For more than 21 years I worked for a California Regional Center, an entity which contracts with the state and is required to meet many of the same standards as the state. It was always frustrating to me and my fellow regional center employees that we were expected to develop on time and live within our budget while "the state" went year after year without a timely budget and rarely, if ever, actually lived within their budget. I remember being one of the more vocal proponents of some sort of sanction on state workers as a way of forcing lawmakers to pass a budget. One suggestion which seemed logical at the time was a cut in pay for state employees l until a budget was passed.
Now we are once again without a state budget - in violation of state law. But this year the only full time employee in our house works for the state. Suddenly the shoe is on the other foot. There is a move to withhold pay from the legislators and their staffs while paying all other state employees minimum wage until the budget is passed. This consequence which seemed so appropriate10 yeas ago no longer seems logical. Carolyn has no more influence on when or whether a budget gets passed by the legislature and approved by the governor than an ant on our front lawn has over what I'm going to eat for breakfast tomorrow. She doesn't even have secondary influence.
Sure get a different view on the other side of the fence. How many other things would we see differently if we were required to walk a mile in our opponents shoes?
A few years ago, someone I was talking to was complaining about public schools and the teachers. I tried to make a couple of points but they didn't accept them. Now that person works in education and was complaining about some of the same issues and problems that I had tried to bring up. I didn't point out the apparent duplicity, but it did make me laugh.
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