WHEC TV News 10 | Convicted and Cashing In

Christina Tobin, Vice-President for TUA, was featured in this story from WHEC TV News 10 on convicted New York public employees cashing in with pension payouts. See video of the story below.

Former public employees convicted and cashing in. Despite serving time behind bars, many public sector workers are still drawing a pension that you’re paying for with millions of your tax dollars.
You might have thought that if a public employee like a cop, a teacher or a state senator was convicted of a crime in New York, they would have forfeited their taxpayer funded pension. But until this year, that hasn’t been the case.
And we found plenty of examples of the convicted cashing in.
When former Greece Police Chief Merritt Rahn was found guilty of cover-up crimes involving two of his officers, he lost his job, his reputation and his freedom. He didn’t, however, lose his taxpayer funded pension. For the past two years, while behind bars, Rahn has been collecting a retirement pension of $55,000 per year.
“Well if he does, he doesn’t deserve it, that’s for sure,” said Greece resident Bob Warnick when we told him of Rahn’s pension.
In fact, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. We found many public employees convicted of crimes and still collecting their pensions. And it’s perfectly legal.
After digging online, we ran the names of some former dubious local public employees into a database that tracks pensions. And here’s what I Team 10 discovered:
*Former state assemblyman Jerry Johnson. Convicted of breaking into a staff member’s home in Livingston County, he retired in 2000 and now collects an annual pension of $39,807.
*Bob Morone, in prison for his part in the county Robutrad scandal…$18,790.
*Former City of Rochester inspector William Redden, who admitted to taking bribes in a bid rigging scheme…$21,376.
*Former Monroe County Sheriff’s Deputy James Telban was found guilty of misdemeanor DWI in a crash that killed a motorcyclist. He still gets his pension…$30,000 a year.
*John Stanwix, former Monroe County Water Authority chairman who pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge of steering contracts to a consulting company he owned has an staggering pension of $98,658 per year.
*Nelson Miles, Jr., formerly a teacher in Caledonia-Mumford, who downloaded child porn…$21,705.
*Crooked cop Gary Pignato, now locked up for using his badge in Greece to coerce women into sex, gets $45,494 a year.
“You shouldn’t be allowed to collect a pension after committing a felony offense and being convicted for it in relation to your job title and duties,” says state assemblyman Mark Johns.
Johns co-sponsored a bill that punishes elected or appointed public officials who violate the public trust by making them forfeit their state pensions. And last year, elements of that legislation were incorporated into an ethics reform bill, signed by Governor Cuomo, which allows prosecutors to go after public employee pensions in some cases.
Still the new law doesn’t apply to those already collecting.
“What if he received that pension in a private sector job? He certainly would still be drawing that,” says Rochester Police Locust Club President Mike Mazzeo.
Mazzeo and other critics question whether it’s fair to take away a pension that a public employee earned over an entire career.
“Someone that’s serviced for 20 to 25 or 30 years with outstanding service and the whatever the issue is, the mistake made. Does that justify reducing or taking away their pension?” asks Mazzeo.
Over the course of a retirement, those pension dollars add up.
Take the case of former Rochester Police Chief Gordon Urlacher. He had 25 years in with the department before he was convicted in 1992 of embezzlement charges. According to the New York State Comptroller’s Office, since his retirement shortly after his arrest, Urlacher has received close to one million dollars in pension payments.
“This issue only scratches the surface of the problem,” says Christina Tobin of Taxpayers United of America.
She’s been traveling the country warning of pending doom if public pension costs aren’t reigned in.
“The taxpayers, they aren’t aware that pensions are the number one budgetary problem in the United States today and we need to address this issue,” Tobin says.
Targeting felons may not fix the problem, but supporters say it’s a start.
“I think it’s a waste of the taxpayer’s money myself. If the guy’s in jail, that means he doesn’t deserve something. Why give him a good pension?” says Warnick.
I Team 10 also spoke with the local chapter of the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA). The labor union of public employees says it supports the idea of only rewarding members with pensions who don’t violate the people’s trust.
The new ethics law, call The Clean Up Albany Act of 2011 only addresses felonies and would not automatically strip a public worker of his or her pension upon conviction. A prosecutor or the New York State Attorney General’s Office would have to essentially petition the court to withhold all or part of that pension, depending on the severity of the crime the public employee was convicted of.

Governor Brown Fails Fresno

View release as a PDF
FRESNO— Governor Brown only missed his budget by about $16 billion and still hasn’t connected the dots between the crisis and the government employee pensions.
While residents across Fresno County face crushing taxes, falling home values, and high unemployment, the governor maintains favor with the union leaders by seeking a deal to cut government employee pay by 5%, increase taxes, and leave the pension problem untouched. This is the kind of deal that got us into this mess and yet here Brown is, making his own deal, selling out constituents to save face with union bosses who support him.
Taxpayers United of America (TUA) and Free and Equal (F&E) today revealed government employee pensions for the Fresno area. California is the 13th state in a nationwide tour for the two organizations.
“Many government retirees make more in pension payments than private sector taxpayers make in salaries, stated Christina Tobin, TUA Vice President and Founder and Chair of Free And Equal. “The California economy and the public pension systems are in serious trouble. Taxpayers struggle to save for their own retirement and fund the public pension system. Government retirees should be concerned that their pension payments will continue.”
Tobin continued, “For example, James J. Greenwood, retired Fresno County employee, collects an annual pension of $317,113. His estimated lifetime payout is $13,841,965*.”
Peter G. Mehas, retired Fresno government teacher, has an annual pension of $241,807, with an estimated lifetime payout of $9,357,934*.
“Retired Fresno government employee, Al Rush, has a lifetime estimated payout of $7,852,896* based on his actual annual pension of $191,768.”
View pension amounts below:

“California’s government pension systems are crushing middle class Californians. Replacing defined benefit pensions for all new government hires with social security and 401(k)s would eventually eliminate unfunded government pensions. If current government employees would just increase their pension contributions, they would preserve their pension benefits. We need a stable system that is fair to both taxpayers and beneficiaries or pension checks will stop coming.” Added Tobin, who will be attending Thursday’s Pacific Research Event that will examine public pensions.
“The pension crisis is the number one budgetary problem for cities, counties and states across the country. A nationwide movement is under way to shift the dialogue to action. We are collaborating with the leaders of pension reform, in working to avert the collapse that will result from inaction. We will be launching our nationwide database for pension and electoral reform in the coming days. This online database will provide a repository of information on elections: the names, the money and the agendas.”
“Many politicians lack the courage to do what’s in the best interest of taxpayers. The many pension groups that have formed are working to help enhance the citizens’ groundswell that wants true electoral reform.”
*TUA submits FOIA requests for actual pensions. Since personal information is not available, lifetime pension payouts are estimated based on retirement at 55, life expectancy of 85 (IRS Form 590), and 3% COLA.