Please read Logan Jenkins article in Sunday’s paper about the Vallecitos Water District Official, who when applying for this executive position, said he would not take the elevated pension, but at the end, took it.
If I apply for a job and lie about my qualifications and I am hired and my employer finds out I lied, I can be terminated (and justly so). So why should we pay an elevated pension to an employee who stated that he would not take this increased pension, but does?
Why doesn’t our government have any backbone? I can remember when a man’s word was good and a handshake was good too, but not anymore (I’m only 51 so that wasn’t that long ago). Why doesn’t our government fight for what is right? If it turns out that the water district and this employee had agreed to this elevated pension, then shame on the water district and they should be forced to pay the entire elevated pension instead of passing a large portion of it to you and me to pay. But what if the blame falls solely on the employee? Then I would consider it to be a breach of contract and this payment of the elevated pension should be voided, and if government had any backbone, they would fight for this breach of contract in court. It’s not until government gets some backbone and actual starts to actually fight for us, instead of talking tough and doing nothing (or very little) in the end, that we will actual start to see good change in government. But seeing how government likes to pass the buck (lack of fiscal responsibility and leadership), I doubt that will happen.
It doesn’t pay to be an honest employee anymore, however, I was brought up to be fair and honest with my dealings (thank you mom and dad), so I will continue to be honest, but apparently it’s going to hurt me in my pocket.