Whiteout Press | List of highest government pension recipients in US

By on May 1, 2013   /   Arizona Press, California Press, Illinois Press, Press  

Findings from TUA’s nationwide pension project are featured in this story from Whiteout Press.
whiteoutpresslistofhighestMay 1, 2013. San Francisco. The taxpayer watchdog group Taxpayers United of America just released a list of the highest, multi-million dollar pension recipients from America’s government employee retirees. The details shed light on two ever growing concerns. One, government employees are bankrupting the nation with their exorbitant pensions. And two, the most blatant violators are from the San Francisco area, home of big government progressives.
Recently, Americans were outraged at the news that an Alameda County, California administrator – Susan Muranishi – was receiving a lifetime, annual, taxpayer-funded retirement payment of $423,000. But research by Taxpayers United of America (TUA) in the months since has turned up even more examples of blatant self-enrichment on the part of government bureaucrats, including offenders worse than Muranishi in Alameda County.
Digging up the details
“We have completed analysis of government employee salaries and pensions in nineteen states across the country,” explained TUA Executive Director Rae Ann McNeilly, “and while Ms. Muranishi’s pay is on the high end of the scale, it just isn’t as uncommon as you might think.”
As McNeilly points out, the below list of pension millionaires is taken from just 19 states. The remaining states are fighting as hard as they can to keep the golden parachute pensions of their state’s government employees secret. Based on the shocking findings below, readers can see why.
“How did pensions ever get so outrageous?” asks McNeilly, “These grotesque pension payments have far exceeded any possible original intent of adequately compensating ‘civil servants’ for meager wages that lean government budgets could barely afford for basic services. No, the pension scam has become the number one tool of corruption for top government union bosses to stay in power and to reelect those that would make such deals with the devil.”
Taxpayers United of America’s Rae Ann McNeilly goes on to detail how trillion-dollar government pension programs have taken on a life of their own, infecting every check and balance the system has to prevent such abuse. She explains, “To ensure the scam proliferates, lavish pensions have been awarded to the legislators who would vote on this issue. This keeps them protected by the state’s laws. And for judicial certainty, the very judges who might rule on any challenges to the system have themselves been made part of the conspiracy with gold-plated retirement security of their own.”
Top lifetime government employee pension recipients (from Taxpayers United of America):
*Note, the below estimated total pension amounts are just that, estimates. They are based on each recipient’s yearly pension payment multiplied by average life expectancy.

  • Alameda County, California. This county should win an award all by itself. In 2011, it had no less than 14 retirees who would each collect over $10,000,000 in pension payments while they’re retired. And it’s not just the few fat cats at the top. TUA reveals that the top 100 pension recipients in the county each average $5,000,000 in expected pension payments. The county also claims the top two individual spots on the below list.
  1. Gary Thuman, Alameda County, CA. Annual payment: $396,102. Total estimated pension: $17,824,590.
  2. Christine A. Lim, San Leandro, CA. Annual payment: $239,092. Total estimated pension: $10,436,359.
  3. Irene Mitchel, Pennsylvania. Annual payment: $332, 017. Total estimated pension: $9,960,523.
  4. Peter G. Mehas, Fresno County, CA. Annual payment: $241,807. Total estimated pension: $9,357,534.
  5. Tapas Das Gupta, Illinois. Annual payment: $426,885. Total estimated pension: $8,337,549.
  6. Frank A. Fairbanks, Phoenix, AZ. Annual payment: $246,813. Total estimated pension: $7,404,386.

As Taxpayers United of America reminds us, only 19 states provide details concerning the pension amounts that taxpayers are forced to pay retired government employees. The rest of the states are fighting tooth and nail to keep it secret. With so many states’ pension funds missing tens of billions of dollars, they’re being forced to drastically raise taxes and cut services to pay for the lavish retirements.
Currently, the 50 states have an estimated combined debt of $4.2 trillion. Of that amount, as much as $2.8 trillion is owed to retired government employees. Some states, like President Obama’s home of Illinois, have an unfunded pension liability of roughly $100 billion. There was a time not long ago that a number like that represented the United States’ entire national debt. Now, it’s just the missing pension money from one single state. It that doesn’t illustrate the enormity of the problem, nothing will.

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Fox 32 Chicago | Taxpayers United of America wants hiring freeze until pension crisis fixed

By on May 1, 2013   /   Illinois Press, Press  

TUA’s recommendation for a freeze of all Illinois government-employee hiring was featured on Fox 32 Chicago.
ILhiringfreezeCHICAGO (FOX 32 News) – Taxpayers United of America wants the Illinois government to freeze employee hiring until pension reforms are enacted.
Governor Quinn says he wants to hire 200 new state troopers this year, but the organization says there’s not enough money in the state’s budget due to pension payouts.
They claim that the top 200 pensions in our state are each collecting more than $102,000 per year.
That’s nearly 20 percent more than their annual salary was when they were employed.

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CBS 2 Chicago | 2 Investigators: State Police Retirees Draw Six-Figure Pensions

By on April 30, 2013   /   Illinois Press, Press  

Findings from TUA’s pension project on retired Illinois State Police are featured in this story from CBS-2 Chicago. To see video of the story, click on the player below.

(CBS) — Retire at 50 and collect more than $100,000 a year – that’s the plan for a special group of state workers.
Some members of the Illinois State Police can end up collecting millions of dollars, according to a study by Taxpayers United of America.
“The pensions for the state police are outrageous,” TUA President Jim Tobin tells 2 Investigator Pam Zekman.
He says each of the top 200 state police pensioners receive an income of more than $107,000 per year. Their former state agency has the earliest retirement age and the highest pension payout over time, Tobin says.
A state trooper with 25 years on the job can retire at 50 and get 80 percent of his pay. Add overtime and yearly cost-of-living-adjustments, and some end up making more in retirement than they did while they worked.
Take John Lofton, for example. He was making a salary of $80,801 a year when he retired in 2002. He also got a check for $65,482 for overtime, CBS 2 has learned.
Overtime payments boosted Lofton’s monthly salary of $6,800 by $3,100 a month for the purpose of pension calculations, an Illinois State Retirement System official says.
Lofton’s current pension, with COLAs, is now $134,026, compared to that $80,800 annual salary when he retired.
Lofton says he earned a lot of overtime providing security for state officials.
“I just went to work and figured when it was time to retire they would calculate it all out,” Lofton told CBS 2. “People like myself, we did our jobs and we paid into the system.”
When former Illinois State Police Capt. Daniel Roach retired at age 50 he also got an $82,204 payout for unused vacation and sick time. That one-time payout does not apply to calculations for his pension, which is currently $117,787.
According to Tobin’s calculations, the early retirement means Roach could collect $7.1 million if he lives to 85.
“I’m not going to live that long,” says Roach, who now runs a private security firm.
Tobin sums up the situation this way: “Healthy people are retiring at 50 with multi-million-dollar pension payouts. Another person is then hired to do his or her job — now you’re paying two people to do a job.”
CBS 2 found some retired troopers now have a personal service contract with the state, earning a second salary.
For example, former state police Lt. Scott Deubel was 53 when he retired and currently has a pension of $119,184 a year.
Since then, he has had a contract with the Illinois State Gaming Board. The panel now pays Deupel $71 an hour or up to an estimated $139,132 annually, according to a state spokesman.
Deubel spent 20 of his 30 years with the state police overseeing casino dock sites for the gaming board.
Now, as a deputy administrator of investigations, the spokesman says Deubel has been “instrumental” in supervising video gambling investigations and the startup for a 10th casino license.
Deubel’s contract salary, together with his pension, will potentially give him an income of $233,144 for 2013.
“Does that sound like a good deal for taxpayers?” Zekman asked Deubel.
“With my experience I think it’s an excellent deal for them,” Deubel responded.
State Rep. Jeanne Ives is pushing a bill that would eliminate all of the state’s current pension plans.
“We have the worst unfunded pension liability in the entire United States,” she says. “We either reform and save you a pension and move you to a modernized 401k plan or you are at risk of not having a pension.”
Mike Powell, president of the union local that represents state police, says his organization is against any plan to take or reduce their pension.
“The vast reason the state is in trouble is because they have not paid their pension contributions,” Powell says.
State officials say the use of an “alternative formula” to calculate state police pensions began in the 1960s and over time grew to include other state investigators, public safety employees and corrections officers.
Taxpayers United has long believed that the Illinois state police are unnecessary, except for the crime lab.
Illinois State Police spokeswoman Monique Bond said: “The Illinois State Police, like many other public safety organizations, have pension plans that are fully supported by its law enforcement officers throughout their careers. They pay into a retirement system and are entitled to their benefit of service. These are the men and women who risk their lives every day to keep peace and safety in all communities.
“Taxpayers United of America has stated that the Illinois State Police are “unnecessary” – a statement that should give every innocent victim, every law abiding citizen, and every taxpayer pause for concern.”

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