On February 12, the Sacramento Bee's 'The State Worker' blog published a post about a letter to Meg Whitman that was penned by an anonymous DGS employee. Due to policy regarding anonymous submissions, the blog did not post the referenced letter. This is that letter:

September 28, 2009

Meg Whitman
20813 Stevens Creek Blvd.
Suite 150
Cupertino, CA 95014

Dear Ms. Whitman,

I’m writing regarding your remarks in announcing your candidacy for Governor of California. I am using my lunch hour (unpaid time) to clarify and correct some things stated by you. You stated that almost every state worker receives a merit pay increase every year until they reach the top of their pay scale and further ask how can that be. You further state that with “automatic” pay increases every year, there is no incentive for state worker to perform and managing performance is nearly impossible. You go on to say that you’ll reform government management and will crack down on the overly generous benefits of state employees and you are deadly serious about rooting out the waste of tax dollars.

As a state worker, I resent your mis-informed statements, as they reflect ignorance on your part, thus lacking creditability of your sources. Governmental Code Sections (GC) 19829 through 19837 specifically address your misstated comments for Bargaining Units 1, 3, 4,11, 14,15, 17, 20 and 21. I can only speak to these nine Bargaining Units, not for the remaining 12 within the State. The Department of Personnel Administration (DPA) is required to adhere to these Governmental Codes.

Additionally, there are many other GC that specifically address the establishment of performance standards, GC 19992, 19992.1 through 19992.3 and performance reports to be considered in salary increases and decreases, layoffs, transfers, demotions, dismissals and promotional examination as prescribed by DPA rule so your statements do not hold water and do not reflect complete or correct information. I would appreciate your acknowledgement and an apology for the bashing of state employees.

Before you put your foot in your mouth about “cracking down on the overly generous benefits of state employees”, you may want to research the average wages across all the various job classifications; from the custodians, educators, nurses, analysts, office workers, scientific technicians, food service workers in the prisons and so on. You would find that the average state employee’s salary is a little over $43,000 and has historically lacked significant pay raises in the last 15 years and does not keep up with inflation, nor the private sector salaries for like work. Upon retirement, the average employee gets to live on approximately 62 percent of his or her salary when research has identified that a person in retirement needs to receive 85 percent of their salary to live at today’s cost of living. Keep in mind with an average salary of $43,000, retirement is approximately $2666 per month, hardly an overly generous benefit for 25 years of service.  I would challenge your statement on the overly generous benefits of state employees as that takes place at the bargaining table with DPA representing the State. Our benefits should not be part of a political process.

I see you treating our fine state as a business, however the business of California is to provide services to the wonderful residents that we, as state servants, provide. My program was part of the line item veto by the existing Governor and will equal the clients we serve dying. My office had a Federal Grant that requires a State match that equates to General Fund dollars in order to qualify for the grant. The funds are gone for the match, which means we no longer meet the criteria for the Federal Grant. We have elimination of 22 positions and will revisit our “resources” in three months to eliminate more positions come the holidays.

Bottom line, the people we serve are the most frail, needy and disabled and this Governor cannot deal in the human toll for so many of our residents and shows no respect for his public servants that do the work for California and all its residents. Sounds as if you have that same disregard and don’t get me started on the decimation of our educational system. Never in my lifetime did I ever think I would see teachers being laid off and the fine programs being cut at the cost of our future; our young people. At this rate, none of our young people will be able to compete globally and will struggle all their lives to succeed in the world, let alone their neighborhoods. They will never become exemplary leaders because we didn’t respect them enough to provide the stellar education they deserve. This Governor was responsible for disregarding Proposition 98, voted in in 1988, securing General Funds for education and that went away this year, again hurting our young.

From my perspective, your vision for California is more hurtful for everyone and I see your legacy is totally detrimental for all of us. I see the lack of value and respect of all state workers and the work we do to keep California healthy, safe and strong. The Administration of this state has continued to hold the taxpayers hostage when the Legislative body continues to buy new luxury cars each year, along with gas with taxpayer’s dollars and pushing their own agenda with special interest monies. They get huge life time retirements and healthcare for serving only one term. They continue to receive double-digit pay raises when they clearly have performance issues in doing their jobs well and timely and no one holds them accountable, but this Governor threatens and carries out those threats against the state worker, using them as pawns in his political arena. Why not start at the top on down? Just my thoughts.

Respectfully submitted,