Jerry Brown Confiscates 48,000 Cell Phones 738
Hugh Pickens writes "The Sacramento Bee reports that California Governor Jerry Brown, in his first executive order since taking office, has ordered the collection and return of 48,000 state government-paid cell phones — half of those now in use — by June 1. 'It is difficult for me to believe that 40 percent of all state employees must be equipped with taxpayer-funded cell phones,' says Brown in a written statement. 'Some state employees, including department and agency executives who are required to be in touch 24 hours a day and seven days a week, may need cell phones, but the current number of phones out there is astounding.' Brown's cell phone order directs state agency and department heads to retrieve the cell phones and the governor says he plans to continue reducing cell phone usage in months ahead. 'In the face of a multi-billion dollar budget deficit, a cell phone may not seem like a big expense,' adds Brown. 'But spending $20 million, and perhaps far more than that, on cell phones can't be justified.'"
YRO? (Score:5, Insightful)
First off, this was covered in every news outlet in the country, yesterday. Second, what the fuck does this have to do with anyone's rights online?
Confiscates? (Score:5, Insightful)
He runs the State of California, which owns (or is paying for) the phones. Sounds like he's saying "I want my phones back." Confiscating makes it sound like he's taking people's own property away from them.
Re:Need a bigger knife (Score:5, Insightful)
It's really easy to anonymously call for the destruction of bureaucracy without citing a single specific example and providing alternative, less costly solutions to the services provided.
finally some common sense being applied (Score:5, Insightful)
cheaper or not, taxpayers don't need to be paying for a DMV clerk's cell phone. There are a few that it makes sense for, people in upper management positions, emergency response chain members, or project leaders that need to be reached off-hours and on-site, etc, but that's a very small percentage of the crowd.
Stipend (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:So what about... (Score:5, Insightful)
Private phones are not allowed on the system. No need for "support" on private equipment. In fact, if you touch someone's personal devices you own it forever.
I work in IT, it is simple as saying "we cannot support personal devices at work". And it requires it to be Policy. At my job, I have a personal cell phone that I get a stipend for, it is my device, I own it, I use it for work and personal. Google Voice to the rescue. I turn on DND at 5:00 PM, and off at 7:30am .Those are the hours you can contact me .. guaranteed. Anything above that requires OT and an account code to pay for it (I'm not salaried), and planning.
I'm on stipend because I don't have a regular office phone, and am fairly mobile. I'm all for cutting the perks. Just because you're "Government" doesn't mean you have rights to stuff normal people have to pay for.
Re:Cool - a fiscal conservative (Score:5, Insightful)
He's not a mainstream Democrat by any stretch. He's widely known for promoting zero-growth policies, which I doubt most modern Democrats would support. He was at one time something of an environmental extremist.
Above all, he seems to be, whether you like him or not, a very principled guy, who has had trouble in mainstream politics due to being honest and uncompromising. Kind of a Ron Paul of the left. I don't like him, but I believe he is at least a sincere person with some degree of integrity.
Re:Need a bigger knife (Score:1, Insightful)
He is not taking privately held phones (Score:5, Insightful)
He is taking government paid for phones. More than likely they already have land lines in all offices anyway, used for everything from calls to faxes to internet in some cases.
He is just trying to put some sense back into what the government is funding, and a cell phone is a luxury in many departments. It certainly is not a requirement of someone who rarely if ever leaves their office. He is going after vehicles next which is another good step. He should also go after traveling expenses and the like, nuke any employee conventions, and similar until they get their finances in order. The hard area where he will have to play in is compensation and retirement benefits that state employees have in California. That is where the real abuse is.
Should be interesting, a hero of the left can probably do things Arnie could not. I bet if Arnie did this there would screams in every California paper out there about how mean he was, if not racist.
When you can't pay your bills you have to make cuts. Every penny counts. This is why Congress is such a mess, they seem to think its okay to ignore "this cost" and "that cost" because they are so small. Well, get enough small expenses out and it will add up.
Re:YRO? (Score:2, Insightful)
Some dumbass (probably the same guy who modded parent troll) only read the headline and thinks the Governor is confiscating people's private phones. The writeup makes it clear more than once that these are state telephones for state use by bureaucrats who can probably do just as well with land lines. Or they think they have a God-given right for their employer to pay for their personal luxuries. If people were using the phones for personal use, that is embezzlement of public funds and there should be criminal charges brought against the users.
I wonder how California's bureaucratic culture came to deploy cell phones to 40% of its workers, and if the state is going to face serious cancellation charges.
Re:Cool - a fiscal conservative (Score:5, Insightful)
He bills and is listed as a democrat, but in the real world hardcore left or hardcore right is not going to get any job done. Unless that job is gridlock. I don't think for a second that Meg Whiteman (I spelled it that way for a reason, smartasses) would be able to cut the budget as well as this state's budget needs it. The way she pissed away $140+ million dollars speaks volumes for her wasteful lifestyle and lack of experience. I'm glad to have voted for Obama and for Governor "Moonbeam." THIS is exactly the type of thinking we need to keep California within its budget and an example the red states need to stop the useless political bickering and get the FUCKING JOB DONE.
More budget cuts and more openleaks/wikileaks! Obama did fail in making our government transparent. The "leakers" have fixed this. Brown also is slashing the salaries of many state agencies. More of the same is needed, and this is a step in the right direction. Stop the waste and fraud committed by both sides of the equation.
Re:Need a bigger knife (Score:5, Insightful)
Spoken as someone who probably has never had to use food stamps. Guess what? It's humilating but when I was a kid, with a mom who just had hip surgery, and a father who died while my mother was in the hospital recovering from that surgery, it kept us from going hungry.
It's a safety net, and it's very much needed.
Re:Need a bigger knife (Score:5, Insightful)
But can they find a job?
Are there jobs available for them to do?
Re:Need a bigger knife (Score:5, Insightful)
1. Rehab is cheaper than jail or paying for a junkies ER trips
2. Poor kids really do need to eat.
3. We need someone who can think more rationally than you.
Re:Thought a good idea til the $20 mil figure. (Score:5, Insightful)
For Jerry to do what he needs to do to really turn things around he'll never have a snowballs chance in hell for re-election to the post. Reform looks good on paper but in action it's an ugly thing.
Re:finally some common sense being applied (Score:5, Insightful)
TFS describes the number as 40% of employees, and only half of *those* were active. So I doubt every DMV employee had one, although it's reasonable and prudent for a DMV road tester to have one, and any other mobile worker for that matter. "Oh, your plow slid off the highway? So sorry, you're on your own. We can't afford $1000/yr on top of your pittance of a salary."
Personally, I never liked the idea of having a cell phone provided by my employer anyway. It's nothing more than a privacy-depriving leash, and I don't really like the idea of being tethered to my office. That's why I only give out my home number and never answer my cell if I don't recognize the number (and often even when I do). If it's in my contract to be available outside of normal working hours then that's one thing, but if it's not, then I have no interest in having my personal life interrupted by work. If I was a state worker that didn't need a cell phone, I'd be overjoyed by the opportunity to return it. Internally, anyway. Externally I'd pretend I was outraged by having yet another tool removed to perform my woefully difficult job.
Re:Need a bigger knife (Score:5, Insightful)
How about they legalize pot, release all of the non-violent drug and sex offenders (I'm thinking of prostitutes and johns in that last group, not molesters and the like), then close up some of the state's prisons and lay off/fire the security guards in those prisons? That would be a huge first step, and by itself would almost certainly balance the budget.
Re:Need a bigger knife (Score:1, Insightful)
Ah, how I've missed compassionate conservatism.
Go die in a fire because you didn't want to pay taxes to support the fire department.
Re:Need a bigger knife (Score:5, Insightful)
Except there's no evidence that hiring contractors actually saves money. Why not just outsource every US job, too? Take a look at our military budget to see how well "hiring contractors" has worked out.
Here's an idea, instead of having to pay American military personnel, and then give them pensions and health care and other veterans' benefits, why not just hire Indians to fight our wars?
And regarding the teachers' union: there really isn't any evidence that privatizing education has any benefit. And instead of being pissed about the fact that teachers and cops and firemen get pensions, why not get pissed about why you're not getting a pension from the company you work for. Typical American shortsightedness circa 2010.
Re:YRO? (Score:5, Insightful)
Last time I checked, California was something like the world's 5th biggest economy, so it's kind of a big deal whether or not the state goes bankrupt.
Not really. The state can go bankrupt and the California will still be the worlds 5th biggest economy. The state will just have learned a valuable lesson not to spend more than it can afford.
Re:Cool - a fiscal conservative (Score:5, Insightful)
That's why he's fixing the $27B budget deficit by cutting $20M worth of cell phone bills.
Ah, so you've missed the budget that he proposed which has much bigger changes than the cell phone takeback. The cellphone takeback is one of those small changes in the executive branch (there are lots of others) that can be done by the Governor by fiat rather than requiring legislative action and/or special approval of the voters.
A libertarian would have the state declare bankruptcy and nullify the state employee union's contract and pensions.
I'm not sure how placing the entire State government under the supervision of a federal bankruptcy court would be "libertarian".
That would fix the budget problem in one fell swoop
No, it wouldn't. Someone -- whether its the State government or the bankruptcy receiver -- still has to determine the actual specific cuts and/or the specific revenue generating measures to adopt. Bankruptcy might loosen some obligations and create more freedom to take certain choices among those options, but it wouldn't automatically choose among them (and it would instantly produce an enormous storm of litigation.)
There aren't magic bullets.
Re:What a concept! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:So what about... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Don't need to confiscate. (Score:5, Insightful)
"Come to think of it there are a lot of state LEOs that carry cellphones so they can discuss matters not suitable for regular 2-way radio...."
And that is bullshit. Most states are now on APCO-25, which supports encryption up to AES-256 (it also supports encryption beyond that, if you get the appropriate crypto modules from No Such Agency). The only reason anybody would use a non-secure cellphone vs a secure radio is that the secure radio is recorded at the dispatch center, making it somewhat difficult to discuss how best to "accidentally" allow the suspect to fall on his face, repeatedly.
Re:Need a bigger knife (Score:4, Insightful)
Actually the food stamp program is one of the few gummint charity programs I approve of. It's ridiculous for people in this country to go hungry, particularly children. We can afford to feed people. I'm not so keen on many of the other giveaways.
Re:Cool - a fiscal conservative (Score:5, Insightful)
Listening to him debate Meg Whitman, I was relieved that I felt both candidates would take the job seriously. I didn't think either would do a poor job, though there were some platform stances that I liked less from Jerry Brown. It was refreshing to feel that both candidates would be both driven and competent.
Personally I felt like Whitman was reading from a script or a memorised list of talking points, whereas Brown was thinking on his feet and actually understood what he was talking about. I've heard that from people who have actually questioned the candidates too, they said that Whitman would respond to questions from left field with a pre-prepared answer that just barely dealt with the gist of the question and then refused to take any follow up questions. Brown could deal with anything. The better man won.
Re:YRO? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:YRO? (Score:4, Insightful)
Bankruptcy allows organizations to slough off all kinds of parasites and needless layers of crap. It's an opportunity for a business to reorganize within well defined guidelines.
That's probably why the Government wouldn't allow Chrysler or GM to go bankrupt. There were too many parasites with an interest in things continuing along the way they were. All those Union dollars, and the entrenched management went wailing to Washington. Same as it ever was.
Bankruptcy is not an endpoint. It's not even a problem. It's a solution.
Re:Need a bigger knife (Score:5, Insightful)
Also, if you choose a profession that you know you will be underpaid in for 20 years or so just so you can make a difference (teaching), then I think you should get a little security at the back end for that choice.
Re:YRO? (Score:4, Insightful)
So the workers who do the actual work, under a contract management freely signed are the parasites?
Not the execs who walk away with golden parachutes after losing market share and billions?
WTF is wrong with you?
Re:Need a bigger knife (Score:2, Insightful)
Problem is you can only watch someone go through line and pay for food with the stamps, then pay for alcohol and cigarettes with cash, so many times before you get sick of it.
Re:Cool - a fiscal conservative (Score:4, Insightful)
Workers should come before investors. If you can't stand to lose it don't gamble with it.
Re:YRO? (Score:5, Insightful)
Last time I checked, California was something like the world's 5th biggest economy, so it's kind of a big deal whether or not the state goes bankrupt. Not really. The state can go bankrupt and the California will still be the worlds 5th biggest economy. The state will just have learned a valuable lesson not to spend more than it can afford.
Wrong lesson, my friend. The voters of California need to learn that you can't do stupid shit like slashing the state's income (Prop 13, for those of you with a memory or an interest in history) and expect the same level of service. And oh, yes. Expect it they did. As soon as it was time to balance the books, there arose an immediate stream of bitching about what was wrong with the state, bad roads, worse schools, etc. "Cutting taxes" sounds fine, until you have to face the fact that you will no longer enjoy those things that those taxes provided.
Re:YRO? (Score:5, Insightful)
So the workers who do the actual work, under a contract management freely signed are the parasites?
Not the execs who walk away with golden parachutes after losing market share and billions?
WTF is wrong with you?
You do know that his phrase that most closely supports the idea that he considered the workers parasites included the people with the golden parachutes as parasites as well? "All those Union dollares, and the entrenched management..."
So there is nothing wrong with him. He apparently considers the UAW and the management of GM and Chrysler to be equally parasites. I think that there is a good case to be made for that position (although parasites is not the word I would use).
Re:Need a bigger knife (Score:4, Insightful)
I don't live in California but I do live in another large state.
I have been unemployed for a year and 5 weeks. I count the weeks not because it is something I enjoy doing but because each week it is another failed week at finding a job to pay for the things that I once used to enjoy. Such as going out to eat 2 times a week. Or the nice house I used to live in. Or buying tires for my car.
The state pays me jack when it comes down to it. The company I worked for years laid me off. For all the years I was working I paid a tax to go to the state government insuring that if I lose my job through no fault of my own that I would be able to collect some money until I found a replacement job. So no the Government isn't a job program but it is in fact there to protect me if I may for the protection.
The state requires me to make 3 job contacts a week. I do about 5 a day so that's 25 M-F and not counting the about 10 or so I may do on a Saturday and Sunday. I don't care if you believe me or not but I don't like having to tell people that I am unemployed when I go into job interviews and they ask me why I haven't worked in the last year. I don't like having to explain to friends that I can't go out and meet them tonight because I don't have the money to pay for drinks or food. I actually don't like the fact that for another Christmas this year all I was able to get someone was a 10.00 Starbucks gift card. So please tell me that the handout I am getting means I am not really trying. Then be lucky you and the GP got a job. Because some of us would love to earn that money and no have to have a taxpayer to fund my paying of bills.
Re:YRO? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:YRO? (Score:4, Insightful)
The solution for roads is to raise the road (gasoline) tax.
The solution for schools is to raise the annual school tax..... neither of which was forbidden by Prop 13 (limit property tax).
Incorrect. ALL tax hikes in California require a 2/3 majority thanks to Prop 13, which effectively gives a veto to the taxophobic minority.
A large contributor to Proposition 13 was the belief older Californians should not be priced out of their homes through high taxes, and I agree with that. In fact I'd like to see property taxes be 0%, because people should OWN their land, not have to rent it like serfs.
Oh yeah? And who's gonna pay to maintain the road to and from your house? Gas tax? Sure. You're gonna love it when you start paying European style $7 per gallon, aren't you?
Re:YRO? (Score:4, Insightful)
These people have no 'right' to a state-paid cell phone.
Unless, of course, their jobs require the use of a phone while away from their office. Either that or the state can look forward to a flood of reimbursement paperwork on a regular basis.
As Gov. Brown pointed out, there is no way in hell that two out of five of all state workers require being on-call 24/7.