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Governor Vetoes Pension Exemption for City WorkerBy Tammy Daniels
11:10PM / Thursday, December 20, 2007
NORTH ADAMS - Gov. Deval Patrick couldn't forgive a city worker's past conviction, dashing his hopes to retire with a pension in a move described as "callous."
The governor vetoed a home rule bill late Wednesday that would have reinstated the retirement rights of Highway Superintendent Leo Senecal.
"This is the most callous act I've ever seen by a governor," said Mayor John Barrett III on Thursday. "He's hurt someone who doesn't deserve to be hurt."
Senecal pleaded guilty in 1998 to burying hazardous waste (oil) at the city yard. He said at the time that he was trying to save the city money. He was fined $9,000 for the cost of the cleanup, suspended and demoted, and placed on probation. He served no jail time for the criminal conviction.
State Rep. Daniel E. Bosley, D-North Adams, said he was frustrated and disappointed by the governor's action and vowed to override the veto.
"This is a case of redressing a wrong. It's very frustrating," said Bosley, who filed the bill. "I'm bound and determined to override this thing. ... We'll carry it over [into the new year]."
Pension Revoked
Senecal, a 40-year city veteran, continued to pay into the city's pension fund but was stripped of his rights earlier this year because of his conviction. Retirement Board members had reportedly been told they could be jailed if they OK'ed the pension in defiance of a 1996 law that prohibited convicted felons from receiving state pension benefits.
Bosley filed the bill asking the Legislature to exempt Senecal. The Public Employees Retirement Administration Commission had explained the particulars to the governor's people in support of the bill, he said. The City Council had voted 9-0 in support of the measure.
But what angered both Bosley and Barrett was that the governor never communicated with either one about the bill - or his decision to veto it.
"He never called anybody to find out what the situation was," said Barrett. The mayor said he learned of the veto Wednesday and spent a sleepless night before informing Senecal on Thursday morning.
The governor also didn't return a call from Barrett, instead having his chief of staff respond - which didn't sit well the the state's longest-serving mayor.
"I don't know where this guy's coming from," said Barrett, adding that the governor he supported has done little to back up his claim of bringing compassion to his office.
In his message to the Legislature on the veto, the governor wrote "I do not believe the public is well served by making individual legislative exceptions to a rule that is meant to apply uniformly."
Bosley, however, said those exceptions are very much the purview of the Legislature.
"This is the General Court of Massachusetts. We are the court of last resort," he said, for people who find themselves in difficult situations, such as Senecal has. "We turn down dozens [of requests] a year. We approve precious few because they have merit."
Senecal is the first - and so far only - public employee to be punished under the 11-year-old law designed to prevent corrupt public officials from retaining benefits. The Retirement Board will return the $41,000 or so he's contributed to the system, but he'll have no Social Security, no pension and no insurance. He's paid about $50,000 in attorney fees and will lose an estimated $700,000 in pension benefits, said the mayor.
'Slap in the Face'
Barrett described the veto as a "slap in the face" to Bosley, and wondered why the governor would anger a powerful lawmaker and co-chairman of the Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies - where Patrick's life science bill and casino initiative are currently sitting. Bosley is an outspoken opponent of casino gambling.
The representative said he didn't think it was personal and didn't know why the governor would veto the bill. He and Sen. Benjamin B. Downing, D-Pittsfield, a sponsor of the home rule bill, have been lining up support for a veto override.
"This guy has paid a lot for one transgression in 40 years," said Bosley. "He's paid in money, and in embarrassment every time there's a story." |
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