PERA: WHERE DID THE PROBLEMS START AND WHO IS LIABLE?

Recently in the news there have been several stories about the issues concerning PERA (the Public Employees Retirement Association).  The problems being discussed concern the actuaries of the fund and ways to ensure the fund remains solvent. Two questions come to mind; one, where did the problems start and two, who is liable for the fund going defunct?

Up until 2004 there were not “double dippers” in PERA. Prior to 2004 a PERA employee could retire and come back to work as long as the employee did not earn more than $15,000 annually.  This worked well and was manageable for the PERA fund to handle. 

Big Bill Richardson tried several times to “tap” into the PERA fund but was stopped by the PERA members applying pressure to their representatives. Well, he finally found a way to “tap” into the fund.

In 2004, the legislature passed the double dipping bill, which was approved by then Gov. Big Billy Richardson.  This allowed a PERA member to retire and return to work, thus, receiving a pension and a salary from a city, county or state municipality.  The original proposal was to allow certain critical positions to be filled by retirees because they could not fill them otherwise, such as, police and fire. Big Bill told them “no”, it is for all PERA retirees or none.  The legislature passed the bill and it allowed all to return.  About this same time, the legislature also passed a 20 year retirement for corrections and other like employees who were on a twenty-five year plus retirement plan. 

 Major Problem #1

What did this mean?  It meant that these people who pay a lesser amount into PERA for twenty years would receive a full pension five plus years earlier. We do not blame anyone for taking advantage of such a benefit.  After all, Big Bill was looking to get a few extra votes.  Here is the problem, who was going to cover the costs of those who did not pay into the system for those extra five years? Who was going to cover the costs of those municipalities who did not make matching contributions to PERA for those extra five years?

 Major Problem #2

When Big Bill refused to allow the program for critical positions such as police and fire, he had a plan.  The plan was to pay his political friends with super high paying jobs and their PERA pensions.  Richardson had over 463 employees who were making over 100k a year as “political appointees” who were “double dippers.”  Richardson was asked to release the names of his cronies’ but Big Bill refused and never did.  Here is the major problem, who paid for all of those huge “double dippers,” many who still work for the State?  This same mentality was used across the state by other cities and county municipalities.  Albuquerque still has many of Marty Chavez’s political pawns, which Berry has been too chicken to get rid of them. We are still feeling the effects of corruption that was started by the Governor’s Office.

 This is the bottom-line; Richardson approved this ENTIRE mess as the Governor of the State of New Mexico for his own political gain. This makes the State of New Mexico liable for all and any damages to the fund and/or the members of PERA who have been or will be affected adversely.  The legislature needs to stop blaming PERA or its’ members for the debacle that was created, caused under the control of the State of New Mexico’s agent, Bill Richardson.

The New Mexico State Statue states the State must exhaust all other means of correcting a problem before they attempt to cut benefits to PERA members.  The State has NOT complied with this as of this time and are moving to cut PERA members benefits.  We foresee a huge lawsuit coming...

Appeasement

What we needed was freedom. What we got was appeasement. Monday night the city council voted to reduce fines for dastardly Dodges and frenetic Fords who run one of Albuquerque's 20 scam-era intersections (ABQ Journal - Subscription). Remember it's not drivers who run through red light scam-era intersections - it's their vehicles that are the motorized miscreants.

In general the council brought the fines associated with both the scam-eras and the scam-vans in line with their criminal counterparts.

Councilor Don Harris said city residents are beginning to accept the cameras, adding that making the fines equal to officer-issued citations was a step in the right direction.

"We have to accept that we have this technology and make sure it is fair and (that) due process is protected," Harris said.

- ABQ Tribune

We beg to differ with the councilor from district 9... We certainly do not have to "accept" this technology and the tweaks the council made last night do nothing to address the program's inherent due process problems. Technology has never been the issue except in its implementation that necessitates a delay in notification and a reliance on the state's "evidence" for your defense.

Right now, it is possible to put GPS tracking devices in every vehicle registered in the City of Albuquerque. These devices could continuously monitor our vehicles every move - more specifically every mile per hour over the posted speed limit. That data could automatically generate a citation that would be sent to the vehicle under the STOP Ordinance scheme. Not only would the city be a safer place, but the city could keep tabs on each and every one of us so that we were never in any danger. Little brother Marty would always be there to protect you.

You can bet that a system like that would make money for the city and The Almighty Alcalde at an astronomical rate. It might even be more effective at "changing driver's habits" than the current Redflex system. But even if it increased overall traffic safety by over 50%, would you want it?

Last night's action by the council only makes the STOP program appear more equitable by reducing the penalty. Offending vehicles and their owners will never, we repeat never get their day in court because they will never have the opportunity to appear in one.

(Sidebar)
What a difference a year makes. Marty, after claiming that there's no way to keep the program operating with these fine reductions is now in favor of them. Hmmmm... Seems that His Honor agrees with us (read it here).
(End Sidebar)

Now there are rumblings in Santa Fe that Big Bill and the Legislature have their collective eyes (no relation) on the scam-era green. Since the fines have been reduced, it's likely that it'll be the state that's taking Marty's "excess money" from now on. How long do you really think it'll be before scam-era revenue is just another income stream for the state to waste?

Anybody but Marty

We've been watching with some amusement as the liberal side of the blogosphere has been working itself into a lather over the Almighty Mayor's senatorial campaign. Of course their dreeeam candidate is busy trying to become Hillary's Veeep as he sees his presidential aspirations slipping away (Heath Haussamen).

His Largeness in Santa Fe (or Iowa, or New Hampshire, or Nevada) is seen as a sure thing if he were to jump into the senate race and the SurveyUSA poll conducted for KOB-TV earlier in the month seems to support that idea. However, "progressives" and the blog left aren't taking any chances and have started a Draft Udall campaign that is complete with a Draft Udall website.

Meanwhile Marty and company are busy trying to tout a poll that was supposedly conducted for former CD1 candidate Patricia Madrid by Lake Research. Chavez's people claim that the poll shows Chavez edging out Heather Wilson by 1 point (Democracy for New Mexico).

"Celinda Lake of Lake Research is the Chavez campaign's polling consultant (see our previous post), so even these selective data should be taken with a grain of salt. But the real question is why the complete polling results haven't been released."

- Democracy for New Mexico

For those of you who don't already know Democracy for New Mexico would be considered a little left of Mao and a bastion of "progressive" thought (or lack thereof). More importantly they embrace Democrat candidates as a matter of course.

(Sidebar)
In our opinion the website would be more appropriately named New Mexico for Democrats because democracy and freedom have nothing to do with their positions or the candidates they endorse... but we digress.
(End Sidebar)

The point is this "progressive" website is shall we say, less than enthused about the chief Martycrat running for U.S. Senate, despite (or perhaps because of) his official registration as a Democrat. This is precisely the group that the Almighty Mayor has been wooing with his green city initiatives and his indoctrination... uh, "training" flick "An Inconvenience to Albuquerque (city employees)."

"Unfortunately for Chavez, in recent SurveyUSA polling, Chavez has far less support than either Wilson or Pearce. Largely due to the fact that many progressive Democrats just don't trust the Mayor."

-NMFBIHOP.com

Despite sounding like a cross between federal law enforcement and a breakfast restaurant, NMFBIHOP is another way left of center blog. They too seem to have big problems with Marty and are actively advocating a Udall candidacy.

From what we've read, the issue comes down to trust. Progressive Democrats don't trust that Marty is really one of them and they're afraid (with good reason) that if the mayor of Albuquerque were to prevail in the Democrat primary, he'd turn around and lose to either of the major Republican candidates. Even more troubling for the "progressives" is their suspicion that if Chavez were to somehow win the Senate race, that he'd turn around and ignore them the way he has for most of his time as Mayor of Albuquerque.