Public Safety Workers - ALEC's Next Target????

It is important to note – first and foremost – who wrote the article that I found this morning.

Jason Mercier is Director of the Center for Government Reform at Washington Policy Center. He serves on the Executive Committee of the American Legislative Exchange Council’s Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force and is the private sector chairman of ALEC’s Fiscal Federalism Working Group.

                                                                                                                      

It is also important to note the publish date of this article is November 29^th .

ALEC’s Summit is being held in DC, Nov 28 - 30.

   This article was published in Washington State.

   Mercier is most likely – almost positively – in attendance at the ALEC conference
        when this article was released - attending the ALEC Summit in DC.

Which could lead one to believe that this was a topic of concern at the ALEC Summit in DC and Mercier published it in Washington state to get it published - without connecting it to the ALEC Summit in DC.

I can envision him and his white ALEC cronies sitting around - smoking expensive cigars and drinking fine liquors at a lobbyist funded hospitality hour in DC - talking about how they can start to spread this new “fiscal” message.

Note the headline:

Average Pensions for State Patrol, Law Enforcement and Firefighters More Than Twice State Public Employee Average

In the article he notes this:

For future pension benefits, Washington should transition to a defined-contribution plan, similar to a 401(k), for new hires. These plans are now common in the private sector because they provide a retirement benefit for employees while helping companies accurately project future pension costs.

An ALEC report also released on November 29^th on their webpage notes:

ALEC Model Legislation

Defined Contribution Act

The defined-benefit model of retirement benefits for state and municipal employees is not fiscally sustainable. The ALEC Defined Contribution Act requires the legislature to direct the state retirement board to create and maintain a defined- contribution program in which all state and municipal employees will be automatically enrolled.

As I noted in last night's blog entry about ALEC new "Shiny Baubles" report

           2. Protecting Workers’ Retirements

          This section starts with this right wing lie

          Because lawmakers have overpromised and underfunded
          pensions for state employees, states are now facing trillions
          of dollars in underfunded pension costs and worker
          retirements have been put at risk.

          There was no “overpromising”!!!!!!  There were negotiated contracts!

          It was the guys on Wall Street that screwed the pension funds.

          Put the blame where it really belongs – WALL STREET.

          Their solution:

                     Ditch pensions and use 401k plans.

Coincidence?

There are no coincidences when it comes to ALEC.

Coincidence that the topic of this article is specifically public safety workers?

There are no coincidences when it comes to ALEC.

Coincidence that this article was published during the ALEC Summit in DC?

There are no coincidences when it comes to ALEC.

Coincidence that this article was released the same day the ALEC new report was released?

There are no coincidences when it comes to ALEC.

Coincidence that this article almost exactly mimics the report by ALEC published on the same day?

There are no coincidences when it comes to ALEC.

Again I ask:

Coincidence -  that the topic of this article is specifically -  public safety workers?

There are no coincidences when it comes to ALEC.

 

Teachers unions move over - 
ALEC has a new union to eviscerate  - 

Make room for your new company in the ALEC anti-union hellhole:

           State Patrol, Law Enforcement and Firefighters