Galaxy fills with Mass. big dippers
Another double-dipper? Two more? Three? Four?
I used to run across maybe one double-dipping state hack every year, sometimes not even one. Now they’re stacking up in long lines like anxious holiday travelers at a TSA security gate at Logan. Take a number, hackos, and wait your turn!
The first one today is Stephen Borelli of the North End, who is running for the Governor’s Council against incumbent Terry Kennedy. Borelli is 57, and he’s been out on a $42,000-a-year disability pension from the MBTA police since 1996. His asthma didn’t stop him from getting a law degree and then a $104,000-a-year job as a clerk-magistrate at the Somerville District Court.
Borelli got his second slot at the trough in March 2006, and last March he decided to take a leave of absence to run for the council. But Borelli’s campaign says he’s “3 or 4 months” short of vesting for the second kiss, besides which, he couldn’t collect two pensions while working at yet a third state job.
But you can see where we’re at. Even the governor is talking about stopping the iron men and women of the state colleges who have begun walking away not only with their traditional six-figure pensions and full medical care, but also tens of thousands more in “unused” sick and vacation pay.
While checking out Borelli yesterday, I stumbled across another Governor’s Council fight featuring another wannabe double-dipper. The former councilor in the 8th District was a double-dipper — Tom Merrigan, a high-school classmate of mine, a retired judge whose pension is now $62,967 a year. Merrigan didn’t run for reelection, and was succeeded by Michael Albano.
Albano, a former mayor of Springfield, now runs for sheriff, and seeking to replace him on the council is a different retired judge, Mary Hurley.
Like Albano, Hurley is a former mayor of Springfield. Her pension is $118,991 a year.
Announcing her candidacy, Hurley told the Springfield paper, “I’ve found in retirement I’m not ready to retire.”
She was, however, ready to collect her six-figure pension. And now, if elected, another $36,025.
But the double-dip is the next big thing apparently. A few weeks ago, it was Richard Theroux, an Agawam triple-dipper, briefly running for state rep to grab a fourth public check. (He quit the race.)
Last week, in the wake of the murder of the Auburn cop, a couple more double-dipping judges turned up. Retired 71-yearold Judge Andrew Mandell appeared, on “recall” to the bench while simultaneously collecting a $100,068-a-year pension, cutting the future killer loose on reduced bail.
Is there anybody left in the hackerama who isn’t already grabbing, or at least trying to, two or maybe three or even four state pensions for themselves?
It’s my own damn fault, I know, that I didn’t get in on the ground floor of this lucrative racket myself. I grew up with Merrigan, among others. He somehow got the memo way back when, and I didn’t. Is it too late for me to announce my candidacy for Governor’s Council? Listen to Howie from 3-7 p.m. today on WRKO AM 680.