State Employees and New Budget

In response to “The Budget That Everyone Still Hates,” editorial, July 18:

Your editorial focused on Gov. Pete Wilson’s assessment that the budget “represents fair and wise compromises.” You noted that disaffected Republicans felt betrayed, apparently at the imposition of a modest, less than 2%, tax increase on the rich.

The Times did not mention that the budget assumes a reduction of $800 million from state employee pay and benefits. It is the governor’s intention to implement the reductions through salary cuts, furloughs, benefit cuts and layoffs. To compliment this gouging of state salaries, the governor and the Legislature just raided $1.6 billion from public employee pension funds. To add insult to injury, the pension funds will not even be used to offset the cuts in state salaries, but rather to fund a $1.6-billion “reserve” to make Gov. Wilson look good.

The governor’s budget is grossly unfair in that the cuts of 15% to 20% of state salaries disproportionately place the greatest burden of solving the budget crisis on the backs of state employees. Although state salaries represent only a small fraction of the budget, only state employees are being “taxed” an additional 15% to 20% of their gross incomes, in addition to tax increases that all Californians must pay. The rich are clearly not being asked to suffer such pain and Gov. Wilson’s “Republican Guard” should not be heard to cry “betrayal.”

WILLIAM H. DAVIS JR., Deputy District Attorney, Criminal Appeals, Los Angeles