The three factors in a
legislator’s pension formula are (1) salary, (2) years of service and (3) 2.75
percent. Thanks to the 2005 law, which legislative leaders — Republicans and
Democrats — sneaked through the legislative process, Stein is able to use her
judge’s salary of $124,618 instead of her pay as a legislator, which was
$40,668. Stein did not vote on the bill.
Using the higher salary triples
her legislative pension, and, based on a Social Security Life Expectancy Table,
gives her a lifetime gain of an estimated $888,174 … on top of her regular
legislative pension.
Stein is not the only one who
left the General Assembly enriched from the 2005 bill. To name a few, former
Rep. Harry Moberly, D-Richmond, quit with a legislative pension of at least
$168,686 a year; former Rep. J.R. Gray, D-Benton, left with a legislative
pension of about $136,500 a year; and when former Rep. James Comer resigned to
take the oath as commissioner of agriculture it was a moment that spiked his
legislative pension at least $467,369. Moberly, Gray and Comer in 2005 voted in
favor of the self-enrichment.
Moberly and Gray also have a
second pension in KERS, the pension system for state employees, in which they were
enrolled automatically as a legislator once they “maxed out” in the
legislators’ pension system, thanks to a 1998 law change that hardly anyone
knows about.
So, Moberly’s government
pensions for being a legislator is around $180,000 a year — and he almost
surely has a third pension from his private-sector employer, Eastern Kentucky
University, that puts him well over $200,000 a year from three government
pensions.
Gray also has a second
pension in KERS, under the 1998 law, putting his two government pensions at
around $150,000 a year.
The list of super-rich
pension (courtesy of the taxpayers) for a part-time as a legislator is long and
growing. Reps. Bob Damron and Sen. Walter Blevins have announced they are
running for county judge-executive next year — a move that would more than
double their legislative pensions. Look for more legislators to run for
judge-executive.
Pension abuse is embedded in
the culture, especially in Frankfort. It is common for people in the capitol
city to be drawing “two and three” pensions.
Oh, did I fail to say the
pension system for state employees is so broke it’s on life-support, and that
pension costs are crowding out essential government services?
