Creative Commons/Marshall Astor

San Francisco City Hall

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a deal on Tuesday -- unanimously and "without a peep," according to the San Francisco Examiner -- to protect the public safety unions from Jeff Adachi's pension reform measure, Proposition D, for two years, even if Adachi's measure wins at the polls this November.

The deal would also let police and firefighters to keep raises they have been owed in exchange for supporting a pension reform deal that would require them to make higher contributions to their pension plans. The deal would amount to $31 million in savings for the city.

The Examiner quoted Adachi as calling the vote a “back-door attempt to circumvent the democratic rights of San Francisco voters.” 

Right now there are two competing pension reform deals headed toward the November ballot: Adachi's, which saves the city more money but is widely shunned by the political establishment, and one that is backed Mayor Ed Lee, Supervisor Sean Elsbernd, and the entire Labor Council.

Adachi and Supervisor Sean Elsbernd have been trading jabs over their competing measure.

Labor groups slammed Adachi this week for distributing fliers criticizing the measure they support on the same weekend the nation was paying tribute to police and firefighters killed on Sept. 11. Elsbernd also shot off an email accusing Adachi of advancing his pension reform measure to aid his own mayoral campaign.