| (Cross posted at Progressive City-State.)
I just read about this and my jaw dropped. While it's not surprising for politicians to find loopholes and ways around everything, this certainly takes the cake.
A Niagara County legislator (Note: Niagara County is my western neighbor) recently resigned... but maybe still be allowed to come back. The reason he resigned? He wanted to take advantage of lifetime health insurance:
By leaving office last week, O'Connor seems to have found a way to maintain free, lifetime health insurance from the county. Such benefits were owed to him under a 1998 resolution that provided lawmakers with more than 20 years of service with full coverage free of charge. In June, those eligibility guidelines were altered so that any lawmaker with O'Connor's years of experience would have to pay 50 percent of their premiums if they were sworn in Jan. 1. By resigning when he did, O'Connor becomes immediately eligible for free coverage, while retaining his ability to return to office next year.
Niagara County Attorney Claude Jeorg said he fully expects O'Connor to return to office and said, legally, there's nothing that would prevent him from doing so. He added that there may be some questions about O'Connor's health insurance eligibility, some of which may be answered by the county's insurance department and others that may require court action to sort out.
UPDATE: Legislator Sean O'Connor will be coming back, according to today's Niagara-Gazette.
More on the flip. |
| The focus of this is Niagara County Legislator Sean O'Connor. What's sad about this is that he is a Democrat. Being a Democrat, he should know how important this issue is nationally and how important it is to our party's message. He has blamed the Republicans for making this a political issue (which they no doubt would) but he's the one who resigned and apparently has every intention of returning. And no one is stopping him.
I know how touchy this whole health insurance thing. I'm a vocal critic of the policy here in Orleans County which allows part-time legislators to receive full benefits: Health insurance, life insurance, disability, long-term care and so on. My column in today's Journal-Register discusses the health insurance issues in Orleans County and my findings about what benefits legislators receive and how much WE are paying for them.
Between O'Connor, my legislators here in Orleans County and State Senator Eric Adams whining about making $79,500 a year, there's plenty of politicians looking for handouts and in some cases, giving themselves raises or benefits.
I believe part-time legislators shouldn't receive ANY of the following, no matter what level of government they are on:
*Full-time salaries. Why state senators or members of the Assembly receive VERY NICE salaries boggles my mind. They should be paid something... but something much lower than $79,500.
*Full-time benefits. Here in Orleans County, the Legislature passes a resolution at their reorganizational meeting every two years that authorizes them to take advantage of full-time fringe benefits, health insurance benefits, mileage reimbursement, etc. Yet, according to one legislator-elect I talked to who served on the same body in 2004 and 2005, the legislators work, at most, 15 hours a week. They meet for committee meetings and so on and they might take tours of county buildings. Other than that, they don't work more than 15 hours a week. I used to work 15 hours a week at a grocery store. I got paid $5.85 an hour and received no benefits. The county legislators here get an $11,287 stipend, with the chairman receiving a $16,932 stipend, plus they are allowed to dip into fringe benefits - all of which normally apply to full-time management. No kidding.
Do politicians deserve some sort of reimbursement for their work? Certainly. They are putting themselves out there to represent their constituents. But most political positions are part-time. They deserve a small, modest stipend for their work, but they don't deserve benefits. If they have to travel to an out-of-county conference, fine. They can get mileage for that. But charging the county to drive from home to a committee meeting is a practice all too common here in Orleans County. I don't know how it works in other counties, but we have some of the worst abusers of the mileage system you'll ever see.
If you are in political office, you deserve something. But you don't deserve the same benefits afforded to full-time county employees, or full-time state employees for that matter. |
