Rendell: Christie is Right on Pensions
Former Gov. Ed Rendell, Democrat, voices support for New Jersey Gov. Christie's plan to cut costs of state workers' pensions.
Rendell: Christie is Right on Pensions
Thomas Fitzgerald, Inquirer Politics Writer
NBC Pundit Ed Rendell, former governor of Pennsylvania, voiced support for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's efforts to reduce his state's pension costs Tuesday. Public worker pensions "are not sustainable in their current form," Rendell said during a forum in New York hosted by Bloomberg News. "If Gov. Christie is going after them, it's the right thing to do."
That's high praise from a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee for a Republican pol often mentioned as a future White House occupant, but Rendell has never been shy about going against the partisan grain. (Ask Al Gore about that Florida recount.) Rendell and Christie share at least two traits: burliness and bluntness.
As mayor of Philadelphia in the 1990s, Rendell was not exactly beloved by municpal unions as he struggled to cut costs and stave off bankruptcy.
At the Bloomberg forum, Rendell did say he would not go as far as Wisconsin's GOP Gov. Scott Walker, who pushed through legislation that strips away the right of public-employee unions (except police and fire) to bargain collectively.
Rendell signed a law last November that raises Pennsylvania's retirement age to 65 from 60 for newly hired state workers, and 62 for school employees - while shaving the formula used to calculate benefits. He said that the changes will save the state $16 billion over the next 25 years.
(h/ts to Alex Roarty of the National Journal and Daniel Malloy of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for broadcasting the Bloomberg piece on Twitter.)
Does Fast Eddie think we're all idiots? He's actually bragging about these meaningless changes "saving" of about $640 million a year when the pension funds are currently underfunded by about $50 billion? Too bad we will never see the full effect of those "savings" given that the pension fund will be bankrupt by then. Actually it's bankrupt now, but no one is admitting it yet.— erformc1- To make the Public Sector Pension Fund solvent remove all the politicians and their staffs from the fund.New Jersey is having pension problems because every governor from Gov. Whitman to Gov. Christie did not properly fund the pension fund. Why aren't they being sued or charged with malfeasance,which is intentional conduct in violation of the law. Didn't they intentionally not fund the Pension System ?— smash27
- To make the Public Sector Pension Fund solvent remove all the politicians and their staffs from the fund.New Jersey is having pension problems because every governor from Gov. Whitman to Gov. Christie did not properly fund the pension fund. Why aren't they being sued or charged with malfeasance,which is intentional conduct in violation of the law. Didn't they intentionally not fund the Pension System ?— smash27
- "To make the Public Sector Pension Fund solvent remove all the politicians and their staffs from the fund."
ABSOLUTELY!!!— Taxes - Do not be misled. This sounds like PA teachers will not be retiring until 65 and that currently it is 62. Go to the site that lists teacher salaries and see how many teachers are still teaching beyond 35 years. It is very small. They retire after 35 years regardless of age and the pension is so high they can take a small adjustment and get out in their 50's. Regarding the 2010 pension changes Rendell signed. This was a cowardly move by the Legislators to avoid a firestorm of protests from taxpayers as the pension payments coming due would have taxpayers on the backs of teachers and politicians. The change took the plan back to 70% of salary and a few other minor changes. To understand if it was real reform all you need to know is that the major push for this change was the PA Teachers Union.— robtpenn
- Who cares what Fast Eddie has to say. I hope he rides off into the sunset and we never, ever hear form him again. He did enough damage to Pennsylvania during his 8 years of terror and horror. What a loser!!— oneway
- If an average public pension employee took money that is allocated to a certain fund, he or she would be behind bars. We should hold the same standards to all the Governors who took money out of the pension fund and never paid back, or them certain Governors who just didn't care enough to pay the states pension fund responsibility.— good4u
- I be the electric bill is too high too - short pay that. Oh, you have a contract with the electric company? Then short pay the car companies for what you pay for state vehicles? Oh, you have a contract for that? Then what makes you think it's ok to break a contract with retired workers?— jimf
- We can but wonder why anyone would actually care what any polipuppet, oh, excuse me, politician who isn't in office has to say! Most of the polipuppets want to have people believe them no matter from which side of their mouths the current drivel begins. By the way, when are all the polipuppets going to cut back their own benes? There's not any reason I can see that any of the polipuppets should get pensions or anything except a MODEST, emphasize this, MODEST, salary.— BEMiller
- Right now public sector employees are the scapegoats for big business' greatest ally - politicians. They are pitting private sector workers against them by saying why should these people have better healthcare, wages and pensions compared to everyone else? It was not always this way though! No one wanted these jobs before opting for high pay in the private sector. Now big business is shrinking the slice of the pie that the majority of us used to live on while their slice is growing huge!!! They are sending those jobs overseas. Here is a thought, if Big Business/Rich would pay their fair share of wages for jobs and taxes we would not have as many fiscal budget problems. This should be the focus of someone like Chris Christie - not a few public sector employees! I simply do not buy the argument that they work hard and earned all this wealth so they should be able to keep it all. Someday when everyones income is the equivalent of the average person in China, we might be sitting around saying why should they be able to have health care and a house and income while the rest of suffer.— swordfish
- Our loud-mouthed former governor and would be overweight playboy is at it again. I wish some would go after his pension. I guess if you are a true hustler, you have other means for preparing for senior years.— Anne Arkey
- he'sssssssssssssssssssssss backkk!!!!— chesterfield
- Go away Ed.— union guy
You can reach Tom Fitzgerald at 215-854-2718 or tfitzgerald@phillynews.com.
Reach Thomas at tfitzgerald@phillynews.com.
