Public employees an easy scapegoat

OK, we get it. The economy is in the tank, so we have to find a scapegoat; this year it's public employees.

Right, we're making exorbitant salaries with unheard of benefits. We are overpaid prima donnas that should have their pay slashed and sent to bed early! Seriously? Those "public employees" that you're crying about? They are your neighbors, you're friends and family. They are the teacher of your student, the firefighter or police officer that you know from down the block, the ones that protect your family while you are at work.

They are not the ones being listed in the Daily Herald with $200,000 salaries or the ones collecting a pension while working as a "leader" somewhere else. Please read what the Daily Herald and other Watchdog groups have found and remember this: We didn't cause this pension crisis. We have been paying our share of the pension funding all along. The breakdown has been shown to be the fault of state and local officials who failed to do their jobs and properly fund the pension funds for the last 25 years.

They failed us, they're the ones who got us where we are. But go ahead and blame "public employees" because it's easy and convenient. "They" are a nameless, faceless mass of troublemakers who are to blame for all of our woes. The think about the teacher in your school who helped your student, who went that extra mile to help them. Think about the paramedic who did everything they could to help your family member when they were hurt or sick. That is us, and we are you.

Jim Flory

Roselle