Let me begin by stating solidly that I generally appreciate public employees, particularly in law enforcement and teaching. However, and people should be firmly aware of this, in many ways public employees’ unions have taken over some of the important functions of county governments. How is that? Well, let me begin by telling you a story. Most every Thursday while I was a judge at the Santa Ana Courthouse, I played basketball at noon on the driveway leading to the downstairs Sheriff’s lock-up at the courthouse. So, one day when we were playing the Sheriff’s bus that transported the in-custody defendants went by us and one of the deputies that was playing with us pointed to the driver and told me that the driver was going to retire next month at 150 percent of his salary. When I asked how that could happen, the deputy said that the formula was that deputies could retire at 75 percent of their last year’s salary. Okay, I said, that seems fair, but how does this deputy get more. Because his supervisor is helping him by giving him as much overtime as he can handle during his last year, and that adds to his salary. Plus, he doesn’t take any vacation during his last year, so he is paid for that time not taken as well. So, by the time all of these additions are made, he gets 150 percent of his salary each year for the rest of his life! I view that as a fraud on the taxpayers! And other public employees’ unions do similar things for their members.
So how is that able to happen? Well, in most counties the decisions about how much county employees are paid are made by the members of the County Board of Supervisors. So, who cares more about who is elected to the Board than the public employees’ unions? In fact, I once saw a political cartoon showing a group of public employees happily singing “We elect our own bosses!” Thus, during elections for the Boards, the public employees’ unions will find candidates who are favorable to them and throw lots of money into their campaigns. So, if/when those candidates win, they will be indebted and provide their members with lots of favorable treatment. Why? Because if they don’t the unions not only will not support their re-election campaigns, they often will find and support their opponents. In fact, here in Orange County twice when a Board member actively called attention to these situations the unions actually were successful in funding and winning a recall election against each one of them. So, once again, I appreciate and support most public employees, but We the People must be aware of what is often happening with their financial compensation! Don’t forget, if that Great Liberal Leader President Franklin D. Roosevelt opposed having public employees’ unions – there must have been a reason!
Judge Jim Gray (Ret.)
(A quote from Dr. Milton Friedman: “If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five years there will be a shortage of sand.”)
Superior Court of Orange County, California, 2012 Libertarian Candidate for Vice President. Please listen to our radio show entitled All Rise! The Libertarian Way with Judge Jim Gray as we discuss timely issues and show how they will be addressed more beneficially by employing Libertarian values and approaches. The series has concluded, but you can still hear any edition On Demand at www.JudgeJimGray.com. And, by the way, these 2 Paragraphs columns are also on my website, as well as on Facebook and LinkedIn @judgejimgray, Twitter @judgejamesgray, and WordPress at judgejimgray.wordpress.com. Please visit these sites for past editions, and do your part to spread the word about the importance of Liberty. In addition, my new book with the same title as my radio show is now available at Amazon.com., as is my wife Grace’s and my new novel centered about School Choice entitled “2030 KIDS: We are the Rising Heroes of the Planet.” Please read and discuss them with your friends, and send in a review.