City Hall, taxes, CalPERS | The Sacramento Bee

City Hall is a mess

Re “Claims put City Hall’s culture in question” (Marcos Breton, Aug. 5): Why is the city of Sacramento paying for the inappropriate actions of Mayor Kevin Johnson and Councilman Allen Warren? This is not the first time our mayor has been accused of foul play. Now his buddy is in the same predicament. As Slim Pickens would ask: What in the wide world of sports is going on here?

Officials should know better

SIGN UP

Lost in the allegations that a local elected official may have used his power to coerce a subordinate to engage in unwanted sexual relations is a simple truth: Every person has the right to a work environment absent of harassment.

It matters less when the accuser gains the courage to fight back against their tormentor, or what procedure they execute to report it. It’s more important that government agencies and private institutions prioritize zero tolerance against such behaviors and make such actions terminable by those who would exploit others.

Victims of sexual harassment should feel unafraid to speak out against anyone who abuses them in such a manner. Our leaders would be wise to become champions of such a philosophy.

Get off taxation bandwagon

Re “‘Clear eyes’ on big projects” (Foon Rhee, Aug. 4): Foon Rhee’s discussion of tempering the city’s wish list with a dose of reality was excellent.

It would be refreshing to see our representatives – city, state and local – step back from the tax-and-spend bandwagon and think about those of us paying the bills.

CalPERS investments are solid

Re “Crane still an irritant to unions” (Dan Walters, Aug. 3): Sound the alarm: The largest public employee pension system, CalPERS, only made 2.4 percent on its investments last year, well under its 7.5 percent projection.

Wait a minute. The fund made 18.4 percent the previous year, an annual average of 10.7 percent during the past five years, and averaged 7.76 percent during the past 20 years, all above projections.

The fund has more than $300 billion and is considered healthy by pension fund analysts. Taxpayers provide only 21 percent of the funding for pensions for retired public servants, with the rest coming from employee contributions and investment returns. Pensions are not excessive. The average CalPERS pension is only $2,784 per month.

Maybe it’s time to stop complaining about the pensions of California’s working men and women who retire after dedicating their careers to public service.