The battle against double dipping took a step backward this week.
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Soon after I started
looking into the issue of double dipping by elected officials, the Arkansas
Teacher Retirement System (ATRS) proactively began their own investigation into
improper payments of retirement benefits. Unfortunately,
they have made the decision to stop the investigation - apparently due to
political pressure.
According to the newspaper,
the ATRS is no longer even going to ask for the repayment of the millions of dollars
the system estimated had been improperly paid.
And of course that means they won't go the next step and look at fines
and penalties for those who violated the law.
The system director, George Hopkins, stated that he had received calls
from retirees as well as some legislators who called the request for repayment
of money "not fair" and that the ATRS had not properly provided guidance to
help these retirees in preparing and filing their paperwork.
My initial focus has
been the issue of elected officials who may have broken the law by "retiring"
from their elected office and then returning to work without being sworn back
into office. But, this issue extends
beyond the issue of double-dipping. ATRS
has previously provided an estimate of how much money they believe has been
improperly paid.
This issue is about
making the right choices to protect taxpayers and to protect the retirement
funds of our teachers. In fact, at a recent speech on double dipping
to the Northwest Arkansas Political Animals Club, one of the first questions I
was asked came from retired school teacher who was concerned about her retirement
fund. At the time, ATRS was still
looking into repayment of funds. I'm
sure that retired teacher and many others are even more outraged now that their
investigation has stopped.
This week, when the
newspaper article came out, I received several angry calls and e-mails from
taxpayers and retired teachers regarding this issue. I am
just as angry as they are about the decision by the ATRS. As an
agent who deals with retirement and pension funds for private systems, I know
those systems would at least attempt to recover benefits that have been
improperly paid. As a taxpayer and a
public official, I am outraged that a public system in Arkansas would not even
make an attempt to recover funds due to pressure from legislators (and from
those who may have improperly received payment).
I can assure you that I
will continue to work on this issue. I
will continue to ask the questions, demand accountability, and draft
legislation to solve the current problem and prevent it in the future. Currently,
I am waiting on an opinion from the Attorney General regarding whether or not
the public has a right to know the names of the 260 elected county officials
who may have improperly retired and double dipped.
I will send you a copy
of this opinion (and hopefully a list of the names) as soon as it is
released.
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