jackiedoherty.org

I read with great interest yesterday’s article in the Lowell Sun regarding newly elected State Representative Jim Arciero’s bill to end a decades-old perk that enables legislators with 20+ years of service to increase their pensions substantially if they are fired or not re-elected. According to the Sun article: “Depending on their salaries and time of service, the perk allows officials with more than 20 years on the job to begin collecting “superannuation” pensions immediately, along with life-time health insurance.” The article goes on to list a series of gluttonous beneficiaries of the perk that defies belief: such as Mike Lewis, former director of the Big Dig, raising his pension base by one million dollars to $2.47 million, or Representative Christopher Hodgkins more than quadrupling his pension. That Arciero, who served for years as a staff member for State Senator Steve Panagiotakos, has introduced this important reform legislation less than two months into his first term is impressive. If he can get the support he needs from his colleagues, even better. Aside from the stunning realization that boosting pensions this way has gone on since 1950, how could anyone NOT support putting an end to such a blatant abuse of taxpayers’ money? Let’s keep our eyes on this one to see if there truly is any hope of self-reform under the Commonwealth’s Golden Dome.