This is the catch-all final post in my blog's annual mock awards (versus my Dem, GOP and Man of the Year standalone posts). These have been variable over the years; for this year I'll limit myself to 3 categories: public officials, public employees, and judges. The first 2 this year are more group "awards". not necessary partisan.
The Bad Public Officials award this year goes to those Congressmen whose inappropriate (sexual harassment and other) behavior has amounted to something like $17M in payouts over the past 20 years--and that doesn't even count the separate payments made by Rep. Conyers' notorious alleged misconduct, which came from his office budget (which, of course, is still taxpayer money).
The Bad Public Employees this year focuses on an issue that has received considerable coverage over the life of the blog--bloated public pensions, often amounting to million-plus payoffs, in many cases over 6-figure payouts PER YEAR, well over the $30K or so top payout from social security. There is something intrinsically wrong with government pension, payed at the expense of taxpayers, which dwarf retirement plans of taxpayers. On top of all this is a common game playing at taxpayer expense of spiking pensions. Pension are often a high percentage of the highest (generally last 3) salary average, and there are all sorts of games aimed at paying that base by buying into and/or converting benefits (e.g., unused sick pay) designed to boost that retirement base. ZeroHedge has a telling example of the practice:
One example of salary spiking comes from former Ventura County CEO, Marty Robinson, who offered up a textbook example of how to stick it to taxpayers by planning ahead. Robinson's official salary heading into her final year on the job was $228,000. That said, Robinson "spiked" her final year salary by cashing out $34,000 in unused vacation pay, taking an $11,000 bonus for a graduate degree and collecting more than $24,000 in extra pension benefits the county owed her. Adding all the 1x payments, Robinson earned nearly $300,000 in her final year which entitled her to an annual pension payment of $272,000 or the rest of her life...nearly 20% higher than the salary she received for actually working.
But, as the Los Angeles Times pointed out, Robinson is not alone:
Former Sheriff Bob Brooks, for instance, added a $30,500 "longevity" bonus (for working more than 30 years), which boosted his pension to $272,000 a year, almost 20% higher than his base salary.
Former Undersheriff Craig Husband added nearly $92,600 in unused vacation time, resulting in a $257,997-a-year pension, nearly 30% above his working pay.
Fire Capt. T.N. Roberts, for instance, padded his final year's pay by nearly $130,000, resulting in a pension 84% higher than his base compensation. He gets $159,598 a year in retirement pay.
In fact, the problem is pervasive. In Ventura County, 84% of the retirees receiving more than $100,000 a year are receiving more than they did on the job. In Kern County, 77% of retirees with pensions greater than $100,000 a year are getting more nothan they did before.
Finally, there are lots of things to say about judges not ruling on behalf of individual liberty, but a recent news item of an elderly doctor losing her practice, in part because of her old-fashioned vs. electronic recordkeeping. Merrimack Superior Court Judge John Kissinger earns my contempt by failing to protect the economic liberty rights of Dr. Anna Konopka.
