Silicon Valley Leads the Way for Pension Reform

The California Republican Party suffered some significant setbacks in 2012.

For starters, the Republican Congressional Delegation lost four seats, including the resignation of David Dreier (San Dimas) and Jerry Lewis (Redlands). They represented the "dean and the done" of the California GOP.

Following Open Primaries and the Citizens Redistricting Commission, the reliably safe districts in the Inland Empire gave way to Democratic pickups. Moreover, Dan Lungren (Gold River) and Mary Bono Mack (Palm Springs) lost their seats to upstart Democratic challengers. 2014 can bring back the restoration and recovery that this state deserves. 2012 GOP US Senate candidate Elizabeth Emken has expressed interest in taking back Lungren's former seat. Mack may try her prowess once again to reclaim her seat, as she should.

There was some highlights, though, in the significant losses which the Democrats endured. The rude and uncouth Peter Stark (Alameda) lost his seat in a bitter contest with fellow Democrat Eric Swalwell, a Dubin councilmember. Lynn Woolsey of Marin Country resigned after twenty years of unchecked liberalism. In Southern California, Henry Waxman of Los Angeles faced a stiff Independent challenger, Bill Bloomfield of Manhattan Beach, who nearly toppled the former Oversight Committee chairman. Although Waxman squeaked to victory, he won reelection by the slimmest margin of his career. Other unsettling Democratic incumbents were pushed out of office, including Howard Berman of Valley Village, whose brother Michael Berman carved up the legislative districts for a fee and the fancy of willing legislators; and also Laura Richardson of Carson, who had been cited for frequent ethics violations, among her loose attitude with taxpayer dollars and the truth.

Another success story is breaking out in Santa Clara County, where pension reform has staggered the monolithic union interests in the Bay area. One article in The Atlantic outlined the horrendous consequences if San Jose resisted pension reform. If the city continued the same cuts and setbacks without institutional reforms, the city of one million residents would be reduced to 1,400 employees in 2014, an unsustainable and unacceptable number of civic employees for a large municipality. This trend would reduce the city's workforce  to one employee, who would be writing checks for the remaining force of retired workers.

In a 2012 referendum, 70 percent of San Jose residents demanded pension reform for the overwhelmed and underfunded liabilities debilitating the city, one of the largest and most liberal in the country. Despite the heavily Democratic sentiments in Santa Clara County, the reforms passed by huge margins, and the unions' attempted lawsuit to preempt the reforms also failed. The same lawyer, David Boies, who represented San Jose, now fights for the state of Rhode Island, whose pension obligations threaten to bankrupt the entire state.

The Silicon Valley GOP has stepped up its efforts, putting in place well-informed and integrated candidates for local office. The previous San Jose council, with a 6-5 pro-reform majority, nearly dissipated in the wave of union mailers, which were pressing for pro-union, anti-reform candidates. Fortunately, demonstrating the staying power and growing influence of the SVGOP, the pro-reform candidates won key elections, and the pro-reform phalanx of the San Jose council now tilts 7-4.

Newly-elected San Jose councilmember Republican Johnny Khamis, along with a pro-reform Democratic incumbent, are leading the fight against the greedy public sector union lobby, a threatened and threatening interest group which has at large hindered reforms and hastened the bankruptcy of three major California cities: Vallejo, Stockton, and San Bernardino. From San Diego to the San Jose, with cities in the Los Angeles South Bay all the way to Mammoth Lake, California voters are rising up against the incestuous marriage of the Democratic Party and public sector unionism, which is tying up our state's resources while chasing away businesses, jobs, and much needed revenue. 

The San Francisco Chronicle has recently reported on the California GOP convention in Sacramento, where House Rep majority whip Kevin McCarthy predicts that the California GOP will rise out of the ashes and toward a strong rebound in the Golden State. The growing diversity of Arab and Indian Americans in the GOP, along with strong outreach, will bring back the GOP brand of limited government and individual to California. The Bay area is ripe with opportunities for the Republican Party. California voters, and the Republican Party specifically, should starting learning from the Silicon Valley GOP, which is not only leading on pension reform, but has adapted a new strategy to reach out and step up in Democratic strongholds for local victories.