During his appearance on CapTon last night, PEF President Ken Brynien suggested that the legislature might see their approval ratings go up if they took a stand against the governor on the implementation of a Tier 6 pension plan. Brynien essentially argues that the governor has high approval ratings because he is a strong leader, and not because his plan for overhauling pensions is in line with what people want.

“Just because somebody is popular doesn’t mean that they are right. They can be wrong and in this case the governor is wrong. And in part the reason he may be popular in polling and the legislature is not as popular is because he looks like he is strong and he says this is what I want and I am going to stick to it until I get it, where the legislature hasn’t quite been doing that the last few years,” Brynien said.

“If they stood up, and they drew their own line and said this is what we think is right, we are going to stick by this and get the governor to say okay I will go along with you on this one, maybe their popularity would go up as well. I think what people are looking for is strong leadership. And the message or the issue isn’t quite what is bringing along the popularity it is just the strength.”

Brynien himself might be trying to show strength, since he is seeking another term as President this spring. The TU reports today that a group of PEF employees who are still upset with how Brynien handled contract negotiations are preparing to mount a leadership challenge.

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