Random Hacks - ripping us off

Hack stiffed on ki$$ is cause to re-Joyce

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?&articleid=1181666&format=&page=1&listingType=col#articleFull

Didn't we just pass a law that you can't pad your pension with all of this non-base pay crap?

Pension a bounty shared 2 Essex County officials approved each others' deals

Pension a bounty shared

2 Essex County officials approved each others' deals

You approve mine, and I'll approve yours.

Despite ethics bill, lobbyists carry on

Fund-raisers still a key resource for politicians

This isn't exactly pension related. But it's similarly smelly.

Martha Coakly is on WTTK at this very moment complaining that the legislature is not granting her office the authority that most AGs have to conduct ethics related investigations, including wire-tapping and subpoena powers.

A very busy week, including some good news

Lawmakers agree on pension bill

But it's not enough: see the Herald:  Bill to reform pension abuse called 1st step, but not enough

"Cost savings from the bill are limited because it targets a very small population of the most jaw-dropping abuses, said Sen. Steven C. Panagiotakos (D-Lowell) who sat on the committee that released the bill."

Ed: I like this Panagiotakos guy!

Also:  DiMasi's pension suspended

 (ed: I'm surprised he was only taking in ~$50k)

Indict Cahill and revoke Ms. Shea's pension immediately

Why is it even possible to pass a special rule like this for one person?

This seems criminal.

• Indict Cahill.
  
• Launch immediate ethics reviews of his office and fund-raising.
  
• Revoke Shea's pension.
  

If special rules can enhance a pension, then special rules should be able to revoke.  

Senators? Representatives? Who's got the guts to take action?

-----------------------------------

Cahill voted to double supporter's pension

By Sean P. Murphy and Frank Phillips, Globe Staff  |  June 10, 2009

A longtime political supporter and fund-raiser for state Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill is collecting the kind of lucrative pension typically reserved for public safety personnel such as police and prison guards, even though she held administrative jobs in the Norfolk County sheriff's office.

Cahill voted to approve the hazardous duty pension for Josephine E. Shea in 2000, while he was still Norfolk County treasurer and chairman of the Norfolk County Retirement Board, according to public records.

Shea, who retired that year at age 49, has been collecting a pension now worth $47,000 a year, plus health-care insurance, paid by Norfolk county taxpayers. If she had received the kind of pension usually given to sheriff's department administrators, instead of the type Norfolk corrections officers get for their potentially dangerous jobs, her pension would be worth less than half that, $21,230 a year.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/06/10/cahill_voted_to_double_supporters_pension/

Radio Boston- Reform Before Revenue.

Podcast:  http://www.radioboston.org/shows/2009/05/04/pension-reform-before-revenue/

Also available on iTunes

Pension Reform Before Revenue

Posted by Mark Navin, Senior Producer, Monday, May 4th, 2009

Show airs: 05/08/2009

Governor Deval Patrick has been pushing pension reform on Beacon Hill, and despite the state’s dire financial need, says he might veto tax increase legislation unless lawmakers include reform as part of their agenda. Some say the move is a political one, with the Governor and others grabbing onto a populist issue that would have little real financial effect, while others say, if not now, when is the right time for pension reform?