Verna's move puts pressure on 3 Council members with DROP

And now there are three.

Philadelphia City Council President Anna C. Verna's decision not to seek reelection intensifies political pressure on the remaining Council members - Frank DiCicco, Frank Rizzo, and Marian B. Tasco - who are enrolled in the DROP pension program but plan to run again.

As president, Verna had been the focus of much of the scrutiny over the Deferred Retirement Option Program. With Verna out, the other three could lose votes in the May primary as questions shift to them.

"I may become the poster child for DROP," DiCicco admitted on Monday.

Still unknown is whether the retirement program will cause the same level of political fallout in Philadelphia as did the 2005 Harrisburg pay raise, which led dozens of lawmakers, including legislative leaders, to retire or lose their seats in the 2006 and 2008 elections.

But on Monday, reporters surrounded DiCicco, a First District Democrat, after he arrived early in Council chambers and peppered him with questions about the ethics of participating in DROP and running again.

DiCicco said he might introduce legislation as early as Thursday that would allow all DROP enrollees to revoke their decisions. Currently, joining DROP is irrevocable. The proposed legislation also could let employees return their DROP payments or put them in escrow and not collect until they retire.

DiCicco has said that he would not take his yearly Council salary of $117,991 if he won reelection and collected his $424,646 DROP payment. Working without pay, along with his decision not to use a city car, means voters would save money by reelecting him, he said.

DROP participants pick a retirement date four years away. That decision freezes the employees' pension. It also prompts the city to set aside the pension payment in an interest-bearing account. When employees retire, they get the amount in the account in a lump sum, plus their monthly pension.

The program has been contentious, especially because a Boston College report commissioned by Mayor Nutter said DROP cost the city $258 million over the last 10 years. He has called for Council to kill DROP, but Council has yet to act because it is waiting for the results of its own study.

Provoking particular voter outrage, some elected officials joined DROP, won reelection, then retired for a day before their next term so they could cash their DROP checks before returning to serve. Tasco, Rizzo, and DiCicco, if reelected, would do just that.

St. Joseph's University history professor Randall Miller said DiCicco probably was the most vulnerable of the remaining three Council DROP participants because he potentially faces the stiffest primary competition.

Three other Council members who have participated in DROP - Joan L. Krajewski, Jack Kelly and Donna Reed Miller - have decided not to run again.

Verna, a Second District Democrat, is due for a DROP payment of $584,778. On Monday, she said DROP did not affect her decision and seemed exasperated when asked.

Zack Stalberg, head of the watchdog group Committee of Seventy, said voters were angry about DROP and may blame all of Council, not just participants.

"I think people are waiting for Council as a whole to take a big step on DROP," Stalberg said.

He said DROP was more complicated than many voters realized. For example, individuals who enroll in DROP don't always cost the city extra because the lower monthly pension in some cases outweighs the lump-sum payment.

Rizzo defended his decision, pointing out that two city solicitors had approved DROP participation by elected officials.

The at-large Republican stands to collect a $194,518 DROP payment.

"I based my decision on lawyers' opinions to me," Rizzo said. "If I ever thought there was anything improper, I wouldn't have done it."

Tasco, who would like to succeed Verna as president, is in line for a $478,057 DROP payment. She has been one of the program's biggest defenders.

Tasco had hoped to have Council DROP hearings by November, but they are unlikely to occur before February or March because Council's consultant, Bolton Partners, has been waiting for data and answers from Boston College.

Tasco, a Democrat who represents the Ninth District, said she hoped to have better answers on DROP after the hearings.

"We're going to have our disclosure," she said.