Public employees will remember Sen. Tom's position on pensions
March 5, 2013 · Updated 5:01 PM
Senate Bill 5856, sponsored by Sen. Rodney Tom, would remove the existing pension plan for all state employees under age 45 and force them to accept 401(k) plans instead.
In the Olympian newspaper, Tom says that state employee pension plans are a burden on taxpayers. I would like to remind the senator that state employees are taxpayers, too. We are educating young people in Bellevue's K-12 public schools as well as at the state universities and colleges, including UW and Bellevue College.
We are not fat cats making truckloads of money on the backs of taxpayers; we are taxpayers, we are voters, and we will remember Rodney Tom at the polls.
Becky Turnbull, Bellevue
Comment on this story.
So keep your comments:
- Civil
- Smart
- On-topic
- Free of profanity
We ask that all participants own their words by logging in with their Facebook account. It's a simple process that will take seconds and helps keep our comments free of trolls, cranks, and “drive-by” commenters. We reserve the right to remove comments from anyone using screen names, pseudonyms or false identities. Please refer to our Terms of Use for full detail on participating on our site.

