Pensions and perps
Widen forfeiture for state workers turned criminal
If the Legislature needs to be reminded of shortfalls in the pensionforfeiture law covering state employees, it need look no further than fresh news stories about the undeserved retirement bonanzas of Robert Mellow and Gary Schultz.
A retirement fund board has reinstated Mellow’s $245,000-a-year pension, ruling the federal conspiracy charge the former statesenator pleaded guilty to in 2012 did not meet the letter of any of the forfeiture-eligible offenses in the state law and was no bar to his retirement pay. Mellow received a 16-month prison sentence and later accused a heavyhandedgovernment of forcing his plea.
Schultz, a former Penn State University vice president, has an annual pension topping $330,000 a year despite his guilty plea in March to endangering the welfare of children in connection with the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Schultz, who served two months in jail, all but turned a blind eye to evidence of Sandusky’s child sexual abuse. Schultz’s pension is sixth-highest among state retirees, according to a recent Philadelphia Inquirer analysis.
It’s outrageous for state officials to expect Pennsylvanians with modest salaries and retirement plans to help fund such exorbitant pensions to state retirees. The beneficiaries’ criminal behavior makes the situation that much more egregious.
During their post-incarceration retirement, Mellow and Schultz should be free to tap into whatever money they contributed to their pensions during their lengthy careers. They deserve to lose anything the state contributed, however, because the government shouldn’t reward craven or criminal behavior. Yet under the current forfeiture law, it can and does, largely because the statute doesn’t cover nearly enough offenses or situations.
Even Sandusky, serving at least 30 years in state prison, continues to collect a pension of about $60,000 a year. In 2015, a court ruled that Sandusky, though active at the university at the time he committed his offenses, already had retired from his job with the Penn State football team.
State Auditor General Eugene DePasquale made suggestionsfor improving the forfeiture law when he released audits of state pension funds earlier this year. Right now, the law permits a pension to be stripped from a school employee who commits certain sex-related offenses against students. Mr. DePasquale wants to broaden the language so that other potential victims are covered, and he wants the law to cover retirees who continue to participate in schoolrelatedactivities after leaving the work force. He also called for forfeiture provisions for other state employees who work with children or vulnerable adults.
Two bills wending their way through the Legislature potentially would go even further, and Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, on Thursday expressed support for a House version with a broad reach. That measure, sponsoredby Rep. Scott Petri, R-Bucks, would strip government pension contributions from state employees and officials who are convicted of or plead guilty or no contest to “a crime related topublic office or public employment.”
A tougher pension law should be at the top of lawmakers’ agenda. Crime shouldn’t pay, and it’s time for the Legislature to make sure it doesn’t.