If you are a fiscal conservative, Monday May 1, 2017 will forever be known as Bloody Monday in the Texas Senate.
Never let it be said that Dan Patrick cannot move legislation. If you have a bill that makes multi-millionaires out of City of Houston employees and is promoted by the most fiscally liberal mayor in our lifetime, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick is your guy. All of the campaign contributions from HPOU finally paid off like a slot machine making the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the Houston Police Officers’ Union (HPOU) the kings of the Texas Senate. The faux conservative gig is up. Yesterday, Dan cashed in his conservative bona fides for Sylvester Turner and his big union buddies.
Lieutenant Dan was not alone in wrecking the finances of the City of Houston – he had 
accomplices. There is always Senator Joan Huffman who never fails to demonstrate her liberalism when it counts. Senator Huffman waived to all the Houston police officers in the gallery as she lined their deferred retirement option plan (DROP) accounts with her vote.
It is no secret that Sylvester Turner intends to lift the property tax cap in order to pay for all of this nonsense. When Turner lifts the tax cap, please send a love note to Lieutenant Dan for the pension Napalm bomb. We supposedly have a “conservative” legislature; however, Lieutenant Dan cannot make things happen on conservative issues like education and property tax reform. Lieutenant Dan should not captain a shrimp boat let alone preside over the Texas Senate.
Allen Blakemore, Lieutenant Dan’s political consultant, proudly displays on his website that he has also served as a consultant for HPOU. Finally, HPOU and SEIU’s political contributions to Dan, Joe Straus, and House Pension Committee Chair Dan Flynn have paid off like a million dollar slot machine.
The Greater Houston Partnership (GHP) and C Club joined in on Lieutenant Dan’s corruption of Houston finances. Both GHP and the C Club were somehow allowed to represent Houston taxpayers in the pension bill negotiation. This is like sending Bill Clinton to chaperone Miss USA contestants. I wonder if C Club member and Greater Houston Partnership Infrastructure Chairman Jim Dannenbaum participated in these negotiations. Or was he too busy dealing with the FBI?
Fiscally conservative Houstonians are without a voice in our Texas Legislature. As usual, Houston taxpayers are left holding the bag for the worst piece of legislation to come out of Austin in years. It is a sad day for Houston.
If it’s any consolation, my retirement with HFD just got cut at least 40{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986}, provided this bill becomes a law (which I presume it will). Oh, and Joan even managed to change to ensure that if I leave now, I will get 0{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of any city contribution over the last 8 years, and 0{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of the returns made off my principle contribution. Thanks Republicans, the party of crony capitalists.
That being said, I think this was well put from a a guy in his mid to late 40 years after serving in the USMC and then the fire service for nearly 20 years:
“I love my profession and the men and women I work with and the citizens I serve. However, I will happily walk away from this City after the way we have been treated over the course of my career. I have never seen such callous disregard for employees welfare and sacrifice… I have the highest respect for our brothers and sisters in Blue, but they chose to eat their young a few years ago and now we are paying the balance…”
Jack,
We have disagreed over the years but I will give you this. The firefighters were treated very unfairly in this process. I say this because you guys were the financially responsible adults in this process. I also believe you were picked on because you were the smaller of the two public safety unions. The firefighters have been nothing but respectful, professional, and articulate in this process. You guys deserve much better.
“I love my neighbors and the men and women I work with and the citizens I live with. However, I will happily walk away from this City after the way we have been treated over the course of my existence. I have never seen such callous disregard for taxpayer’s welfare and sacrifice… I have the highest respect for our brothers and sisters but they chose to eat their young a few years ago and now I am leaving”
That too. What’s your point ? I might be too dense at this point to draw out your implication.
My implication is people are expecting something from nothing. Public employees have locked arms across the nation as their unions sold them on the scheme to vote for liberals that promised them things they did not adequately fund. Detroit didn’t die overnight and neither will Houston or Dallas. Cities bankrupted by public pensions will just become less livable as funds for the day to day maintenance of our infrastructure are diverted to pay for people to retire to the hill country in their fifties.
To think people not yet born are expected to pay your pensions seems to be an apt description of eating your young.
Right. I agree in the general sense, but that’s why the FD (which probably votes 90{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} Republican FYI) demanded the city meet its annual ARC every year and accepted salaries 30-40{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} below PD.
I interact with HPD several times a day at work. I’ve mostly had good experiences with them and respect their work. However, I don’t appreciate their shit comments about “you were going to f***ed at some point by someone. We might as well benefit.”
I suppose it was foolhardy to think Joan Huffman et. al wouldn’t help Sly raid our deferred compensation.
From what I’ve read I believe the FD should be able to keep their fund intact and take complete ownership of it. And release the city of any further participation in your retirement fund other than to match some contributions at some rate to be determined.
The police and muni funds need the Kline-Miller/Sarbanes-Oxley type resolution. Holding the people responsible for the shortage seems appropriate as well but we all know that won’t happen.
Putting any faith in any politician has proven to be a losers gambit hasn’t it?
I think your last statement is what motivated the firefighter’s strategy from the beginning. The state legislature enshrined in state statutes the special pensions would always receive the actuarially required contribution from the municipality. The cops and muni rolled the dice (knowing the odds were TERRIBLE), ceeded this governance to the city in the form of “meet and confer”, and garnered serious raises.
The firefighters didn’t trust the local politicians. Our big mistake was thinking the state legislators would be any better.
Naive indeed.
The statement regarding the police eating their young stems from those near the end of their careers in the early 2000’s. They negotiated large pay raises in lock step with a pension system that allowed for pension calculations based off 1 paycheck, and in return they agreed to cut the benefits for new hires. Some including CO Bradford inflated their monthly pension by several thousand dollars literally in the last few weeks of their careers.
What’s the difference between what those guys did and what a thug off the street taking your wallet with a gun in your face? Those guys did it with the help of a pen, paper, and politicians.
it’s a damn shame this kind of information only shows up on a blog but at least it shows up somewhere
Will Mayor Sly and his rubber stamping lackeys (including one who should surely know better) at the horseshoe table move ahead with more bonds ahead of any requirement for a vote?
Will Sly sell rev cap repeal with a promise of ‘jobs, jobs, jobs’, as Bill White sold his bogus rev cap some years ago?
Will Sly tie a rev cap repeal to a bond issue?
Will productive Houstonians vote with feet ahead of the debacle?
Do any but Big Jolly readers even care a whit?
I think it may have had more impact if one name was changed, from this “This is like sending Bill Clinton to chaperone Miss USA contestants.,” to This is like sending “Donald J. Trump” to chaperone Miss USA contestants.
That would be Kuffner’s blog, this is Big Jolly;-)
Truth is truth no matter where it is published. But I understand the game that is played.
Actually, you don’t. You persist in trying to be the guy who wants to talk about sports while watching a ballet. People have repeatedly pointed out to you that this blog is about local and state politics and yet you persist, like some annoying kid brother, in trying to interject your comments about national politics.
Is it that you just can’t find a website to discuss national issues, or do you just enjoy being the bratty kid in the house?
Fat, I don’t know why some Republicans feel that if they create a reality it some how it becomes true.
https://bigjolly.com/police-shooting-displays-sharp-difference-trump-obama/
https://bigjolly.com/about-wiretaps/
https://bigjollypolitics.com/oranizing-for-action-the-plot-thickens/
https://bigjolly.com/obama-or-romney-prediction-time/
Those are just a few national, Fred.
However, I changed a name, from Clinton to Trump, they are both national in nature so why not look at that?
We have a lunatic at the helm of our ship and most Republicans are pretending there is nothing wrong with the Captain.
For some reasons some of my comments do not seem to post, they meet the guide lines. I understand censorship when one wants to hide the truth.
Let me point out that I did not originate the “National Politics” the author did when he used Clinton.
Neither,
No one is censoring you. When you post a comment with more than 2 links in it, it automatically moves to moderation. Believe it or not, we aren’t sitting here 24 hours a day waiting breathlessly to approve comments.
From my understanding…..the Mayor can issue a public pension bond right now without a vote. To make the Senators and Reps feel better they added the “public vote” language. So that it appears that the public will have a vote. However they will not. Because the Mayor can issue a POB without the public vote until the confirm date of this bill. The issue between the HPD and Muni funds can be settled in Houston with meet and confer. But….. to get to Fire Pension they have to go to the legislators. To get the bond the Mayor has to have a repayment plan. It just so happens that the 40{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} pension cut to HFD totals almost 1bil. Our leaders have failed us. They used the system in a irresponsible manner. Shame on them. Voters need to be ready to vote. Republicans or Democrats should never have that much control.
How many times do fiscal conservatives have to be slapped down by Republicans at the local, state and national levels to realize they will never represent our interests? First, my former City Councilmember Brenda Stardig refused my neighbors’ and my pleas to oppose Mayer Parker’s plan to redistrict my neighborhood into a permanently Democratic district represented by Ellen Cohen, now Congress is refusing to fully repeal Obamacare and planning to pass a $1 trillion “Omnibust” spending bill that looks no different than spending under Pres. Obama, and now Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is sticking it to all Houston property taxpayers. Frankly, I’ve had enough. I’ve tried changing this party from both inside and outside and will no longer invest my time and money in a GOP that is it’s own worst enemy and betrays its most loyal voters.. However, I am willing to patiently grow something truly conservative from the ground up. If you’re also ready for a change like me, check out the Federalist Party at http://www.thefederalistparty.org . Definitely a strong contender for my time and money.
Millionairs? I’ve been retired since 2005 due to a line of duty injury. I can’t make ends meet without both myself and my wife working. Am I missing something here? I’m not looking for a hand out. I lived up to my part of our contract. My right arm is not what it used to be as a result, but now you want to whittle away at my pension? Really? Do contracts only apply if you’re not the government? This game has been played as far as I’m concerned. Now you want to change the rules. How is that justifiable?
The City of Houston has 600 people who make over 100k a year. Many of these people are police officers. The problem is a spending issue. You may need to take that up with the Mayor.
Not to be contentious but do you think that is out of line for a city as large as Houston, with over 21,000 employees? Using the Texas Tribune’s employee salary database, I found out how the highest paid employees worked for the fire department and their average salary was higher than the police too. I’m sure they earned every penny but I’m curious why you give them a pass while using the police as the bad guys? I’d think you’d focus more on the nameless bureaucrats throughout the city given your fiscal conservative status, the kind that come up with expensive programs to spend more money on.
Bill King’s op-ed points out the current pension deal is better than ever and he approves the numbers given the limits and fail safe provision for moving to a DC plan. Most of the Senate GOP were not just in favor of the bill but very in favor of it with a few others obsessing over minor issues. Voters get to vote on the bonds, city contributions are capped, and employees will be paid less so what’s not to like?
This is factually false. Police across the board is paid higher wages. The only conceivable ( and either misleading or being bad at thinking, on your part) explanation is you’re including all the medical directors as Fire Department personnel. So physicians who are undoubtedly being paid less than what they would if they were working in a clinical healthcare setting. The vast majority of those MDs don’t even actually work for the FD. They work in public health.
Jack, the top paid 14 employees for the entire city of Houston were the doctors assigned to HFD, each making a third of a million dollars each year. That is more than the mayor, city attorney, fire chief and anyone else so employed. The average salary with HFD was then the highest of any city department employing over 250 people, the average just under $62k a year while the cops averaged just over $60k a year.
https://salaries.texastribune.org/houston/departments/
I know you’re gun shy from various people attacking your compensation but if you read what I wrote, I clearly stated you earned every penny you made. I was just curious why Don was applying a double standard on your counterparts as well as the various politicians that are in agreement with the pending cuts, some getting a pass and others not. I profess no specific expertise in human resources other than hiring people for my business and some coursework back in the day. Still, less than 100 people with the police were making $100k and the same holds true with your department, neither of which qualifies as “many” to me. I applaud the work you do and wish the community was more supportive of paying you better, asking about arbitrary numbers put forth by Don or others helps me understand where they are coming from.
Peter D.,
I think this is more applicable to this conversation:
compared to:
Thank you David! While I still believe there are substantial differences between each department’s jobs, your chart does help illuminate direct pay. Now if you could do likewise with pension benefits, I think the comparison will open some eyes as to which gets the better deal, be sure to use two grids for the cops since over half their department is under the 2004 pension plan involving major concessions, their pending second round of cuts impacting the remaining employees under the old plan even more. Once city finances are restored, perhaps the possibility of paying both departments in line with other cities will increase though that will never happen for most municipal workers.
Peter D.,
I’ll leave that job to you. Or better yet, have Olivia do it.
Good luck!
Peter your board negotiated your pension bennies. You implicitly approve of that and accept it or you don’t and move on but comparing the pension plans to each other is useless since the argument is which is more funded and why that is.
The firemen advocated for more pension funding in exchange for the raises the police and muni employees were given in order not to stay as current. Choices were made by the people impacted.
I say give the groups what is available now and go to DC plans immediately. This crap of bankrupting cities for employee pensions is madness. Be gone with it!
Dan, I advocated for a DC plan, asking only why a double standard was being applied. Jack can dance and shuffle all he likes but the fact remains that without changes, his department has exceptional pensions compared to all other city workers, the Houston Chronicle chart showing just how much if you care to take a look.
You keep going back to the promises and I will keep going back to the reality. From the latest Chron piece by Rebecca Elliott I see similar 65{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} promises on typical salaries that show the police having a 20{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} higher salary. Whether its $60k or $51k that’s pretty rich to be able to collect for 25-30 years.
But the reality is the money isn’t there and I believe it is extremely stupid for a municipality to consider taking on debt to pay for pensions. That is all.
Those of us being asked to pay another 50{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} in property taxes to service this debt are looking at retirements with SS and whatever we have in our retirement plans to get by on. That would require the average Joe to have at $1mil saved plus annual household SS income of the max at about $24k to even make the $51 average the FF expects. And to get that max, Joe and his wife will need to work until age 69 to do even that.
Reality bites. Its best y’all chew on that morsel or you’ll choke.
Dan, debt is incurred when you don’t pay the bills as they come due. If you are advocating a pay as you go plan, you’ll be happy to note that the current proposal is designed to do just that, whittling down the existing debt owed over time. If you think Houston can jump back on Social Security now that most employees are no longer so covered, I’d like a cite proving it because three Senators have said no such provision exists. Or, if you feel that the city of Houston can simply cut pensions to something akin to a low grade 401k plan, see how that works without adjusting compensation when other places pay better. I don’t see HFD finding as qualified staffers if you cut their pay further, nor HPD for that matter. If that reality bites, run for office on a platform of less fire and police coverage and get back with us.
Well said, Don!
The pay gap is MUCH larger than the pay scale suggests. The police have been smarter than their fire counterparts in understanding the politics of compensation. No administration wants to acknowledge they give a department a large, across the board pay raise. As such, police have garnered much better incentive pays:
I have a MS degree HFD offers $92/bi weekly
HPD offers $240/bi weekly
For training level (as determined by the Texas Commission on Fire Protection – our regulatory agency) I would garner another $92 bi weekly
BUT I can only get education pay or training pay NOT both.
HPD can get both and in fact, my equivalent, if i were HPD would be $318/bi weekly.
($240 – $92) x 26 pay periods = $3848
$318 x 26 pay periods = $8268
So right off the bat, that’s $12k in annual pay that is NOT reflected on the aforementioned pay scales.
Oh yeah, PD works a 40 hour work week too.
On top of that, HPD and Muni get some of their college tuition reimbursed. I paid out of pocket for mine.
I don’t bring this up to main and complain about HPD having it better than us. I will only bring it up when someone tries to bat for HPD saying the FD has it good.
Don,
First, full disclosure. I support Lt. Governor Patrick. I was one of his volunteers in his original run for Texas state senator, and then again volunteered to help his run for lt. Gov. I did that based on being a listener to his radio show for several years and supporting most of his positions, invariably conservative positions, on the issues.
So it should be no surprise that I must respectfully question some of what you claim about Lt. Gov. Patrick. What exactly did Patrick do to “wreck the the finances of the city of Houston”? What did he do as lt. Gov to influence the pensions for Houston employees? What is the evidence to support these claims?
As for ‘cannot make things happen on conservative issues’ have you seen his Twitter timeline today? He is insisting that SB 6 (Texas privacy act, aka the bathroom bill) and SB (property tax relief) are ‘must pass’ bills for him, and he will go to special session if necessary to pass them. He is pushing the House to pass HB 21, that would provide a half-billion dollars for public schools. Please explain your article in light of this.
There must be some original articles or reports that you relied on to support your claims. What are those? Please provide links to those if you have them.
Regards,
Fred Reitman
Fred,
Dan Patrick knows me and if anything I wrote concerning the contributions from the HPOU or the facts in the article I am sure I or David Jennings would have heard from him or his political consultant Allen Blakemore. The fact he is carrying the water for Sylvester Turner in the Senate are not in dispute.
The billion dollar bond about to be sold to pay for the nonsense goes to pension benefits, not roads, libraries, or city infrastructure of any kind. What is it you would like a link to, or you think is inaccurate? You can click on my name and read all the other pension articles I have written. There are lots of links.
I can tell you I have spoken to the President of the HPOU who did not dispute a word of what I wrote. He did not like that I referenced the SEIU union. He knows they are poison.
Here is a link to a previous story I wrote about Lt. Dan that has some links in it. https://bigjolly.com/sen-dan-patrick-pappy-opatrick/