In my April 17 letter in the Acorn ("Some tough love for teachers") I noted that while the rest of us are losing our jobs and our homes, public employee unions have bankrupted our state and continue to insist that we taxpayers make further sacrifices to support them.

On May 19, we voters saw through the deceptive campaign to raise our taxes under the guise of budget reform and overwhelmingly defeated propositions 1A through 1E.

For many years Sacramento has been on a spending spree, expanding the budget greatly even after accounting for inflation and the growth in population. As a consequence, we Californians are burdened with some of the highest, if the not the highest, tax rates in the country.

Absent an illegal act by the Legislature to raise taxes by a simple majority, rather than the constitutionally required twothirds, California government has no choice now but to tighten its belt like the rest of us have been doing in this economy.

If we want true spending reform, I have a modest proposal for Sacramento.

Just as has been done in the business world, it's time to lay off employees, reduce salaries and eliminate gold-plated retirement plans.

The rest of us in the private sector have been scrimping and saving for years to fund for our own retirements. It's time for government employees to do the same.

We voters just delivered a crystal clear message to those of you in the public sector.

Pay close attention: You are no longer immune from this economic downturn. The ones paying your bills are struggling to make ends meet. We're going to expect more productivity from fewer of you.

We have no choice. You have no choice. Learn to live with it. Aaron Starr Simi Valley