Kudos to Santa Clara County judges, who volunteered for a 4.6 percent pay cut in the face of the unprecedented budget crisis that's gripping California.

Presiding Judge Jamie Jacobs-May of Santa Clara County Superior Court said that the reason that 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 council members here in Gilroy - 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 Props 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, that future negotiations with the city's unions will be negatively impacted by the fact that council members immediately dismissed the idea of cutting back their health benefits while having just forced two unions into drastic cutbacks and while still negotiating drastic cutbacks with two other unions.

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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