If You Don’t Want to Talk to the Piper, Why Not Talk to the Piper’s Paymaster?

As blog readers will know, there is currently a potential ballot initiative on public pensions and other retiree benefits (health care) that as written sweeps in UC.  We won’t rehash why it would be best if UC was excluded – as it ultimately was from the governor’s pension bill.  But let’s just say for purposes of this posting that excluding UC would be a Good Thing.

At present, there is no rush needed to get signatures for 2014, or possibly 2016.  And we have suggested in the past that the folks in UCOP might want to talk to San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed who is fronting for the group behind the initiative. Reed might not listen, but what would be the loss?  Nonetheless, if for some reason talking to Reed is out, there is John Arnold, a Texas billionaire who is paying for the initiative.  A profile of Arnold appears in the Sacramento Bee at www.sacbee.com/2013/12/08/5977939/dan-morain-john-arnold-is-a-texas.html and he is painted as a somewhat reasonably guy.  There is that old saying that he who pays the piper calls the tune.  So why not talk to the piper's paymaster?

Who knows?  He might even want to talk: