Mullaney's pension problem

Mayoral candidate Rick Mullaney (R.) receives a $150,000 pension from the city's General Employees Pension Fund, $30,000 of which is paid out of the City's General Fund - according to a recent Florida Times Union article. Mullaney, former General Counsel for the city, came to Jacksonville in 1991 in the Ed Austin administration. He was a key player in pension negotiations. According to a January Folio Weekly article, Mullaney and comrades (including Mike Weinstein and John Delaney) drafted a new law to tie in their service at the State Attorney's office to their city service - creating a nice retirement package and adding an extra $2 million to pension pay-outs at the time. The law (94-1) had to go through the Pension Boards of Trustees and the Pension Advisory Board. It failed the first time around on the advisory board, but succeeded the second time when Mullaney lobbied and Weinstein - a seated member - did not recuse himself because of a conflict of interest the second time around.

The bill came before the city council with a "yes" vote from the advisory board and a "no" vote from the board of trustees. Assistant General Counsel Gary Ekstine was asked to write a memo on the bill, which he did pointing out the narrow focus of beneficiaries on the bill, and the high amounts they would receive. He was summoned by his direct supervisor, Mullaney, and asked to explain himself, Saying it would "not be smart" to stand between Mullaney and "half a million dollars." When asked by Folio Weekly about Ekstine's recount of the meeting Mullaney said, "that's not right."

The bill was shelved until It was snuck into a bill by floor amendment on a separate bill in 2004. It seems no one can recall who approved it, and Folio Weekly mentions that no local news agencies even reported on it. Smoke and mirrors in City Council have done it again.

Ordinance 94-1 was designed primarily for the benefit of the small number of individuals who designed it. The Board of Trustees said so, and the Advisory Board would have if Weinstein (a beneficiary of the bill) had not recused himself from the vote the second time around. This event brings me to doubt the ethical integrity of Mullaney, Weinstein, Delaney and the rest of the Ed Austin cadre.

It would be bad enough if it stopped there, but it does not. Mullaney reaches for new levels of hypocrisy as he targets pension reform as a key issue in his campaign, and vilifies the pensions of police and fire employees. He says they are too high and unsustainable for the city, even though a 2008 Florida Times Union survey found it to be the lowest in the state. And truth be told, the pension would not be in as bad a shape as it is now if the city had paid its part of the contributions, as it was contractually obligated to do.

Look at this table from IAFF local 122's Truth About Pensions website. The data shows the "Pension Holidays" the city has engaged in, where they skipped making their pension payments and squandered the money elsewhere (see new Jacksonville Courthouse). Until Rick Mullaney, Audrey Moran and other former members of the John Delaney and Ed Austin cadre can recognize the real problem facing the pension (the city not paying their bills), then I can't take any of them seriously when they say pension reform in the "fiscally responsible" thing to do. Especially when they are the ones with the real exorbitant pensions.