The Back Story on Onnen's Absence

To truly understand my approach to Eric Onnen's absence from the last Goleta City Council meeting, one has to review what happened the week before when a vote for employee raises for City of Goleta workers took council to the midnight hour. While watching the meeting, it was clear that Onnen was keeping the meeting going unnecessarily with questions that did not pertain to government but were more suited to his extensive experience in the private sector. He brought up bonuses, for instance, which can't be given to public employees as it would be a gift of public funds. The meeting, it seemed, continued because he did not do his homework.

He and Bennett voted against two different proposals for 3% and then 2% the second year; and, also a 3% and 3% with a review of the retirement system at a later date....City of Goleta employees haven't seen a raise in two years while the cost of living has gone up 5.3%. Bennett, who got a great deal of support from one of the largest unions in the firefighters, couldn't see fit to support a raise either.

Let's do the math. $89,000 would have allowed city workers to get a fair and reasonable raise. Onnen motioned to support $100,000 a year for two years for Girsch Park. A very worthy cause but they had only asked for $75,000 each for two years. There's $50,000. Onnen also pushed for support of funds for the Chamber of Commerce -- whose all too cozy PAC shares many of the same officers as the Chamber itself. That's $40,000. I'm not saying the Chamber wouldn't use those fund well...but a back of the napkin calculation shows that where there is a will, there is a way.

The fastest route to an SEIU stronghold in the City of Goleta (with double the rabid editorials from her man at De la Guerra) is to deny them the basics of what they are due. Unions, as we know from the News-Press debacle, aren't formed unless they have to. Onnen needs to discern the difference between private enterprise and government and realize you can't get the best and the brightest in the same way. I guess I'll give him the benefit of the doubt -- but I have to wonder why he'd miss a major vote that will matter greatly in the next election, especially if city workers will now want to become a union shop.