealth.

It’s a rare case of a “black and white” political issue that has NO “gray area”.

The only solution is to Ban Public Employee Unions completely.

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The problem I have with the SEIU is that they are public employees. The bloated management will cave to the union and all will be fixed…EXCEPT the taxpayer will be on the hook for the agreement without ANY say as to the terms.

A private company can negotiate whatever they want and raise their prices to deal with it. We as consumers can choose to shop elsewhere if the prices are too high. This is the way the market should work. Management has no skin in the game when negotiating with public sector employees. The taxpayer, the one footing the bill, should have final say in all negotiations.

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Striking in this economy is a real slap in the face to people that have been unemployed or underemployed for months or even years.

With people like Lisa Maldonado at SEIU, should we expect anything different? Want, want, want… take, take take… let’s send all the upcoming strikers to a burger joint or a hotel and let them see first hand what real hard work for low part-time wages feels like. Having to work at that kind of pace, how many of these county workers would survive one pay period? After all, they would actually have to come to work and not be able to fall back on sick time, vacation time or comp time.

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I respect some or most counter folks that actually serve the public well, and I make sure to point out that they are getting a short end at times.

To me striking would be like biting the hands that feed you. The SEIU should be pro-active in reforming County services instead of protecting and supporting useless people in useless programs.

Encourage County employees to whistleblow to the Press Democrat. Of course they will need more than one disgruntled source, so you have to back it up. The Management positions are actually the ones that are stealing the honest worker’s benefits and pay through connections and incompetence. Make it easier to get rid of dead weight and get a real public service team going !

Oops, was that a dream ? Sorry, this forum is supposed to be non-fiction.

Ohh what a tangled web they wrought, supporting the politicians that reward the 1% over them. Heck, be a ‘consultant’ and grab a couple hundred thousand. Good money when you pay them off.

I do have a question for any “good” County employee, one that cares, is smart and does the best they can for the public.

What percent are like you ? What percent are bad ? Any good cop will say that at least 20% of policeman shouldn’t be there. Yes, 1/5.

Call a Grand Jury on the topic ? Let the Sun shine.

18  7

Rank and file employees know where their allegiance lies and that’s with the public. They are accountable to the public. Contractors ARE NOT, they just want to fill their pockets with profits.

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