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Pension Abuse: Just as wrong when committed by Republicans, as by Leftist Unions

Posted June 18th, 2010 by Michael Erickson
As Republican Gubernatorial Nominee Meg Whitman gears up for what promises to be hundreds of millions in campaign dollars denouncing out of control public pensions, and other fiscal boondoggles of the Leftist regime in Sacramento, we should hope that she and others will call attention to pension abuse committed by fellow "Republicans." Republicans for the National Interest Chairman Michael Erickson refers here to the practice of pension "double dipping" and, even more broadly, to a culture of conniving self-interest within our bureaucracy. Once, good old fashioned shame could restrain public men from their worst impulses; when that no longer works, we need to wield the "big stick" of reform.

Here is an article entitled "Is another Coast Community College District Trustee trying to double his pension?" as written by Art Pedroza and published originally in the "Orange Juice" blog:

Do you remember former Coast Community College District Trustee Armando Ruiz? He was the guy who retired for one day then ran, and won, again and ended up doubling his pension. Voters were so peeved that they ousted him in 2008, replacing him with university professor Lorraine Prinsky.

Now I am hearing that yet another trustee from the Coast Community College District, Walter Howald, intends to double dip on a PERS pension. Apparently Mr. Howald is trying to join the California Community Colleges Board of Govenors, via an appointment by our lame Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Howald was elected to the Board in the 1980s and worked as an attorney. Early in the 2000s, he approached the then-Chancellor of Coast, William Vega, and asked him for help in finding a full time position in the community college system so he could earn a “PERS retirement.”

Vega was successful and used his influence to get Howald a six figure job at Bakersfield College, while held kept his trustee position at Coast. During this time there may have been periods where Howald did not even live in the Coast District full time, as he spent most of time living in Bakersfield – his information there was kept secret from the people of the District, and he officially listed his occupation as “attorney” on election papers and other documents, even though a Google search will reveal that Howald was really a community college manager.

Howald worked as an administrator at Bakersfield for over five years, left, and he is now back on the Coast PERS program. There are even questions as to whether or not it was legal for the District to place Howald back on PERS as trustees no longer are able to get PERS retirement benefits. But, regardless, Howald is back on PERS.

The double dip occurs by Howald retiring, and combining his years of service as a trustee with his short few years as a community college administrator. His large salary from the administrator job is what is used to base his pension on, even though the vast majority of his service to taxpayers has been as a trustee. The double dip will cost tax payers much, much more.

It is almost certain that if he is re-elected in 2010, Howald will “retire” later in his next term and combine both the pensions, when he should only get his pension as a trustee, costing tax payers upwards of a million dollars through the remainder of his life. He knows he will benefit from this, as public records indicate that Mr Howald just completed construction of a million dollar home.

Former Coast trustee Ruiz was voted out of office for doing the same thing: combining service as an administrator and trustee to enrich himself with an enlarged and unearned public pension. It is well known throughout the Coast organization that Howald has abused his power to exploit the pension system in California. Howald would respond by saying this is not true, but if it was not, why would he go back on the Coast PERS plan after leaving another community college?

What is worse is that Howald has traveled extensively at taxpayer expense during a time of financial crisis, so much that the Coast board had to put a cap on travel costs. Merely reviewing board agendas on the Coast website reveals that Howald’s expenses for travel over the last several years amount to the salary of a low level employee. How could Mr. Howald behave so irresponsibly? It demonstrates a lack of leadership. And now, after operating in these ways, Mr. Howald wants to be on the State’s Board of Governors?

If Mr. Howald wishes to be re-elected to the Coast board later this year, and also wants to be on the State Board of Governors, he should be asked to relinquish his pension double dip, do the ethical thing and admit that he was greedy, wrong, and that he abused his power by pressuring Coast administrators to help him find employment, and work with government leaders and policy makers to eliminate pension abuse once and for all.

At the minimum, Howald should note on his election papers that he was a community college manager, and really not a full-time attorney over the last decade, when he goes before voters in November. At least then, some of the truth about Mr. Howald will be known.

Needless to say, we need to find someone decent to run against Howald – and time is running out.

By the way, in case you are wondering, Howald is a Republican. OC GOP Chairman Scott Baugh says he wants to do something about unions and the public employee pension crisis. Well Scott, here is your assignment – find someone to take this guy out in November.

Memo to the OC Democrats. You can pick up this seat. Get off your butts and find another Prinsky and get her on the ballot!!!

An Article Written by Frank Mickadeit for the O.C. Register

On June 18th, 2010 Michael Erickson says:
"The Sad Armando Ruiz Saga," as written by Frank Mickadeit of the Orange County Register. It was first published on November 4, 2004: Politics is a selfless job; then there's Armando Ruiz. Almost every political hack who had access to a laptop at the Republicans' Sutton Place gala Tuesday was tracking the presidential race, Congress or perhaps a state Legislature battle or Agran's rise from the ashes. Except me. I was interrupting the Republican vote-tallying operation in the party's inner sanctum by demanding access to data on the Coast Community College District board of trustees race, where Armando Ruizwas running for re-election just four days after he pulled one of the most cynical acts by a local office-holder in some time. Would voters realize that and throw him out of office? Before I answer, the background: As the clock ticked toward 5 p.m. last Friday at the county education office, time was running out for Ruiz, who had until precisely that hour to officially ``retire'' from the board of trustees or miss a golden opportunity to become one of the most blatant double-dipping pension-spikers in O.C. history. But at 4:32, the fax machine came to life and out popped a four-sentence letter from him giving notice. He was taking advantage of a loophole that allows a person who exits two state jobs on the same day to count the highest-paying of the two as the salary for both jobs for the purpose of calculating his pension. (The loophole was closed years ago, but Ruiz was grandfathered in.) So, Ruiz ``retired,'' effective Oct. 31, as a part-time trustee of the Coast district and as a full-time counselor at Irvine Valley College. Even though the trustee gig pays just a $9,800 annual stipend, he was able to calculate his state pension as if he had been paid $106K a year for that ``job'' plus the $106K a year he got for his real job at Irvine. So, based on a$212K salary he never really made, his pension will work out to about $108K a year for life. Otherwise, the pension would have been $59K -- $54K for the real job; $5K for the trustee job. Even though Ruiz was officially retired from the Coast district board, he was still listed on Tuesday's ballot as an incumbent. A cynical person might say that by waiting to ``retire'' just days before the election Ruiz knew it would be too late to change the ballots. And incumbents rarely lose such elections. Why would he wait until late Friday? Politicians have long known that if you have to do some nasty business, the best time is late on Friday because a reporter might miss it altogether, and even if they catch it, it's going to go into Saturday's paper. That's a low-readership day for news events, and even if people read it, they tend to forget about it by Monday. Reporter Marla Jo Fishergot the story into Saturday's paper, but because of the lateness and other news, it went on Page 6. Like a cynical politician might hope for. So I decided to step in. Normally, a local columnist wouldn't be allowed to write a critical article about a politician on Election Day. I knew that, but I went ahead and wrote the column about Ruiz, arguing that what he did was so egregious and cynical that an exception should be made. He deserved such treatment -- and voters deserved another chance to read of his deeds. I hoped they would be reading the column at the breakfast table just as they were thinking, ``Gee, wonder who I should vote for today in the Coast college district?'' (By the way, I was fair to Ruiz, calling him at precisely 4:32 p.m. Monday for a chance to respond, but he didn't call back. He hung up on Fisher.) But my editors didn't buy it and spiked my column Monday night. That's why I didn't have a column on Election Day. Well, were I still an editor here I might have made the same call. So, now the results. Ruiz won, getting 40.8 percent of the vote to his two challengers' 31.6 percent and 27.5 percent, respectively. For Ruiz to have lost, about 13,000 of the 60,000 Ruiz voters would have had to switch, assuming his two challengers evenly split those defectors. It's unlikely one column would have moved that many votes. I wonder if Ruiz is now eligible for a third state pension?

A Comment from Michael Erickson

On June 18th, 2010 Michael Erickson says:
After several years of journalism highlighting his pension double dipping, as well as abusively high amounts of taxpayer reimbursements for travel expenses, Armando Ruiz would be voted out of the Coast Community College District Board. In spite of his dubious "retirement," and an unsuccessful recall effort, Mr. Ruiz managed to milk the system on that board for several decades. His behavior among many others who leech upon the public treasury is notable only for the sheer magnitude of shamelessness and chutzpah. Now, as described above, it appears that we have in Mr. Howald yet another prospect of ripping off the taxpayers. Will he meet a similar fate, especially in light of an electorate that has no more tolerance for fiscal abuse on their dime (as seen last year in their across the board rejections of Propositions 1A through 1F); or will he be rewarded by his chummy relations with the political elite in Orange County with an advancement to the California Community Colleges Board of Governors? As is often the case, the question will be decided by the extent of public awareness and outrage, on the one side, and successful, political dealmaking on the other. Poverty has its riches, yet few opt for the thinner wallet over the other; similarly, everyone is going to profess a great yearning for reform, but when it comes to specifics, or threatens to derail a very well greased ambition, then reform has few friends. As a Republican, I would call attention to the example of Theodore Roosevelt, a great civil service reformer who earned his stripes by the number and magnitude of his enemies in Albany. As the preeminent voice of reform in the dirty, crony infested, New York State politics of the later half of the nineteenth century, he recaptured the ideal of public service. It is our opportunity as Republicans to do the same today. The electorate is open for the charge, as exhibited in the Tea Parties and in a growing, bi-partisan contempt for the reckless spending and sheer, defiant cronyism in Washington and Sacramento. But if we are to be successful, then first we must be sincere; and that means cleaning out our own house, before leveling yet another round of the same, ad hominem attack of the entrenched, self-serving Leftist Unions who essentially own the Democrat Party. Where is the Orange County Republican Party leadership on the issue of pension "double dipping" by Republican officeholders? Where is the shame?

A Second Comment from Michael Erickson

On August 3rd, 2010 Michael Erickson says:
Recently, it has come to my attention that Mr. Howald will not be seeking re-election to the Coast Community College District Board. I have no doubt that this is in part a result of media scrutiny about his clear attempt at "double dipping." As I have seen in many contexts, corruption thrives when the spotlight peers elsewhere. By contrast, corruption falls to the wayside, when the spotlight properly centers on the inexcusable and vain behaviors that underly it. It is amazing indeed how the light of righteousness will render apart the cobwebs and shady sloppiness of a situation allowed to fester in its own moral darkness for far too long. There is another necessary tool in cleaning an unkempt room and that is the willingness of someone to stand very courageously and publicly against the corruption (and corrupt person or persons). We have that example here in the candidacy of Dr. Lynne Riddle for Coast Community College District Area 5. I want to endorse her non-partisan candidacy and to offer some background as to her exemplary qualification for the job in the following note.

Endorsement of Dr. Lynne Riddle for CCCD Area 5

On August 12th, 2010 Michael Erickson says:
Community colleges are in desperate need of leaders that can provide wisdom, guidance, and fiscal discipline in order to maximize opportunities for students in today's challenging times. Dr. Lynne Riddle, a retired federal judge and resident of Newport Beach, is running on a platform of ethics, integrity, and transparency to become the next Trustee from Area 5 of the Coast Community College District in Orange County California. She would succeed Walter Howald, a Trustee who has decided not to run after being confronted about his alleged abuses and "double dipping" within the State pension system. No other candidate has the portfolio of experience that Dr. Riddle offers students and taxpayers of the District: experience in the classroom, years of service as an attorney, and a strong record as a federal bankruptcy judge, all along with a Doctor of Education degree. Dr. Riddle's background, experience and education make her the ideal public servant. If elected to the Board, then Dr. Riddle will join a group of fellow Trustees who stand for openness and transparency in governance, maximum academic opportunities for students, high ethics, and further, a common bond against pension abusers that seek to double dip from Trustee positions and other publicly paid jobs in government service or education. Dr. Riddle's experience as a judge gives her the advantage over other candidates of being able to look at issues objectively, to search for the truth, and to reach decisions that are equitable to all. These attributes are critical to any individual considering a Trustee position. Dr. Riddle's commitment to openness and transparency will ensure that the highest levels of professionalism and integrity continue on the Coast Board. She will ensure that students continue to have as many opportunities as possible to grow and to learn, will work closely with management to ensure a productive working environment for all District staff that fosters strong morale, and will work with fellow Trustees to stop longstanding practices in the Coast District that promote nepotism, favoritism, and pension spiking among Trustees and staff. Other candidates for the Board talk about "past success" - what this really mean is a former management and a former Board of Trustees that made "back room deals," hired convicted felons to work as highly paid consultants, double-dipped on their pensions, and repeatedly violated the Brown Act in order to preserve control and secrecy over their activities. Dr. Riddle represents the antithesis of these negative attributes of the past. Given the outstanding qualifications that Dr. Riddle brings as a public servant, Republicans, Democrats and Libertarians alike within the Coast Community College District should seriously consider and then vote for Dr. Riddle as their next Trustee. She will work hard to serve the students and taxpayers of the District, carrying out her duties in the most ethical, professional way.