Posted by Michael, a resident of Livermore, on May 14, 2009 at 8:09 am

No Fear,

I agree 100% with the article but how does it change with all of politicans, government workers, teachers, firemen, policemen, county workers, city workers all get the same or similar plans? Arnold is just kicking the ball down the hall until he can get out of office and in the meantime we have all of these money issues while we are paying out these lavish pensions to people who retire at 50. Who and how does it change?

Posted by Bobby, a resident of the Del Prado neighborhood, on May 14, 2009 at 8:21 am

There is a good editorial in the Sacramento Bee today on the public employees who are making more than $100,000 per year in pensions. You can find it at: Web Link . They reference a website www.californiapensionreform.com where you can do a search by agency to see those making more than $100,000 in pensions. For Pleasanton, there are currently 22 retired Pleasanton personal making over $100,000 per year in pensions.

They are:

Search by First, Last or Full Name Search by Employer

CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO TOP 10 LIST

Name Monthly Annual Employer Name

TIMOTHY NEAL $14,035.34 $168,424.08 PLEASANTON

STEWART GARY $13,168.05 $158,016.60 PLEASANTON

SUSAN ROSSI $12,499.04 $149,988.48 PLEASANTON

GARY TOLLEFSON $11,854.06 $142,248.72 PLEASANTON

JOHN GOODWIN $11,482.71 $137,792.52 PLEASANTON

BRIAN SWIFT $10,523.83 $126,285.96 PLEASANTON

DAVID RADFORD $10,451.79 $125,421.48 PLEASANTON

THOMAS BRAMELL $10,361.76 $124,341.12 PLEASANTON

ERIC CARLSON $10,271.48 $123,257.76 PLEASANTON

WILLIAM EASTMAN $9,770.95 $117,251.40 PLEASANTON

JOSEPH BUCKOVIC $9,407.05 $112,884.60 PLEASANTON

MICHAEL STJOHN $9,275.80 $111,309.60 PLEASANTON

CHRISTOPHE DICKINSON $9,092.33 $109,107.96 PLEASANTON

SEAN CHAPMAN $8,856.90 $106,282.80 PLEASANTON

CARL COUSINEAU $8,821.74 $105,860.88 PLEASANTON

MAUREEN LAURENCE $8,780.15 $105,361.80 PLEASANTON

PAUL HELMS $8,691.66 $104,299.92 PLEASANTON

GREGORY WIXOM $8,593.63 $103,123.56 PLEASANTON

STEVEN ROSS $8,583.76 $103,005.12 PLEASANTON

PAUL MOLKENBUHR $8,555.76 $102,669.12 PLEASANTON

DONALD SAULSBURY $8,408.28 $100,899.36 PLEASANTON

WILLIAM HALVORSEN $8,382.22 $100,586.64 PLEASANTON

Posted by Think Critically, a member of the Harvest Park Middle School community, on May 14, 2009 at 9:06 am

Michael,

It looks like it has taken the complete meltdown of our system, at all levels, to get at least some of us interested in this very important issue.

There is no simple answer.

I anticipate real friction between those that work in the public sector and enjoy defined compensation, retirement and medical benefits verses the rest of us, who work in the private sector and have undefined compensation and benefits.

It's also instructive to note that some people are distracted by the extraordinary compensation and perks of "C" level executives at certain public and private businesses. MarketWatch has an interesting story today.

Here’s the link: Web Link

Abuses in the private sector are usually found out. Market forces tend to crush abuse. With our government, abuse is rarely crushed. Voters are reluctant to vote out abusers, especially when it’s on a state and national level. As a generalization, the American voter is ill informed, non-critical thinking, not understanding of long term impacts and loathe to hold elected and unelected bureaucrats accountable. In all fairness to us voters, most of us are busy working or finding work, raising families, paying taxes, etc.

Posted by Point a finger and three point back, a resident of the Bridle Creek neighborhood, on May 14, 2009 at 9:28 am

I wish we would all hold our elected representatives accountable.

For all of you who have year-over-year elected tax and spenders and voted for bond measure-after-bond measure and countless well intended (or not) dubious social welfare programs via our direct-democracy experiment called the ballot initiative process, I urge you to take a stop, take a look in the mirror and repeat after me: "I am directly responsible for this mess".

Posted by Michael, a resident of Livermore, on May 14, 2009 at 9:49 am

This is just a thought and I am not versed on this issue at all but would it be beneficial to get this on a state referendum? At the very least it would get the issue out in front of the public and force the legislature to do something. Can you imagine the public outcry when people who have lost their jobs, pay, and in some cases homes know that they are paying xxxxxxx annually out of the state for pension benefits for people who make over $100,000 per year in retirement starting in some cases at age 50 when the state is bankrupt and they have lost everything? How do we do this?

Posted by Pete, a resident of the Downtown neighborhood, on May 14, 2009 at 9:55 am

To Editor of Pleasanton Weekly,

The issue being discussed here is ongoing and keeps getting picked up as it is important and impacts all of us. Is there some way that Pleasanton Weekly can help make public this issue and also get it out to the wire services?