Will the hackery never stop in Massachusetts? Is the state government really nothing more than a machine to generate payments for friends of well-connected legislators? Andrea Estes reports today in the Globe:
The state retirement board voted today to approve the special $20,000 a year Section X pension application of Donna Sweeney, House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi’s former scheduler.
Sweeney, 42, was fired in March — 11 days after she qualified for an enhanced pension available to employees who are terminated after 20 years in state service.
If she had retired or left voluntarily, Sweeney would have received only $4,600 a year. The board determined that documentation provided by DiMasi was adequate to satisfy the law. An employee fired after 10 years of service can collect the higher pension if the employee’s job was abolished, if he or she was not reappointed, or he or she was fired “without moral turpitude.”
It is almost enough to make a Republican out of one, or at least an anti-hack anti-Big Dig culture Deval Patrick Democrat.
To see Sal DiMasi squirm, I really don’t see that there’s a problem here. Do you really think someone who gave this state 20 years only deserves a $4,600 pension? I say that’s cold hearted. The fact remains that there’s an independent group that presides over this, one that has in the past not given out the ‘enhanced’ pension, that voted to give Sweeny the pension. DiMasi had little to no control over that.
Not make a mockery of it.
or just not follow what you think should be the law? (IANAL)
Just another example of how poorly understood and complex and gamed the defined benefit pension plans are in the state.
They only serve to enrich those that are politically connected, have air tight union jobs, or are otherwise “on the state” and double dipping and cheating the system and using the taxpayers money to fund themselves. This is what makes a political machine, at least Massachusetts is not as bad as Chicago where the white middle class was built by political patronage alone and not through genuine hard work. Honestly we need to go back to the times when legislators were honest hardworking citizens doing a part time job and where a professional career was not made out of being a politician or worse being a politicians lackey.
This is a disgrace to all state workers. The average state retirees pension is slightly less than what Ms. Sweeney will now recieve, and that average state worker must wait until age 65 to “max out”. Unless of course you work for Sal and after 20 years –wink –wink…you are “fired” C’mon Ryan, once again get a dose of some reality. This stinks!
If something like this happens once…it is an exception. If it happens twice, it is a trend. Once it happens enough, it is tradition…just like the consolidated amendments in the budget process. Was there ever open debate about the budget I wonder? Umn, and the Katie Quinn who replaced this 40-something woman – was she a twenty-something woman….still another interesting thought, you think?
If this isn’t one more glaring example of why we need wholesale reform of the state pension system NOW then nothing will be — which brings to mind that Sal DiMasi is such a let-down…
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Vennochi’s column today (4/26) missed the point about DiMasi and employer “fairness” in the new MA HC reform law — she seems to be oblivious to the fact that DiMasi’s employer “fair share contribution” (payroll tax) position got smacked down big time. There’s not much of a “fair share” requirement for employers AT ALL in the new law.
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Which leads to Sal’s opposition to closing corporate tax loopholes. It smells like a “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” tactic. Like I said, he’s a big time let-down.
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And I just heard about Sal’s appearance on NECN where he jabs at Deval about the car issue?! This after Sal himself was caught in his own BMW-Gate last year??? Not just a let-down but heading towards downright pathetic. We finally got rid of Finneran and this is the replacement?…
Are there any ideas being floated out there?
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I’d like to see the end of the pension programs. There is too much abuse. Double-dipping is another problem. Grandfather everyone in by a certain date, if we must, but have a new plan for new hires.
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In it’s stead pay into the federal social security system and offer a 401k-ish plan with employer match and a short vesting period. Is this program called a 503b?
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When I was a teacher, I didn’t like the requirement of paying into a retirement system. For one thing, I lost control of a sizeable chunk of money. I would have preferred to contribute less to retirement in the early years so that I could pay off student debt, set myself up with a car and apartment, etc..
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The other aspect of pension systems is that they restrict mobility. We should be making it easier for employees to transfer between the public and private sectors. By paying into SS and a 401k-ish program, employees coming into/out of the private sector or other states wouldn’t have disjointed retirement systems.
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See here for information on SS and the MTRS. With the call for schools to update their curriculum and connect it to the outside world, we should be doing all we can to encourage teachers to work a few years in industry and to recruit private sector employees into teaching positions. There’s enough red tape with certification requirements. The retirement system barriers seem to be an easy one.