Meeting Recap for October 8, 2012
It was advance-billed as a talk about pensions, but Ginger Rutland’s speech to Rotary Club of Sacramento Monday at the Woodlake Hotel turned out to be about two “P’s” (pensions and prisons) and a whole lot more.
Rutland, associate editor of the Sacramento Bee’s editorial page and daughter of the late Bill Rutland, a 38-year RCS member, was introduced by chair of the day Elfrena Foord. Rutland’s late mother, Eva, authored 20 books and several times was also an RCS guest speaker.
“I’m depressed by what I see,” said Rutland, who specializes in government and politics for the Bee. “If California were a ship at sea, the flag would be flying upside down—the international signal for distress—and people would be shouting ‘abandon ship!’”
Who is to blame for the sorry state of affairs?
“We can talk about greedy corporations, overreaching government unions and on and on,” she opined, “but actually, I blame us; you and me. For too many years now, we’ve been voting for feel-good solutions to complex issues and now we’ve got a state held together by chewing gum and duct tape.”
Is Proposition 30 the solution?
“It is a band aid at best,” says Rutland, who stated that she actually likes Prop. 38 better. “30 is another deeply flawed proposal, but the alternative is worse so I’m voting yes on 30 (and 38) and hoping like hell the people we elect will do something to really fix things.”
On the issue of prisons, Rutland reiterated the problems are our own fault.
“We voted for the three-strikes law in 1990. Back then the prison system accounted for about 3% of the state’s budget. Now it consumes 11.2% and one in every seven State employees is a prison guard. That is insane,” she continued. “I’m not soft on crime—far from it—but we simply cannot afford to have one of every 200 California adults locked up.”
When it comes to pensions, Rutland was equally adamant.
“We are witnessing the biggest inter-generational theft in history,” she said. “Baby boomers are stealing the future from their children and grandchildren. We simply can’t sustain a system that allows people to retire and 50 or 55 and immediately start receiving more in retirement income than they earned when they were working—and that is what is happening.”
What are the solutions to these problems? She had a couple of suggestions:
“We need smart, honest, experienced people in Sacramento,” said Rutland. “We used to have people in the legislature who were true experts on specific kinds of issues. Now, just when they begin to become experts, they have to leave. We need to get rid of term limits.
“Also, we need to limit the power of the public to enact measures that cost money” (e.g., limiting the use of ballot propositions).
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Rotarians were treated to a presentation by Greg Polo from Luther Burbank High School regarding how proceeds from Golf 4 Kids sustain their programs for the handicapped and President Peter Dannenfelser II reminded members it is time to put together foursomes for the Oct. 22 event.
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Ruth Blank provided the Thought for the Day and Dick Osen led the club in singing “America the Beautiful.” Community 1st Bank (Gretchen Eischen) again sponsored the pre-meeting wine reception and Dick Wertz provided piano music during the reception.