by Dave Low

In their never-ending effort to force-feed warmed-over political ideas to a skeptical public, the pension attackers are back, using new poll-tested language and focus-grouped talking points to undermine retirement security for millions of working families.

Under the Orwellian moniker of the “Voter Empowerment Act,” former San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, former San Diego Councilman Carl DeMaio and their anti-pension cohorts are proposing nothing short of gutting the public employee pension system – one of the last bastions of middle-class economic security.

They are falsely selling their proposed ballot measure as a potential cut in pensions for new employees. In reality, it could cut or eliminate pensions earned by current employees for future work.

Whether it is a function of poor drafting or something more sinister at play, a careful reading of the proposal reveals its potential reach is far more extensive than its backers admit. This proposal attempts to eliminate state constitutional protections for current and future employees to receive the pension benefits they were promised when they were hired.

Read the full op-ed in the Sacramento Bee here.