February 15, 2011 11:07 AM
Website: "Stop The NY Double Dip" On Pensions
BY Celeste Katz
Colin Schmitt's New Dawn PAC has launched a petition website to protest the controversial practice of "double-dipping" by state workers.
The site, www.stopnydoubledip.com, is pretty self-explanatory: it seeks to change the law that allows state employees to collect both a salary and a pension simultaneously.
“As the hard working citizens of New York struggle to make ends meet, career politicians shrug off their responsibilities as elected representatives of the people in order to seek personal gain," Schmitt says. "What we are seeing with the “Double Dip” pension scandal is nothing more than politicians stabbing their constituents in the back. When our state representatives violate the trust given to them by the voters, they tarnish all who seek to serve and participate in our democratic process.”
Double-dipping has certainly been in the news as Gov. Cuomo -- who, relatedly, wants to outlaw "pension padding" -- and the Legislature begin to hammer out a state budget. Notably, Cuomo's pick for DMV chief, Broome County Executive Barbara Fiala, said she would not collect a pension (which would have come out to about $52,000 per year, per the Press and Sun-Bulletin) after moving to her new job.
As a Gannett investigation found:
"More than 2,100 state employees collected both salaries and pensions last year, with 35 of them receiving more than $200,000 in combined compensation, a review of state records shows.
"About 30 employees are also listed on the payroll of two state employers and received taxpayer-funded pensions, according to records of the State and Local Retirement System obtained by Gannett's Albany bureau from the Comptroller's Office through a Freedom of Information Law request.
"The list is just a snapshot of the double dipping phenomenon in New York state because there are other types of double dipping that could be occurring in public sector employment."
http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2011/09/26/new-york-city-police-pepper-spray-unarmed-protestors/
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