Yesterday, in my post While we were sleeping… I referenced the OCRegister story by Peggy Lowe about the Board of Supervisor’s spiking their pension benefits.
Orange Juice and OCBlog posted Supervisor Moorlach’s passionate plea about how much they deserved the increases in extra compensation they granted themselves at the end of July. Moorlach challenged some of the information in Peggy’s story, claiming that “Supervisors do not get sick or vacation days.”
Last time I checked, Peggy was waiting on clarification from CEO Tom Mauk. While we wait for Mauk to clarify I would like to point out that the Board of Supervisor’s is covered by the same benefits as all other administrative and executive management employees of the County. The major difference is that Supervisor salary is tied to the salaries of judges. The Board can and has increased the amount of some of their benefits like car allowances, and contributions to 401(a) plans. From what I can tell (from the 2003 Salary Resolution), they get the same holidays, sick days and vacation benefits as other administrative management employees.
But let’s assume for a minute that Moorlach is right 😉 and the Supes do not accrue vacation and sick pay. At a minimum however, they certainly do not get their pay reduced if they miss a Board meeting, or go on vacation, or get ill and stay home, or go out and campaign for election.
In November of last year Peggy Lowe reported on the Supervisor’s compensation package at that time. [It’s good to be a supervisor]
Here is the annual compensation received by each member of the Orange County Board of Supervisors:
Base salary: $126,560.80Â $137,321
Benefits: $59,000
Car ($600 $765/month): $7,200Â $9,180
OCTA stipend: $6,000
Gas ($2.50/gallon, 617 gallons): $1,542.50
BlackBerry: $400
SUBTOTAL: $200,703.30
Stipends for other agency boards supervisors might sit on:
Toll road: $8,640
Sanitation district: $4,080
Fire Authority: $3,600
LAFCO: $1,200
Here is the bottom line that Moorlach missed.
In addition to the 401(a) benefit that he spiked for himself, he still gets the 2.7 @ 55 retirement benefit that all Administrative Management employees get. The spike in these benefits, followed by his challenge to Deputy Sheriff pension benefits, is the height of hypocrisy. No amount of wiggling, or deflection can change that fact.
Mr. Moorlach, when you put yourself out there as claiming some sort of moral high ground by attacking public employee benefits and pay in the interests of protecting the “taxpayer,” make sure you have some ground to stand on.
I like this post by OC Dem over on the Orange Punch.
Where’s your outrage over this action by the Supervisors being done in closed session away from the public scrutiny you demand of others. Moorlach has stated he wants to send further employee benefits to a public vote. Why didn’t he lead by example and do that action with the benefits he voted to give himself?
Is there an engineer out there who can invent an ironometer? Our fortunes wait to be made just on the actions of Moorlach and writings of one Steven Greenhut.
Of course Greenhut responds with yet another diversionary tactic and doesn’t answer the questions.
“Moorlach challenged some of the information in Peggy’s story, claiming that Supervisors do not get sick or vacation days.”
Moorlach can cry me a river! All told he makes over 200k and can take time off whenever he damn well pleases. Sounds good to me.
I can’t wait to give Moorlach his performance eval come next election!
BTW, when does Moorlach start receiving retirement benefits from his days as Treasurer? What kind of retirement package will Moorlach get as a Supervisor?
Moorlach gets the 2.7 @ 55 Retirement package when her retires. He also gets his 401(a) defined contribution benefit when he retires as well.
Moorlach did not opt out of the defined benefit plan that other workers get when he was appointed Treasurer in 1995. He cannot opt out of that system and move to a straight defined contribution plan.
The only Supervisor that I am aware is not in the defined benefit plan is Patricia Bates.
So for the sake of discussion, let’s say that Moorlach will stay in elected County office until he is termed out as Supervisor in 2014. Let’s assume the salary for a Supervisor goes up 3% a year. They are at $137,321 in salary now, roughly in his last year of Service Moorlach will be making $168,887.51. At just under 20 years of continuous service, Supervisor Moorlach will have a monthly pension from the taxpayers of around $91,199.25 annually. On top of that he will have the money contributed to his 401(a) plan and what ever it has made.
Other than the pick-up contribution for the increase in his pension rate to the 2.7% implemented in 2004, Moorlach has not contributed a single penny to his retirement.
On election night Moorlach was quoted as saying, “Orange County is NOT France.” Folks like Greenhut proceeded to touch themselves inappropriately since they believed someone would be their champion of their wacked out belief in the la la land concept of the “free market.”
It must be difficult for little Stevie to realize his hero now has feet made of clay. Moorlach spiked his pension without paying the difference. Something he claims in the lawsuit he is ramrodding down the throats of the OC taxpayer as being a gift of public funds and hence unconstitutional.
One has to love the adage that absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Hackett,
I’m going to hate myself in the morning for this, but in defence of Moorlach. He only sipked his pension from that point forward and since he wasn’t paying anything in the first place, there was no difference for him to pay.
His hypocrisy is not telling the public what pension benefits he gets while he attacks the benefits of public safety employees. He complains that the Sheriffs pay nothing towards their benefits, while he pays nothing towards his.
Greenhut attacks Carona for defending the 3@50 retroactive benefit because Caorna gets that benefit. Greenhut attacks the previous Supervisors for granting the 2.7 @ 55 pension benefit for other county workers, but he doesn’t attack Moorlach for his participation in that plan. Carona and Moorlach do not pay into their pension plans. Why does Greenhut only attack Carona? Convienience of hypocrisy?
During the discussion of Agenda Item #26, at no point did the Board, in particular Supervisor Moorlach, address the fact that they were spiking their own 401(a) pension benefits. The discussion on the agenda item focused entirely on the MOU’s between the County and the Orange County Employee’s Association.
This was classic misdirection on the part of the Board. Combine a bunch of items together and then focus the discussion on only one aspect of the matters being approved.
The actions of Moorlach on this matter exhibit a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that he does not really possess. That is the very definition of HYPROCISY.
How about we just tell it like it is?
Moorlach is nothing but a slimy, greedy liar.
Moorlach’s 200k doesn’t include his ability to raise campaign funds and use those to offset certain expenses while in office. There is likely a plump and healthy expense account, filled with Lincoln Club dollars. I think these accounts are referred to as “office holders expenses” when elected’s report it.
One of the ways these “office holders expenses” monies can be used is for things like restaurant tabs (from plain meals to fancy-schmancy gourmet) when campaign business is discussed. I know I would love to afford dining out more often – and on someone else’s tab…how about you?
So, in addition to a 200K+ a year, there are many other perks of the office that make Moorlach’s protestations about no sick leave and rising fuel prices sound like the whining of a spoiled child.