Oregon GOP legislators have been dutifully chipping away at Oregon Public Employees Retirement System(PERS) each session. Successfully pitting schools and local governments against retirees, they have slashed away with the right hand while with the left they deal out 30-year tax deals to corporations who threaten to move out of Oregon. Retirees have seen their pension promises reneged upon with some even having to return money already paid to them. However, not all retirees have suffered equally.
In the article Special amendment to PERS bill benefited only one person: House clerk Ramona Line, The Oregonian reveals that one last-minute amendment to the 2007 PERS revision was put in place by then Representative Brian Boquist (R-Dallas) at the behest of the Chief Clerk of the House who happens to be the daughter of a former Speaker of the House.
The add-on to the bill -- introduced at the request of then-Rep. Brian Boquist, R-Dallas -- included narrowly tailored language allowing Line to buy back pension account balances that she had previously cashed out with money she rolled over from the state's deferred compensation plan.In a short version of what this amendment allowed Line to do, she had been "let go" in 1981, cashing out almost $8,000 in her pension account just right before the stock market soared. The amendment allowed her to "buy back" her pension so that her pension is now 107% of her salary for a total of almost $120,000 a year.
Because of Line's earlier refund, she didn't get those years of earnings credited to her pre-1981 PERS balance. But in early 2008, she was allowed to restore some of her account by making a deposit of about $60,000, the product of her pre-1981 balance and a 7.5 percent compounded "interest charge" for each intervening year.The amendment has everything but her name written into it.
Boquist's amendment opened the buyback for a 60 day window to members who were 60 years or older and would have 35 years or more of service after the buyback. PERS officials say only 126 members were eligible. However, they didn't contact anyone and only one member -- Line -- took advantage of the provisions.House Speaker Tina Kotek (D) demanded that Line resign because she lobbied for a legislative favor for herself. Line did resign yet denies lobbying.
"I did not lobby," she said. "A couple members here knew I was looking at a pretty hefty buyback number. I went to my legislator, took off my employee hat, and talked to him about the situation. There's no rule here that says I can't take my hat off and talk to my legislator."The GOP is known for attacking public pension programs; however, we can see from Boquist's actions that these slashing pogroms are not meant to hurt their friends.Line acknowledged that she also had a hand in drafting the amendment language, which Boquist asked the Senate Commerce Committee to add to the bill. In his 2007 testimony before the committee, Boquist said the amendment didn't get included in the House version for "technical reasons".