The retiree benefits and obligations are the real budget killers for all states, even as younger state employees take pay cuts, mandatory furloughs, etc. Colorado employees are already on mando furlough days and will be getting much lower pay rates in the new contracts, but boomer retirees get to swim in cash and benefits, even when they move on to consulting and lobbying jobs.

 

Record this in your calenders, I'm in support of making the state unions suffer as the private sector unions have, at least with regards to retiree obligations.

 

The alternative to a vote is states declaring bankruptcy and leaving the retirees with nothing.

 

Greed F*N boomers.

 

In any other job,

any other person would/could be fired for just walking off their job because they just didn't feel like doing their job.

 

Here, we have elected officials,

elected by the people, to represent the people.

Elected officials who've now taken it upon themselves to bail on the people.

Boo hoo, you don't want to vote.... Isn't that why people put you in that office, to make these decisions?

If you feel you aren't up to your end of the contract/obligation, then what the hell says you still even deserve the position/office at alone, let alone the pay check that goes with it.

 

Question is: in states troubled by financial woes, and the desire to trim excess, useless fat out of budgets,

maybe those states should start by firing those elected officials who willfully opted to walk out on the very constituents who put them in office: if you don't want to do the job, even when it gets dirty,

you damn well don't deserve the pay (and perks) that go with it.

 

 

If elected officials can just storm off like some spoiled brat when they aren't getting their way, how can their constituents trust them to behave if/when they ever decide to come back?

 

 

 

Indeed. These scum should be canned on the spot. This flagrant rejection of the democratic process is simply disgusting and should be illegal.

 

The absentees should be tossed from office. They should also be levied a fine for obstructing the normal legislative process. 

In Indiana, the State Constitution allows for punishing "disorderly behavior". In addition the State House rules require all members to be present unless their absence been excused by the Speaker of the house or they are sick or unavoidably detained.  If they filibuster, they are at least obeying the rules, by leaving the state they have violated them and they should be punished. Currently, to add insult, the fugitive Democrat house members are actually being paid while they're out of the state.  In the meantime, bills are expiring due to their time deadlines. Some 21 bills may be killed by this. The dems are blackmailing the republicans by saying they'll only return if all the bills they don't like are killed first.

 

In effect, the Democrats in Indiana now essentially claim the minority has the right to use this to kill any bills they want - call it an extra-constitutional veto. Think about it for a moment. This is likely to be the standard actions in the future by both parties. The legislative process has effectively been destroyed in Indiana, and perhaps in Wisconsin as well.

 

Incidently, in Wisconsin, the issue was minor financial cutbacks for government unions and the loss of some - but not all - collective bargaining rights. Indiana on the other hand is trying to pass Right To Work - wherein an employee may not be forced to join a union or pay dues to it.  In neither state to do the union mind that they are demanding government support their right / privilege at the expense of taking freedom from others.

 

This brilliant picture sums it all up: