Comments by cj138
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Posted on June 22 at 12:39 p.m.
Compare and contrast to the very rough treatment an Assistant to Janet Wolf got a couple of years ago (forced to resign). And it was for DUIs that had happened years before the staff member started work for the County.
A double standard is there.
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Posted on April 9 at 9:45 a.m.
Excellent points from the previous poster. The arrest rate seems low and the garbage seems to have made it off the beach. This is no reason for the public or the government to play "mom."
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Posted on April 7 at 12:10 p.m.
This Tea Party thing has been a gimmick from the start cooked up by conservative activists across the Country so IT IS a Liberal vs Conservative event and it is disingenuous to say otherwise. So why lie about it?
The Republican Party had absolute control over government for 6 of Bush’s 8 years where we went from surpluses achieved under Clinton to record deficits. Now we are supposed to believe these people suddenly care about deficit spending?
Many of those signs at the rally spoke to “tax fairness” or the idea that the poor of this Country don’t pay taxes (a lie, because they pay sales tax and other fees) as if this has just happened under Obama in the past three months. Why care about this now?
Many more of the signs talk about increased taxes on everyone when in reality it will be less than 1% of the population (those over $250,000 per year)… so again why the deception?
When conservative activists and their talking points actually address reality and truth, who knows, they may even earn enough credibility to be taken seriously.
Until then I’ll keep laughing.
Posted on February 27 at 9:47 p.m.
Pam:
It would seem like County salaries would be higher 3-5 years down the road, but they won't. There was a decline this year (agreed to by the unions related to SEIU) and there will be a decline next year as well. There were ups and downs in the past as well - that has kept gov't wages lower. This is a historical trend. I am disappointed no one from County HR has come on here to put up there own stats (but then they would be in danger of getting fired). I know that the health care benefits are much less than people would suspect.
The management issue is an important one. You say good managers are hard to find. Is this the response to why QAD's upper management gets paid significantly more than County managers? This is not picking on QAD, by the way, the private sector pays considerably more than government in most upper management. So we pay government managers less because... why? We want them to fail? Or is it because people in government are less deserving? These are sincere questions by the way not sarcasm or snark.
I like the deadweight solution. You should propose it to the BOS.
Posted on February 27 at 10:11 a.m.
The bottom line is that it is easy to hate government and taxes - nobody likes either. However, there is very little evidence that privatizing County government is going to lead to lower costs and taxes - certainly there will not be an increase in accountability (that ranks up there with unicorns).
I liked the Fire Department comparison in Chile. Most of Latin America pays less taxes and spends much less on things like infrastruture, education and public safety. Has anyone ever noticed a difference in those things (compared to us or Europe) while visiting? Sometimes you get what you pay for.
Chile's fire departments are also supported by mandatory public service (young people are required to join the military, police or fire for a limited amount of time). For that to work here we would have to inact the same requirement (an action I would strongly support).
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Posted on February 27 at 10:03 a.m.
Justice:
Well said. Both in the wrong. A shame only one will suffer.
"I will destroy you." - a quality quote from Jim Knell showing the new softer side of SIMA. I would have loved to hear what Mr. Knell was going to say without the positive influence of Ms. Ashkar.
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Posted on February 26 at 7:10 p.m.
Pam:
What does "a bit higher" come out to percentage wise? Essentially when compared QAD pays more in base salary and does not pay as much in retirement. What about health care on a year to year at QAD? I bet its worse than the gov't stats above.
The comparing jobs to jobs issue is also a good one. What would a departmental manager make in comparison to QAD or even the elected County Auditor-Controller or a County Supervisor make compared to someone like you? How about the County CEO? The mid-level jobs in the private sector do pay "a bit more" than government and the upper level jobs tend to pay "a lot more." But this really only applies to companies like QAD where the jobs are largely skilled and/or require a high level of education. Many private sector jobs in Santa Barbara pay a lot less and as Santa Barbara continues to bifurcate and the division between the classes widens this will become even more extreme and the stats you list above even less relavant for like to like comparisons.
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Posted on February 25 at 12:52 p.m.
Working Guy:
Some questions for you as well...
How do you privatize government functions and yet also increase transparency and accountability of these same functions?
I am curious because your comment would go against overwhelming past experience.
Also which functions should be privatized?
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Posted on February 25 at 12:49 p.m.
Pam:
Out of curiosity how would those stats compare to QAD?
I bet QAD comes out looking even worse than the County in salary and health care and wins on retirement.
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Posted on August 14 at 1:38 p.m.
For once I agree with JohnLocke - there is no real "debate" just mindless shouting. How can real discourse ever happen? The right doesn't want real discussion. They seem intent on shouting exagerrations and lies.
The past newscycle has been dominated by two stories from the right that have nothing to do with what would actually improve our government or society:
1. Obama is not American but actually Kenyan/Indonesian
2. Obama wants to establish "DEATH PANELS" filled with union leaders no less (probably gays and hollywood execs too) to kill off the sick and elderly
I have to say to the anti-reformers: Congratulations! You Won! I don't want to talk to you anymore.
On Shout Fest Over Health Care