Morning Read: Writing big checks to bad public servants
The University of Vermont is in the midst of a controversy right now involving two top administrators — including former president Daniel Fogel — who will be paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in severance money as they are being shown the door.
Between them, the two executives, who were let go following a high-profile marital infidelity scandal, will cost UVM more than half a million dollars in pay with no work done in return, according to the Burlington Free Press.
In a statement, the school’s board of trustees chairman Robert Cioffi acknowledged that the payments were controversial.
“Certainly I have heard a significant amount of anger, frustration and second-guessing around this situation,” Cioffi said in his statement, “and I completely understand the reasons for those views. I recognize that it’s a lot of money, but in the national marketplace for university presidents, it is not at all out of line.”
This kind of thing is sadly common in government.
Former state Senator Pedro Espada, ousted from his seat and now facing Federal corruption charges, managed to rack up nearly $800,000 in staffing and office expenses before being shooed from office.
And former North Country assemblyman Chris Ortloff — now serving time in a Federal prison for attempting to rape young children — still receives roughly $53,000 a year in pension payments. He’ll receive that money for the rest of his life.
It strikes me that this is the sort of thing that warrants a second look and some kind of reform, especially in an era when there’s not nearly enough taxpayer money to go around.
As always, your thoughts welcome.
Tags: politics
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Not knowing all the details, the money to Ortloff strikes me as the oddest of the bunch.
This raises the question of SS payments. If you are receiving SS and then go to prison, do you still get SS payments?
The rich get richer and the have-nots foot the bill. That tune has become all too familiar.
Each of us should check the severance packages in our own employment contracts. I know mine doesn’t have any particular language covering extra-cirricular activities with my boss’ wife.
I’d be interested to know how many years Ortloff has in the retirement system. Not being too familiar with his career, I can only assume he had a significant number given that amount of per year benefit. That $53,000 is well above the average amount retired members of the state pension system receive. For instance, did he pad his final three years via questionable practices (practices which may now in fact be illegal give recent reforms enacted by the Attorney General Cuomo). It’s worth some more investigating.
Hey, it’s not just public employees. Look at all the CEOs in private industry that get booted with huge ‘Golden Parachutes’. It’s the capitalist way. As Albert Shanker once said “Access to resources, money and benefits, is a function of power not worth”. Those at the top make sure they get theirs first. That’s why they don’t like unions. Unions give power to people at the bottom. Of course unions have been known to abuse power too. Power corrupts and all that.
$53K is substantially more than my state pension. Of course legislators make more than grunts, even supervisor grunts. There’s that power thing again.
If you don’t want to pay the people the money then don’t make a deal with them in the first place. But when you say you are going to pay you have to pay. That is called keeping your word, a concept that some folks have never learned.
What you could do moving forward is have a clause in a contract that says that under these circumstances you will lose benefits.
Bad as all this is, like Jim says, these amounts are tip money compared with what the financial titans got in federal bailout money for doing us the public service of destroying everybody’s jobs. Perspective, and so forth.
Also, what Paul just said.
In fairness, I think there’s a significant difference between distasteful (a marital infidelity scandal) and the criminal (pedophile activities).
Paul, the problem is the deal are being made by the people that later collect on the deal. Like in the public sector when “management” negotiates with the public employee union, then management gets what ever the union receives. There is no incentive to stop these kinds of golden parachute type deals and most elected officials are not smart enough or paying enough attention to catch it.
Ortloff’s pension should just about cover his prison costs. I say bill him, and take the money right from that pension. If there is a “moral” issue with that, remind everyone Ortloff has no”morals” so it’s a push.
It’s along the same lines as a convicted murderer can not write a book about his crimes and make money on royalties, or if you want to be on medicaid you can’t own anything, like a house.
If your convicted of a crime, and are imprisoned you should have to forfiet your Social Security for the duration of your incarceration as repayment for your drain on society in general.
I think the mistake we make is believing that somehow public CEO’s are motivated and act differently thatn private CEO’s. They are not different and they act with the same greed, selfishness and ego as thier corporate brothers.
Indeed, Mervel. It’s just that the private CEOs have more money to help them steal/squander, and these days seem to have even more access to public money than the public CEOs.
More money for them, higher taxes for us. Who are we to complain?
Like in the private world it is a closed system. The people making the compensation decisions are part of the system that benefits from overpaid public CEO’s. Just as Boards of Directors grant over paid salaries to thier friends who are the CEO’s.
But Public CEO’s are essentially different. I have a choice whether to buy a Dell computer or not or an Ipad or not or to watch FOX or CNN. I can choose not to give those companies any of my support or money. But I don’t have a choice to pay these bozo’s in Albany, if I don’t pay them through my taxes I will go to jail. That is a big difference.
Right. But you can vote.
Good quick post from a liberal blog makes my points better than I do:
http://www.eschatonblog.com/2011/08/fair-share.html
The closer the target, the easier it is to lash out at.
Marital infidelity probably wouldn’t even be an issue in some countries, but it should always be remembered that the Puritans got here first and ruined everything. Infidelity with the bosses wife AND a severance package sounds like a win-win situation…I wonder where the went.
Oa that is true. The ultimate vote of course is with our feet, if a particular place is so bad that the ballot box does not work you can leave and many are making that decision in various states.
Part of the greatness of our unique system is the ability of States to offer different forms of government and services within the limits of our constitution. So yeah by living in New York which I do not have to, I am saying that the benefits are greater than the burdens of an essentially corrupt government for me.
But at some point that may not be the case and I have the freedom of moving and many in New York are doing that, which is a vote against our current system. So just look at the flow and movement of our population if you want to know what people really think.
Mervel,
do you think the exodus of people, young or old, from New York State really makes an impact on the thought process of our politicians?
I mean do they specifically react to this when enacting laws, or do they concede people leave, and focus on attracting replacement populus, say like “workforce” demigraphics, to be the new “serfs” to support their system?
I think i would have to say the attitude is more ‘cest la vie rather than where have we failed our constituants.
We shouldn’t have to move, just because we can. With that approach each State could,should,would, become their own “country”, and Counties the new States.
Right back to the battle for State’s rights.
I don’t know the answers, but i feel what’s in my gut.
2000 years or so seems to be the historical land mark for most civilizations anyway. It can not continue as status quo for much longer, ya think?
Two cents,
I don’t know how long it would take for the political machine to change due to people voting with their feet?
It may take generations, I think people leaving is a better alternative than civil unrest and violence however. Of course the voting box is another alternative and I think probably the best one for any particular state but when the game in a particular state is rigged from the outset, the voting box becomes useless for those who are marginalized.
As far as a civilization goes I think we have a long long way to go, I mean it may get much worse, but we are all relatively well fed even the poorest among us we have much to be grateful for even with how screwed up things seem sometimes in this country.
But that is why I really think giving people the opportunity to move and find the governance structure that works best for them is a great advantage we have in this country over many other countries. Sooner or later corruption will collapse in on itself it is not a successful model, it works very well for the corrupt few but at some point it will fall apart.
Mervel,
i’m not so sure that the governance structure is so different from one state to another, that even though i feel very marginalized, i also feel that margin will not ever be far enough away that when that corruption falls on itself, it won’t be on top of me too.
Thanks for the reply. It reminds me of a Bible quote about there is no need to slay the wicked, leave them to their own devices and they will destroy themselves. But in the meantime…..