"Pay as they go; Law that lets retired lawmakers boost their pensions sparks outrage" by Michael Levenson, Globe Staff | January 11, 2009
It might have seemed the height of audacity when J. James Marzilli Jr., charged with attempting to grope a woman, asked the state to nearly double his pension, just 11 days after he resigned from the state Senate in disgrace.
In fact, he was following a well-trod Beacon Hill tradition of cashing in on a law that allows veteran state legislators who retire or fail to win reelection to receive staggering pension increases worth thousands of dollars a year.
This while the state is GOING BROKE and OWING BANKS MILLIONS!!!!
Please see: Governor Deval W. Bush
A Globe review shows that 14 former legislators are currently drawing significantly increased pensions under the law, including several who left amid their own ethical and criminal troubles.
Tar, feather, harbor.
The law, originally created to compensate civil servants who lost jobs when new administrations took over, was expanded by the Legislature 59 years ago to provide the same benefits to lawmakers - even though their employment depends on voters, not the political whims that can threaten civil servants. Now, as the state faces a deep financial crisis and is taking painful steps including layoffs, the generous benefit for departing legislators is sparking outrage.
"It's ridiculous," said L. Scott Harshbarger, the former attorney general of Massachusetts and onetime president of Common Cause, a government watchdog group. "How in the world is it appropriate, necessary, or consistent with any reasonable public policy that if you chose not to run for office or are defeated in running for office that you get an enhanced pension? It just seems to me totally unreasonable, and for elected officials this does not enhance their image."
Nothing could at this point.
Legislators, however, have shown little interest in scaling back what one pension official called a "special quirk" in the system. Vincent J. Piro, a former state representative from Somerville who lost his seat after he was charged with taking a $5,000 bribe, used the law to boost his pension from about $6,750 - not including annual cost-of-living adjustments - to $18,872.
Richard Voke, a former House majority leader from Chelsea who retired in 1998 after losing a bitter fight for the speakership to Thomas M. Finneran in 1996, upped his pension from about $14,779 to $28,193. Francis G. Mara, a former state representative from Brockton who retired in 1996 after he was fined for taking gifts from insurance lobbyists, increased his pension from about $3,783 to $18,921.
It's not like we could use that money for other things, right?
You know, like the blind, mentally ill, kids, and cripples!!
"It's not doing anything wrong," said Mara, 58, who is now a State House lobbyist for Arbella Insurance and Techlink Entertainment, a company that makes technology for video lottery terminals, slot machines, and other gambling systems. He said that when he was retiring, another senator told him about the law and suggested he take advantage of it.
These guys are absolutely in-fucking-credible!!
"That was a legal mechanism," he said.
Yup, LEGAL LOOTING all the way! Nice racket you guys got going!
Some may question the practice, he said, but "you can have these debates over many things in society."
Yup, gonna debate whether you scum-shits are STEALING FROM US and how ethical that is! Where's the damn guillotine when you need one?
Indeed, efforts to repeal special pension benefits have been traditionally met with fierce resistance on Beacon Hill, said state Representative Harriett L. Stanley, a West Newbury Democrat and longtime critic of such benefits.
"We're talking about the third rail here," she said. "It's going to be absolutely impossible to make meaningful reform unless we acknowledge the problem, and that will be one tough battle."
Unless we hang a few from the lampposts; I'll bet they would smarten up real quick then! What scum-shits running around Beacon Hill. That place must stink to high heaven with all the shits it houses!
And that's in a LIBERAL, DEMOCRATIC STATE -- you know, the ones that are better than all those icky and mean conservatives.
The law, as it was amended in 1950, allows any elected official under age 55 "who has completed twenty or more years of creditable service and who fails of nomination or reelection" to apply for a pension increase. Using a formula based on the lawmaker's age, years of service, and annuity, the law can boost a pension by as much 400 percent.
Like we have money to give away here! Yup, this is WHY YOUR SERVICES are BEING CUT and TAXES being RAISED here in good old Massachusetts!
Pension officials say the requests are almost always granted unless the lawmaker was convicted of a crime. No wonder, some say, that lawmakers created the statute.
"If you're going to stick a little juicy one in there for yourself, why not put one in there if you can't get reelected?" said Nicholas Poser, a Boston pension lawyer. "The 'failed of nomination' stuff is, to my mind, clearly directed at failed politicians."
Yeah, there is your DUTY of PUBLIC SERVICE, huh? PADDING YOUR OWN NEST!
Oh, I am SO FUCKING ANGRY right now!!! God-damn scum shits!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Over the years, Democrats and Republicans have taken advantage of the perk....
Yeah, I know there is no difference between the two parties!
And it's a perk," not theft, notice that?
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Recent recipients include Christopher J. Hodgkins, a former Democratic representative from Lee, who retired in 2003 and upped his pension from about $4,889 to $22,253, and John Businger, a former Democratic representative from Brookline who was ousted from office in 1998 and increased his pension from about $15,083 to $23,301.
Marzilli's request, to bump his pension from $14,000 to $27,000, is pending before the State Retirement Board, which says it will not rule on the increase until his criminal case is resolved.
Faced with the prospect of deep budget cuts, some say the appetite for change is growing on Beacon Hill. The Legislature recently created a 15-member commission to look at ways to overhaul the pension system. It was supposed to meet in September, but its members have yet to be appointed.
Why the FOOT-DRAGGING, huh? When banks need to get bailouts, it's pffffft -- like shit through a goose!
Still, if the panel forms, and lawmakers look for changes, some say the perk for departing legislators could be targeted....
I won't be holding my breath over it, that's for sure!
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