Senator Ted Lieu Joins Chorus Against Crane’s Regent Bid

Senator Ted W. Lieu (D-Torrance), Chair of the Labor and Industrial Relations Committee, today released the following statement regarding the confirmation of University of California Regent David Crane:

“I actively oppose the confirmation of David Crane as a UC Regent. I read Mr. Crane’s Op-Ed in the San Francisco Chronicle in which he argues for the elimination of collective bargaining for public sector employees. I cannot support someone for the powerful post of UC Regent who continues to perpetuate the myth that collective bargaining caused our state economic crisis and has a fundamental misunderstanding of how our state budget operates.

In his Op-Ed, titled “Should Public Employees Have Collective Bargaining”, Mr. Crane argues that because of collective bargaining, “general fund spending on higher education, parks and environmental protection was flat or lower.” As a matter of historical fact, that is false. Our general fund spending generally declined because of a national economic recession. The recession was not caused by collective bargaining or public sector unions, but by private sector, out of control Wall Street firms at the time.

The specific reason our general fund spending sharply declined was because the person Mr. Crane advised, former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, reduced the Vehicle License Fee and replaced it with . . . nothing. As a result, the state general fund lost over $5 to $6 billion in revenues per year for every year Mr. Schwarzenegger was in office. The VLF reduction has resulted in a total loss of over $30 billion to the state, an amount in excess of the current California budgetary shortfall. How conveniently Mr. Crane forgot to mention that critical fact when it doesn’t suit his ideological assault on public sector unions.

Now that Mr. Crane senses his confirmation may be in jeopardy, he attempts to marginalize his own Op-Ed by releasing a new statement saying he really didn’t mean to attack all public sector unions, just those who happen to have statutory civil service protections. For those in Ivory Towers that distinction may have some academic meaning, but for everyone else in the real world that is a distinction without a difference. Civil Service protections do not prevent employees from being terminated or laid off, they provide standards for government to follow when firing or disciplining employees. Such protections do not guarantee appropriate wages or benefits, nor address a plethora of other issues, such as workforce safety issues.

Mr. Crane’s Op-Ed also discusses political spending by public sector unions. In his world view, political spending by the California Teachers Association is inappropriate, but the massive political spending by the Koch Brothers would presumably be acceptable.
I cannot, and will not, support someone for the post of UC Regent who blames public sector employees, such as teachers, for somehow being responsible for our economic crisis or the resulting decline in general fund spending. We need UC Regents who are interested in solving problems, not those who twist historical facts to suit an ideological agenda.”

[ Source: The California Majority Report ]