Phoenix City Councilman Sal DiCiccio, in a column for The Arizona Republic dated Monday, November 11, 2013, predicted that Phoenix’s legal strategy for pension spiking was designed to fail. On Tuesday, the Councilman released a statement reminding the public of that fact and laying blame squarely on staff and fellow politicians.
In his statement, DiCiccio addresses the court’s ruling last week against the Phoenix pension spiking proposal. DiCiccio asserts that the decision by the court is ” not the fault of the court, but the fault of the staff who had a conflict of interest and the Phoenix politicians who pushed it on behalf the government unions.”
He reminds taxpayer that the court’s ruling could now cost taxpayers millions of dollars.
“Once again taxpayers were taken advantage of by the same people who should be protecting them. I predicted in 2013 the outcome of this legal case. Those who designed this ruse did it purposely, knowing it had little chance of success,” said Phoenix Councilman Sal DiCiccio.
In the 2013 column DiCiccio wrote: “Any proposal must withstand a legal challenge. This is important. It is important for the public to know that there were other proposals that had a better chance of protecting the citizens. Of four proposals discussed, the one pushed by the mayor was third in legal defensibility. The proposal backed by Waring, Gates, and I was first.”
“So what does this all mean? It means the Mayor’s proposal was designed to fail in closed-door labor negotiations and in court, thus keeping pension spiking in place,” stated DiCiccio. “It gave the labor unions exactly what they wanted.”
DiCiccio claims that the proposal he and fellow Council members Waring, and Gates “proposed would have stopped spiking, provided the public with the ability to see all options, and put in place the best practice defendable in court.”
“The taxpayers can still win if the politicians get the backbone to stand up to the government unions and file the right and strongest legal argument. Also, Phoenix staff must be prevented from any and all involvement. That includes the hiring of, and giving any direction to, the attorneys and politicians in this case. The conflict of interest of Phoenix staff presented during this entire pension discussion and the intentional deception should outrage to our citizens, taxpayers and the media. Somewhere, somehow, somebody has to expose what’s really going on behind closed doors,” concluded DiCiccio.