Eggnog fight!
Nothing like a little internecine warfare to liven up the office Christm -- er, holiday party. So it goes at Portland City Hall, where, according to today's O, the nasty issue of police and firefighter pension reform has taken a decidedly ugly turn.
On the one side we have Mayor Tom "Grampy" Potter (the ex-police chief who reportedly draws an annual police pension of around $91,000 over and above his $104,000 pay as mayor) and Commissioner "Fireman Randy" Leonard (ex-head of the firefighters' union, who reportedly takes down around $48,000 a year in city fire pension, over and above his $89,000 salary on the City Council). They're taking umbrage at the deal that has apparently been cut between Sam "the Tram" Adams and Dan "Big Pipe" Saltzman. Big Pipe's up for re-election, and he wants to supplement his spotty list of accomplishments with reform of the expensive bluecoat retirement system, which is the city's biggest drain on its property taxpayers. And so he has apparently cut a deal with Adams that Saltzman will vote for Tram's lobbyist disclosure ordinance in exchange for Adams's favorable vote on changing the pension system.
With Commissioner Erik "Opie" Sten also up for re-election and probably needing to do something about the runaway pension problem, that looks like three votes for some serious change to police and fire disability and retirement. Potter and Leonard are crying foul. We need to have a debate before anyone makes up their mind, etc., etc.
Come on, gentlemen. Are we to believe you two large beneficiaries of the existing system haven't already formed at least a preliminary view on the subject?
Meanwhile, Potter's sending out signals that "there won't be enough time" to have a debate and get reform proposals in front of the voters in the May primary. That doesn't square with the story we were told back when the whole issue was postponed last summer.
Both Sten and Saltzman face serious challengers for their seats, and those Council wannabes are no doubt just waiting to lob some grenades into this one from the sidelines. All in all, it's got the makings of high drama and low comedy for the new year.
| Posted at 9:09 AM | Permalink |
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Comments (9)
Fantastic. I love "low comedy".
Posted by justin | December 16, 2005 11:25 AM
It makes me wonder if Hizzoner the mayor or Firefighter Randy should even be voting on the issue when it comes up. What pension dogs to they have in this fight?
Conflict of interest, anyone?
Posted by Robert Canfield | December 16, 2005 11:41 AM
At least the fight still remains local.
The actuary, Steve Johnson, makes suggestions about full funding, which trigger a bond issue for the purpose of buying stocks and such. But Mr Steve Johnson cannot lawfully guarantee returns, only make a guess called an assumption. If the advocates of modification want to invest in stocks then so be it, but they had better find a non-taxpayer to guarantee the return, preferably the bond issuer, and make all the bond payments come from such guaranteed returns. Leave the local taxpayers out of the business of crazy (and criminal) schemes to rob the local bank and race across the state line as fast as they can with the loot.
Wall Street is playing hard ball with GASB folks to make buying stocks with public bonds the law of the land. This is not policy but surreal idiocy.
Keep the fight in-house.
Posted by Ron Ledbury | December 16, 2005 11:54 AM
When Potter's drinking buddy, Bud Clark forced then chief Harrington to make Potter an assistant chief, Potter began boasting to his close wine drinking associates he'd be chief soon and was planning on a bigger pension, staying on the job just long enough to qualified for Mo' Money.
Potter claimed it was burned that made him retire. Yeah sure, must have been all those frequent long vacation trips to Mexico and Hawaii, and nightly expensive dinners (on the city's dime; records of which Potter had the police bureau destoyed just before he announced his run for mayor). Watch this big ego Potter; he's skilled at manipulating people and pouts when he does get his way.
Posted by rushjob | December 16, 2005 12:02 PM
Besides the "police and firemen retirement" gernade, I hope that Amanda Fritz and other council candiates lob the "Tram Scam" onto all running council members and the whole council. They all voted for it directly or indirectly, including "Tram Adams" through his boss Vera. Research the Tram Scam through "Goldie" who lobbied Vera for the Schnitzers and Zidells, then follow the lobbying that begat PDC Urban Renewal for the North Macadam area, then keep on going to each council member including Randy who received over $50 thousand dollars from North Macadam interests for his last campaign. The other council members also have large contributions in their vests from the same NoMo interests. The tree branches many ways. Amazing story that media has failed to explore.
Posted by Lee | December 16, 2005 1:35 PM
Is the actuary Steve Johnson or Mark Johnson (the former actuary for Oregon PERS)? I know quite a number of the pension actuaries in town, but am not familiar with a Steve Johnson.
Posted by Erisaweasel | December 16, 2005 2:43 PM
Mark not Steve, yes. I guess the name of the basketball player at OSU still creeps into my mind, from the failed bid for NCAA glory. Maybe I am getting too old already? I don't have a visual of the face to go with the Mark guy. I just have a visual of a faceless pawn of Wall Street.
Posted by Ron Ledbury | December 16, 2005 3:40 PM
About time things got stirred up at city hall.
I guess the realization of being hanged in the morning (oops, I mean running for reelection) does tend to concentrate the mind wonderfully. Otherwise business at the city council (Portland's mutual masturbation society) could go on as usual - how inconvenient.
It's sad that the only time these clowns look up from the comic books they're reading(?) and deign to think about concerns of hoi polloi is election time. Even then, their motivations are as selfish and corrupt as usual; as in "how can I screw him before he screws me" or "how can I divert the public's attention from the cost of my pension jackpot". (In fairness, I should give Adams a few more months to show his allegiances before lumping him in with the others - but the Vera factor is at least one strike.)
Of course Potter & Leonard should recuse themselves from this issue. A blind man can smell the conflict of interest!
If this "clean elections" deal gives us even one honest person in city government then I'll pay double!
If only our hard-charging, independent-minded local daily paper would expose the crap that goes on and the money and favors that change hands in this town, maybe the city puppets would be forced to be responsive to those governed instead of their puppetmaster$.
If only pigs could fly!
Sorry, time for my meds...
Posted by rickyragg | December 17, 2005 1:15 PM
They can deal all they want, but until they negotiate with the unions it's all a pipe dream. Those benefits are contractual, and the Oregon Supreme Court is unlikely to change that.
Posted by Kai Jones | December 18, 2005 4:16 PM