Sun Chronicle editor Mike Kirby has penned this column about pension abuses at the Bristol County Sheriff's office. Kirby notes that while technically within the pension rules, the sheriff has been able to avoid scrutiny. He thinks the county system is a main reason for the lack of accountability.
He writes,
"And that's why a guy like Hodgson can claim to be a hawk while allowing the chicken coop to get robbed."It is the taxpayers who are paying ...
... for these pensions. No small wonder that the pension fund has a huge unfunded liability. The most egregious example from Kirby's column,
"... Robert Tweedie, who served as a part-time, on-call pharmacist for the New Bedford Board of Health for 22 years, making $2,200 a year. In 2001, Hodgson hired Tweedie for a $77,000-a-year pharmacist job. After working exactly three years - public retirees' pensions are based on their top three years' salary - Tweedie retired, boosting his pension from $1,171 a year to $46,781."That means after paying Mr. Tweedy $48,400 over 22 years, the taxpayers will be paying him over $46K for the rest of his life based on his three years on Faunce Corner Road.
Sheriff Hodgson defends his practices.
Time for a new Sheriff in town.
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Dennehy's pension fraud may even be more egregious:
Kathleen Dennehy, who, after being terminated by Patrick in 2007, took a job with Hodgson as superintendent of security and operations. She retired 18 months later at age 54 with a pension of more than $106,000, more than $45,000 a year higher than it would have been if she had retired as correction commissioner. If she collects her pension for another 25 years, Dennehy will have received in excess of a million dollars in additional benefits.
(From the Boston Globe)
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/03/09/some_at_bristol_jail_got_boost_in_pension/?page=2
Quinn has said he will not do 'pay to play' and not take money from bristol sheriff's office employees or their family members to eliminate this nepotism and political favoritism. Let's see if he actually does!
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