One More Reason to Wonder about Tom
From The Stranger Slog (with the headline "Rodney Tom Hates Teachers"): With zero notice Sunday, just one day before it was heard by the Ways & Means Committee, millionaire state Senate Majority "Leader" Rodney Tom (R-Medina) filed a bill that would eliminate defined pension benefits for most state and public school employees , replacing them with a risky 401-K-style savings plan that would subject future retirees to the whims of the market. SB 5856 , of which Tom is the sole sponsor, would apply to all future public employees and all current public employees under the age of 45. That means if you chose a career as a school teacher twenty years ago, trading the opportunity to strike it rich in the private sector for the promise of a secure retirement, you are totally fucked . Of course, a lot of states have catastrophically underfunded their public employee pension plans. But not Washington . No, Washington has the second strongest funded pension sy...