Scott Brown is endorsed by Cambridge officers. Does anyone have more info on this?

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

This is only relevant because of the upcoming MA election (which is going to affect Somerville and Davis Sq).

The SN posted: http://www.thesomervillenews.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=2&ArticleID=3007

It looks like: "The members of the Cambridge Police Patrol Officers Association voted to endorse State Senator Scott Brown as our next United States Senator in Tuesday's election against Attorney General Martha Coakley."

They complain that "We do not endorse anyone who advocates changes in the health care that take away any bargaining rights or increases our cost along with our contributions. Senator Brown does not support the Comprehensive Health care Reform Bill and promises to be the 41st vote to ensure its defeat. The current leadership at the state house, as we all know and have seen over the past two years, have an agenda to dismantle all of our hard earned bargained benefits and they will continue to dismantle these until there is a complete change from the top down".

Is Brown the solution to their problems? Really? Scott Brown is their pro-Union guy? This makes no sense.

I find it disturbing that cops (with guns) act so childishly. Remember? Obama had said that they acted "stupidly" during the Gates case, and later apologized, but these folks don't seem to be able to get over it. Furthermore, I find it disturbing that they are basically saying to the rest of us: We got our cushy health plans, paid by your taxes, too bad for the rest of you (losers).

Comments

[m00n.livejournal.com]

I have to ask: Even if you are one of the union members that may be affected by this tax on "Cadillac Insurance Plans" what do you have to say to the argument that if we do nothing (as Scott Brown is basically proposing) the premiums will eventually continue to go up to the point where they cost more than this Cadillac Plan Tax would have?

I don't think anyone's arguing that this plan is perfect or in any way totally fair (although I think it would have been a lot more fair if we didn't already have a bunch of other Scott Browns in the senate), but unless we want health costs to consume our entire GDP, we need to pass *something.* Lets worry about the specifics of how to pay for it once we have a system in place to begin with.

Consider, if you will, that if we manage to make this plan work anything like health care in the whole rest of the world, we should all be able to give ourselves a tax cut (AND save some money) because we're already spending about twice as much as the rest of the world on health care. This bill, in its current form, seeks to undo that. Opposing it in full, because of a relatively modest tax increase, (even one on the middle class, which I don't necessarily agree with), is like economic suicide.

As I said, it does not make sense...

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

There is some other agenda driving this, or it could just be good old greed (at the union member or executive levels, or both). In any case, whatever happens with this election, their blatantly anti-common-good attitude will be remembered by MA folks.