The Boston Globe reports:
Ten former state lawmakers are enjoying early, enhanced pensions after quitting the Legislature, beneficiaries of a loose, even questionable, reading of state law that could cost state taxpayers up to $3 million in additional retirement costs, according to a Globe review.
The State Retirement Board granted the special benefits under a 1950 law that says public officials can take immediate pensions if they lose an election or fail to qualify for the ballot. But of the 14 state legislators who have received such pensions, only four fit that definition. The other 10 were not defeated by voters. They departed office voluntarily.
Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill, whose office oversees the Retirement Board, suggested such a stretching of the rules is improper.
"The intent of the statute is to provide a benefit to someone who was involuntarily removed from their position, through no fault of their own," Cahill said in the e-mailed statement. Cahill, a Democrat, declined a request for an interview, leaving questions unanswered over whether he plans to strip any of the benefits awarded to the 10 legislators.
Here's a deal you don't get:
Christopher J. Hodgkins, a Democrat from Lee who stepped down from the House in 2003 at the age of 45, for example, got a $15,800-a-year boost. That is worth about $550,000 in total extra benefits if he lives to 80.
Francis G. Mara, a Democrat from Brockton who retired in 1996 at age 45, got a $11,300-a-year increase, worth a total of $395,000 if he lives to 80; and Paul E. Caron, a Democrat from Springfield who retired in 2003 at age 47, got a $14,500 annual bump in his pension, worth $480,000 in estimated lifetime payments.
Mara and Caron are now lobbyists.
You'll want to read the whole thing.
