Judging from his recent TV ad, Sam Liccardo must be hoping that San Jose’s voters either have very short memories, or just moved into town yesterday. The ad shows mock politicians stuffing themselves at dinner while a voice accused the pols of piling up debt. But not to worry, the voice continues, smart Sam won’t leave our kids to pick up the tab.
What debt, one wonders, is Sam talking about? A huge chunk of the unfunded liabilities of the city’s pension plans came from the stock market collapse of 2008. San Jose’s elected officials can’t be held responsible for Wall Street’s recklessness. Some of the liabilities did come from increases in pension levels. Who was one of the politicians who voted for the increase? Then City Council member, now Mayor Chuck Reed, was the single pol that Sam praises in this very ad. And what about all that Redevelopment Agency debt that drained property tax revenue from the City’s general fund (the RDA took all property tax growth in its project areas.) Sam voted for those major mouthfuls time after time.
Then, the ad has the audacity to claim that Sam moved dollars to hire more cops. In fact, Sam voted for contract and budgets that drove hundreds of police officers out of San Jose. The number of officers in the city is dangerously low while crime levels escalate.
Think about it – a crippled police department, frighteningly slow police response times, crime getting worse and worse. That’s one heck of a tab that Sam has left for San Jose’s kids to confront as they simply try to find a safe place to play. Maybe, before Sam talks about how smart all of this is, he should talk to the worried parents throughout the city. He might learn something.
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