Pension reform advocates want measure on ballot
By Joe Rodriguez, San Jose Mercury News
A pension reform coalition that includes former San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed unveiled a pair of statewide ballot measures Monday to rein in retirement benefits for government employees.
The coalition, spearheaded by Reed and former San Diego City Councilman Carl DeMaio, wrote two propositions to improve its chances of winning a long-running battle with state Attorney General Kamala Harris, whose office is in charge of writing the titles and summaries of statewide ballot measures. The campaign plans to place only one measure on the November 2016 ballot after seeing how the attorney general summarizes them.
The coalition claims the Attorney General’s Office penned unfair summaries of previous measures it proposed because Harris, a Democrat, enjoys the political support of labor unions. Harris’ office denies this allegation.