John Curley has tough questions over paid paternity leave in King County

King County is considering a one-year pilot program that will give mothers working for the county 12 weeks of paternity leave.

KING5 reports that legislation for the 12-week paternity program is now working its way through the King County Council. It could be up for approval this month.

It’s a notion that prompted an unexpected visit to the Tom and Curley Show from a signature Curley character &#8212 Hard Ass Bob.

Tom Tangney: [King County Councilmember Rod Dembowski] claims it’s actually going to be saving money in the longer run. He says, “It results in lower costs and lower claims in our insurance fund.” They figure it will be about $2.9 million a year.

John Curley: Where are they going to get the money from? Is the revenue just sitting there in a pot of extra money that King County just has? We can’t go into debt for it, so I guess they will raise taxes on all of us to pay for you, who has a baby and works for King County.

Curley: So let me get this straight. You decide to have a baby. You had the baby. But then all of a sudden you want me and everybody else in King County to pay for your 12 weeks off? I got an idea. Why don’t you plan ahead? If you knew you were going to have a baby, why didn’t you start putting money aside? Because you are going to have additional expenses when you have a baby. You got nine months to plan ahead and put some money aside, so after you have a kid you can go back to work and pay for some daycare for the kid.

TT: By the way, employees will have to use up all but a week of their vacation and all of their sick days before this paternity leave kicks in. So there are some qualifiers…sure, it’s a great goal, and a great idea &#8212 how are we going to pay for it?

JC We get mad when we see that the public sector has it better than the private sector. That’s what people get mad at.