YOU RETIRED MAKING HOW MUCH?
Thursday, July 26, 2012
CA Public Retirement is (371) Grand
By Kelvin Wade
I grew up reading Richie Rich comic books and marveling at his ginormous house, robot maid Irona and butler Cadbury. On TV, I watched Jed Clampett strike it rich and move his kinfolk to Beverly Hills, saw George (RIP, Sherman Hemsley) and Weezy Jefferson move on up to a deluxe apartment in the sky and saw white Park Avenue millionaire Phillip Drummond adopt two black kids from Harlem.
It’s not the American way to hate the rich because it’s the American way to aspire to “make it.”
Still, when certain news stories are brought to your attention, it can’t help but tweak your sense of economic justice. Last week, the Orange County Register reported that a new person had landed atop the list of highest-paid retirees in what they call the California Public Employees’ Retirement System’s $100,000 Club. These are public employees who have retired making more than $100,000 a year.
The person at the top of the list, now making $371,043 a year, is former Solano County Administrator Michael Johnson, who retired last year.
Doesn’t that amount seem stratospheric for a public servant?
After a recent pay cut, Gov. Jerry Brown is paid $165,288 a year, which is less than half of what Johnson receives in retirement.
The president of the United States, upon leaving office, receives a federal pension of $199,700 a year. Regardless of what one may think of the politics of either the governor of California or president of the United States, one can’t credibly argue that being administrator of the 19th largest county in California is a more difficult job than governor or president.
But some may quibble, saying it’s outrageous we pay presidents such a large pension after four or eight years of service and that cannot be compared to Michael Johnson’s 19 years of faithful county service with longevity pay.
That’s a good point. OK, how about this: The highest-paid retired four-star military officer, someone who served this country in the armed forces for 43 years, receives $272,892 a year. Our former county administrator rakes in a hundred grand more than the highest-paid retired military officer in the nation. On a gut level, does that seem right to you?
Years ago, it wasn’t the Fairfield-Suisun Sewer District members’ junkets to California Association of Sanitation Agencies conferences that raised eyebrows of local residents. It was Michael Johnson’s many trips up and down the state with stays at swanky hotels, playing golf and dining on gourmet meals that ended up in the paper, raising the hackles of concerned citizens. Johnson defended his many trips, saying he was doing the county’s business.
Now I’m not trying to whip up torches and pitchforks against a retired county administrator. He did nothing wrong and is now enjoying a comfortable retirement. After all, Michael Johnson didn’t pay himself.
Like I said, we don’t hate wealthy people. But any Average Joe looking at this knows we need some sense of proportionality. This is unsustainable. In 2005, there were 1,841 CalPERS retirees making more than $100,000. Today, there are more than 12,000 in that club.
When the highest paid public retiree in California is the former county administrator of Solano County, with no disrespect to our beloved county, something is wrong with the system. Peace.
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ADDITIONAL NOTES: Thank you to George Guynn for tipping me off to this. No one keeps an eye on the bottom line better than George. I was stunned. I remember all of the stories about Michael Johnson back int he day. In fact, I think I wrote one or two of them. And now to see him topping the list of a large number of public retirees in the $100,000 Club is....well, i guess I should've expected it. It's just not sustainable.
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