OPINION:
Could this be an example of cutting off ones nose in order to spite their face?
Liberal California lawmakers are evaluating at every angle to stop President Trump’s agenda, even if that means stunting their own economic growth and punishing their constituents.
On Tuesday, San Francisco Supervisor Hillary Ronen introduced legislation that would bar any company contracting to build the border wall from bidding on future San Francisco city contracts — because that’s not within the city’s values — according to KTVU, a local Fox affiliate.
“Stick to building bridges, not walls,” Ms. Ronen said in a press conference on the steps of T.Y. Lin, an international contractor that expressed interest in bidding on Mr. Trump’s southern wall.
“By introducing this legislation, we are moving beyond symbolic protest and making it clear to companies interested in doing business with San Francisco, that we expect those companies to uphold basic principles of compassion and dedication to human rights,” she added.
According to KTVU: “T.Y. Lin has contributed to a number of major infrastructure projects in the Bay Area, including the replacement of the eastern span of the Bay Bridge, a public access project on Pier 7 as well as seismic retrofitting of five underground BART stations in San Francisco and Oakland.”
Other contractors in the city’s cross-hairs: Hensel Phelps Construction Co. and the Tutor Perini Corporation.
Two days prior, California lawmakers threatened to drop its pension investments in any company involved in building of the wall.
“This is a wall of shame and we don’t want any part of it,” Assemblyman Phil Ting, San Francisco Democrat, said in a statement, the Mercury News reported. “Immigrant stories are the history of America and this is a nightmare.”
The bill would require the California Public Employee Retirement System and the California State Teachers Retirement System — the two largest public pension funds in the nation, with investments of $312 billion and $202 billion, respectively — to liquidate investments in any company involved with the wall’s construction within a year, according to the Mercury News.
So, the state of California is willing to hurt its own constituent’s pension funds, and forgo thousands of jobs that would likely be created, in order to protest. Sounds like a liberal thing to do.
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