Surprisingly not San Francisco

In San Jose the public employees union is suing City Councilman Pete Constant for not replacing his administrative assistant. He contends that he has the right to decide how to staff his office and says that the city has other uses for the $70,000. salary saved by not hiring anyone to answer his phones and make his appointments and copies. He says he prefers to do that himself.

Kevin McKenney of Santa Clara County Superior Court recently ordered that the case be taken to a costly arbitration instead of the state's Public Employment Relations Board -- something both Constant and the city's attorneys had sought.

LaVerne Washington, president of the employees' association, said it is not Constant's prerogative to create his own "process and procedures," which she said conflict with labor agreements between the city and the union.

Really? They have a contract that says he doesn't get to decide how much staff he needs in his own office?

Well, we have always called California the Cereal State because it's full of flakes and nuts.