Former state Sen. Carol Ronen's brief gig in Gov. Blagojevich's office has proven as lucrative as a win in the Illinois Lottery.
Ronen worked just eight weeks for the governor earlier this year, but that job will provide her with a windfall of at least $37,995 every year for the rest of her life.
Ronen's stint as a Blagojevich senior adviser is enabling the governor's onetime Senate floor leader to reel in a $102,000-a-year state pension. Ronen, 63, will earn 35 percent more in retirement than she did as a $75,301-a-year legislator representing part of Chicago's North Side lakefront.
Had Blagojevich not hired Ronen and she retired from the Senate at this time, her pension would be $64,005 annually. Ronen defended the money she will earn in retirement. She left the governor's office to become a volunteer for U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign.
"My pension is based on all those years of service. It's not a scam," Ronen said. Source.
11 comments:
Sorry Carol but your extended time working in Buck Flago's office does not entitled you to an additional $38,000 in pension benefits. I worked as a teacher for over 34 years. I earned more $$$ than you did annually but when it comes time to determine pension benefits there is a different assessment of time served. Honestly I can not believe you defend yourself so righteously. YOu should be ashamed of yourself and think about all the people who in your service area don't earn $38,000 per year and they are making it work. I am embarassed to say I ever voted for you. May you toss and turn at night until you report to the Illinois Pension Board and appeal your bonus. Give the $$$ back and you will sleep well and live a long healthy life
Ronen contends in the Sun-Times article that this is not a scam, which means she believes we are all lead-infested mole rats. To wit:
1.) This is the EXACT play made by her predecessor, the former Senator Art Berman---the pension abuser poster boy. From the mid-term resignation, the pre-ordained successor, the move to a higher paying gig, the 3 percent annual bumps--- you name it---she knew all the angels because she learned them from Berman.
2.) Assume for a moment that she has no conscience (there is, I’m afraid, a case mounting for this appraisal), she nonetheless knew, or at least received notice that maneuvering to sweeten the pension pot was unacceptable for this reason: She participated in the pension reforms of 1995 when she was a member of the House of Representatives. She has had at least thirteen years to mull over the reasoning for those reforms.
3.) Sen. Ronen’s mid-term resignation from her Senate seat was less about installing her friend and the Governor's financier and more about moving into the higher paying appointment before that door shut. We may think and feel many things about the former Senator, but she’s not unappreciative of the fact that should the Governor be indicted or impeached, her appointment opportunities would vanish. Thus, the mid-term Macarana, the trampling of voters, the mad, nearly maniacal display during the IVI-IPO endorsement session---the intent to avoid a primary, to dispense with a challenger couldn’t have been clearer. The sooner her replacement could be installed, the sooner she could start her new gig.
4.) The benefit of starting sooner wasn’t just about getting in before the Governor imploded in scandal, it was about clocking enough time to avoid public scrutiny when she did quit, which was the plan all along. But eight weeks? Are you kidding me? That’s so abbreviated, so blatant, so shocking, it’s as though she taken to delivering her press releases naked.
5.) Ronen contends that her pension is based on all her YEARS of service. Well, she should have no objection then to eliminating the last eight WEEKS from the calculation and returning this unearned pension windfall to the people she claims to have served.
6.) Keep in mind, what the Senator is doing is technically legal; she is exploiting a loophole, one that was closed when pension laws were corrected in 1995. Still, just because one CAN do something doesn’t mean one SHOULD---which is, I think, the minimum qualification for holding public office.
7.) There is nothing in state law or the state constitution to prevent the Senator to do the right thing and petition the Comptroller’s office to disregard the last eight weeks of “service.”
No wonder the state has budget problems. how many 100k a year pensions do we support?
are there any jobs anymore that actually have pensions, besides the ones paid for by the taxpayers?
Suzanne said....> "That’s so abbreviated, so blatant, so shocking, it’s as though she taken to delivering her press releases naked."
Okay, that's funny. Not something I care to watch, but funny nonetheless.
This earns you the 'Broken Heart' comment of the month.
At least she doesn't work for that other Party..you know, the one for greedy people.
dURING HER 8 WEEK STINIT HOW MUCH WAS SHE PAID TO EARN AN ADDITIONAL $38,000!
iF GOR EXAMPLE AS MASTER TEACHER EARNING ON THE HIGH SIDE $300 PER DAY AND i GET 74& OF THE LAST 1O YEARS i DIVIDE THE HIGHEST 4 OF THE PAST 10 I CAN ONLY GET $56,000 PER ANNUM
CAN YOU SEE HOW MUCH I WOULD HAVE TO WORK TO GET AN EXTRA $38,00
PER ANNUM! in ONLY 8 WEEKS!
WHAT IS IT THAT DOESN'T COMPUTE CORRECTLY?
i WAS A MATH TEACHER - PLEASE ADVISE!
Hmmm...Democrats are just as greedy as Republicans, they just do a better job of hiding it.
madeinrogerspark said, “I worked as a teacher for over 34 years. I earned more $$$ than you did annually but when it comes time to determine pension benefits there is a different assessment of time served.”
Um . . . she’s getting $102,000 per year PLUS full medical and other benefits. I don't know of ANY job outside of our political plutocracy and the servile bureaucrats who cater to them that even come close. Ooops! I stand corrected - I didn't take into consideration the golden parachutes of the corporate pirates of this country, the CEO's, the CFO's and all those other uh-O's.
Seriously, don't even try to figure equitable remunerations for teachers in this lop-sided, F-upped country. The tax payers scream and cry when faced with paying more for teachers but continue to bend over when politicians pull these tricks saying, "Oh, well, what can we do?" Here's a suggestion, read your history books, you dunderheads. Look up France, circa 1789 - 1799. Better yet, look up our own history, circa 1776.
Aw, forget it. Revolution is just another Beetles song as far as the American Tax Payer is concerned.
If it was anything more than that we would never have allowed the Patriot Act to be enforced, we'd be marching on Washington demanding an end to secret out of country internment camps and the "disappearances" of our citizens and resident aliens (a.k.a. "legal aliens"). Why, if we were really serious about bringing an end to the status quo in this country we would have long ago impeached this president! Not since the unenlightened presidents of our early history who stole this land from its native residents under the banner of progress and eminent domain has an American president so cavalierly invaded a sovereign country. Why did we stand idly by as he dismissed the Geneva Convention, thereby putting our men and women in even worse danger than were already and leading to the possibly catastrophic loss of good will worldwide? Under his administration we have witnessed our own troops perpetrating horrific wrongs on prisoners of war; torture, depraved humiliations, deprivation of the base requirements for daily living – food, water, warmth, a dry place to reside. This president stands out in his enthusiasm for flaunting his own agendas above those of the entire planet's when it comes to issues pertaining to ecology, world hunger and even the needs of his own people! Or have we all forgotten what happened in New Orleans, what is happening right now in sections of Appalachia, the Ozarks and in every big city in this country?
Ah, but like I said, Revolution – well, it’s just a Beetles song.
- PEACE -
To Fargowoman: the finest post I've ever seen on this blog. I couldn't have begun to say it so well.
I'd still take him in a heartbeat over hillary or obama.
PS. It's Beatles not Beetles.
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