Kudos to Santa Clara County judges, who are volunteering for a 4.6 percent pay cut in the face of the unprecedented budget crisis gripping California.
Presiding Judge Jamie Jacobs-May of Santa Clara County Superior Court said the reason the judges are proactively taking the pay cut is that they "want to stand shoulder to shoulder with court employees and share the pain."
Leadership by example is important
To us, it looks like leadership by example, something that's been sorely missing in this budget crisis - from state legislators in Sacramento to school superintendents here in Morgan Hill - and something that would pay great dividends in the willingness of both taxpayers and rank-and-file union employees to shoulder more of the burden of closing the state budget gap.
It's hard not to wonder, for example, how voters might have viewed Propositions 1A through 1E if legislators had voted for legislation like Prop 1F - the measure that prevents them from taking pay increases during budget deficit years - themselves. Or if legislators had cut their office expenses before this May when other state departments were facing drastic cutbacks.
It's hard not to wonder, for example, how negotiations with the school district's unions would have proceeded if Superintendent Alan Nishino had declined his 3-percent pay increase, or had even accepted a pay cut, while pink slips were being sent to teachers and classified union members.
Dollars and sense
It's too common and too easy for leaders to say that their cuts are a drop in the budgetary bucket, and often, compared to the size of the problem, that's true.
But the value of these kinds of cuts is not just in the dollars and cents they represent. It's also in the common sense and leadership they show.
That's why we applaud the judges of Santa Clara County, and encourage others in leadership positions throughout the state to heed their example.
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