"Robert Citron, the disgraced treasurer whose risky investments led Orange County into the largest municipal bankruptcy of its time, is collecting around $148, 327 a year. That’s an increase of more than 50 percent above the $92,904 a year pension that he made when he retired in 1994 – thanks to cost of living raises."
And then there is retired OC sheriff Mike Carona who is receiving $217,457 per year while out on bail appealing his federal witness tampering conviction.Another top OC pension earner is Blake Anderson, who came in fourth on the County's pension list:
"... former Orange County Sanitation District general manager Blake Anderson, who was forced to resign in 2005 after hiring a leadership guru at $180,000 to help the sewer agency find its corporate soul. Dharma Consulting was hired by Anderson on a no-bid contract at $15,000 a month. Anderson, who was criticized in a later audit for exceeding his authority, now lives on about $228,025 a year."I hope the list is released in its entirety and without redacting. I think tax payers deserve to know how much is spent on county employee pensions. Something that we always need to keep in mind is that the people we elect today will be the bloodsucking pensioners of tomorrow. Stop defined-contribution pension plans for ALL elected officials!
When I was young, people could work hard at their job and be rewarded for their tenure with matching 401k's and health insurance. Some places even offered bonuses to employees when things were going well.
ReplyDeleteThere was even a term we used to describe their incomes, it was called a living wage. Some people went into public service and gave up the bonuses and better pay for more time off and a check that was always good. Another benefit of public service was the pension plan. If you dedicated your life to the job, you were assured a comfortable retirement.
These days, with corporations moving their work force to off shore, slave labor countries, some are making more and more profits while at the same time putting Americans out of work. These out of work people no longer pay taxes and cities, counties and states are suffering from these international corporate decisions.
Those government jobs with pensions of over a hundred thousand dollars are sounding better and better to people that chose the big money over the safe money but now find themselves out of work. They wanted a chance at millions or billions of dollars like Meg Whitman, Michael Bloomberg or Carlie Fiorina but it didn't work out and some of them blame the public servants for doing better than them. Now public servants are having to compete with the likes of Meg Michael and Carlie that want to buy their way into public jobs and take them away from those that devoted their lives the community.
You Greg are running for office. I hope you win. You don't have the war chest that out of work CEO's have from their golden parachutes to run a campaign. What if Michael Bloomberg Jr. decides to run against you?
(I don't know if there is a Jr. Bloomberg but you get the picture). You're a straight shooter and don't go for shenanigans and such. Even though I give you a hard time for being more conservative than I am, I think you would do a good job for any city you decided to work for. Council member isn't a high paying job but you can make a lot of progress in that position and get a lot of satisfaction from doing so. You're a nuts and bolts kind of guy and won't put up with a lot of B.S., that's what towns need. You could probably do better in the private sector financially than devoting your time to making a better place to raise your family.
I assume by your work ethic that you will do both. Still, if the public sees fit that you get the job and it eventually leads to a life as a public servant, I wouldn't be against you receiving a decent retirement package for your service.
As a City Council member, I would not accept any retirement on the backs of the tax payer. Fullerton's council is a part-time job that pays very little. In fact, it pays SO little that I have to question the motives of anyone who contributes more than a couple thousand dollars. There are and will be plenty of candidates with lots of money at their disposal; I'm not one of them. I concede that I am a financial underdog. However, most Fullerton voters don't have $100,000 to spend on an election which makes me, at least financially, a common man.
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