We’ve been tough on Gavin Newsom, but we commend him for standing up to the government unions and vetoing a huge pension giveaway.

The bill would have allowed  “public safety employees” to retire with full benefits at age 55(!) rather than 57. It also would have boosted the maximum pension cap.

Sadly, alleged Republican fiscal hawks in the legislature caved to union pressure and so the golden parachute bill passed the Senate on a vote of 33 to 0 and the Assembly on a vote of 70 to 2.

Unions were confident that Newsom would sign their bill since he has caved to most of their other demands. But in his veto message, Newsom said he recalled how the twin financial crises of the dot-com bust and the 2008 recession almost wiped out some California pension funds and led some retirees to fear they would become insolvent.

Newsom rightly complained that the bill would reverse hard-fought pension reforms and “expose our retirement system to additional risk.” Three cheers for Newsom, and thumbs down for the Republican fiscal chickenhawks in Sacramento.