Rep. Anne Pasley-Stuart
The Idaho House has voted unanimously to ban sweetheart pension deals like the one Gov. Butch Otter’s administration gave an outgoing employee in 2009.
The measure, which now goes to the Senate, would forbid deals like the one that sent Division of Human Resources chief Judie Wright into early retirement with an extra $73,000 in her Public Employee Retirement System of Idaho fund. The state already forbids severance, but such pension packages remain legal.
Boise Democrat Rep. Anne Pasley-Stuart called Wright’s payments – and others like them that cost Idaho taxpayers a combined $125,000 last year – an outrage for state workers who are now taking furloughs, or worse, losing their jobs.
Even though Otter approved Wright’s pension payments, his budget chief, Wayne Hammon, says the Republican now backs ending the practice. (AP)
