POINTS TO PONDER
Issue 02-19
From Your Federation President
NARFE Members of California:
108th CONGRESS - As we (NARFE) begin a new battle with an essentially
new Congress, we find ourselves starting from scratch again on legislative issues that
were on the Legislative Agenda for the 107th Congress and two priority items,
Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), which
have been on the agenda for several years. These two issues, plus the Premium
Conversion issue, had more than enough cosponsors in the U.S. House of Representatives
to receive favorable votes, if they had been brought to the floor of Congress. However,
the Chairman of the Way's & Means Committee did not allow these Bills to come out of
committee.
Each of these Bills (Premium Conversion, GPO, WEP), which are NARFE's top priority
legislative issues, will be reintroduced in the 108th Congress as essentially the same bills,
but with a new bill number. As soon as new numbers are assigned, we (members of NARFE)
will be asked to again contact our local Representatives, and the two California Senators to
request their support of these bills by cosponsoring each. We will be asked to write,
telephone or visit our Congressmen and request their support of each bill.
Your Federation President, National Legislative Chair and members of chapters in
Congressional District 21, will continue to correspond with Bill Thomas, Chairman of the
Ways & Means Committee, in an attempt to persuade him to bring these bills on the floor
of Congress for a vote.
To refresh California members on NARFE's position on matters dealing with Congress,
and on how some people view federal employees and retirees, I'm providing the following
article which I read in the Colorado Federation February newsletter. The article starts as
a letter by John Austin to the Rocky Mountain News (do not know the title of Mr. Austin).
"Give federal workers only half a vote" is what John Austin of Denver wrote to the
Rocky Mountain News. "It seems very likely that the majority of ...[federal] employees...
belong or belonged to a union representing those in the government. Such unions have never,
with very few exceptions, supported conservative candidates. Furthermore, the majority of
government employees would never vote for anyone other than a liberal Democrat whose
primary goal is to pass legislation requiring higher taxes and bigger government at all levels."
He goes on to say that because of the large number of current and former federal employees
"The numbers [are] so heavily stacked against voters who do not support higher taxes and
ever bigger government, there seems to be no way out of this mess." To "level the playing
field" Austin suggests that "Anyone on the payroll of a local, state, or federal district or
government should have his or her vote counted as half of a vote in the congressional elections."
WOW! It is hard to believe that someone of apparent high stature in Colorado believes this
of federal folks.
To continue the article in the Colorado Federation newsletter, the Following is the NARFE
response by Dan Adcock, Assistant Legislative Director: "I am not sure what is worse with
John Austin's November 21 letter (Give Federal Workers Only Half a Vote): his suggestion
to diminish a fundamental civil right of fellow citizens because they might disagree with his
politics; or his misrepresentation of current and former federal employees as a monolithic
power of unionized liberal activists."
The 400,000 member National Association of Retired Federal Employees NARFE) is not a
union, but we work with federal and postal employee unions to ensure that those who served
their country for 20, 30, or more years receive the earned economic and health security in
retirement that was promised to them. We are nonpartisan and Americans of all political
stripes. Without consideration to party affiliation, our only criteria for supporting congressional
candidates is whether or not they support our efforts to ensure equity for federal annuitants and
employees. As a result, we support a significant number of candidates in both political parties."
"Additionally, characterizations of federal employees as lovers of big government and tax
increases are laughable. Federal employees and retirees have first hand experience of what
government can and can't do for its citizens. For that reason we, like other taxpaying Americans,
want better government, not bigger government."
Just wanted to pass on to you how we are perceived by some non-governmental folks.
Till Next Time....
Lea D. Zajac, Your California Federation President
Return to Start