The New York Times lists ten states with the most generous pensions for public employees. Kentucky comes in at number seven in terms of "pension replacement rate," the portion of a pensioner's salary that he gets in retirement. Kentucky is by far the poorest state on the list.
Kentucky legislators in recent years have failed to properly fund our public employee pension accounts. That's a big part of the problem. Poor investment returns are too. But state employees getting 58.8% of their working salary in retirement are shocked to learn about what Senate President David Williams and House Democrats rigged up for themselves and their fellow career politicians.
Greg Stumbo is already set, thanks to Senate language inserted quietly into a pension bill in 2005, to get 100% of annual salary from his one term as Attorney General every year for the rest of his life after he retires. David Williams pushed vigorously for this legislative pension increase just three years before he started sounding the alarm on our state's government pension crisis.
And now we know why.
If David Williams can get himself elected Governor for one term, Kentucky taxpayers will pay him 100% of his governor's salary every year for the rest of his life. It works the same if he gets appointed or elected to any other six-figure state job.
These ruling class career politicians still don't get it, do they?
Phil Moffett is running to stop these outlandish raids on the public treasury. Phil supports getting the politicians out of our tax code once and for all by repealing all 240 state taxes, fees and surcharges currently on the books and replacing them with a single-rate retail sales tax on goods and services. This will be the greatest shift in power away from politicians and to the people in state history. Phil supports using the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to fight back against federal government excess like ObamaCare and the EPA's war on coal. Phil supports removing wasteful spending from our school systems, instilling discipline back in our classrooms and improving educational options with effective charter school legislation. Phil will work to shrink or remove government operations that don't fit within the necessary functions spelled out in our state Constitution.
The energy of the Tea Party gets its next big test on May 17 with Kentucky's Republican gubernatorial primary. Phil Moffett is the candidate who will take our fight to Frankfort.
