RE: “SC Retirement System: One Easy Fix”
Dear Editor: On your story about private sector lobbyists receiving access to the government-run pension plan you are 100 percent correct. These organizations are not subject to state salary caps or many other restrictions so these special interest people can make a LOT of money. I have watched them retire after 28 years (some after 25) while continuing to work – so some are making over $100,000 per year in retirement alone.
And all the while they are lobbying us for more perks, favors and money.
State retirement should be for state employees. This benefit is a payoff by the elite budget writers to their highly paid lobbyist/special interest cronies and of course these special interest friends can shovel donations, consulting contracts, etc, back to the budget writers. It is transparently corrupt.
This story is more important than you realize – in fact it is one of the most important stories of the year. Great effort will be made to conceal these groups and what these people make as they are not included in the state data base transparency page nor are retirees salaries.
It will be very interesting to see what “favors” they have done for key lawmakers, their families and business associates.
When and if the whole story gets out the average taxpayer is gonna be pissed.
-Anonymous
SIC SEZ
Yup … FITS has been doing its best over the last several years to keep the heat applied on this issue, as has S.C. Treasurer Curtis Loftis. Hopefully those efforts will pay dividends down the road. Get it? “Pay dividends?” I crack myself up …
19 comments
WOW………just look at all these barn burner comments. Come on Mr. Folks……….really? Really…? Is this the best title you can come up with..? Why would a BOEING worker read this article…? Why would any Insurance sales agent have an interest in this article’s title..? How would any Graham Town Hall guest use this article to ask Senator Graham a question about Muslim Brotherhood retirement scams in Egypt..?
Geez……no wonder Rick Hendrick Dodge car owners and prospective buyers could care less. Matter of fact, How would Gerald’s Tires customers benefit from using this article to scream…..” Its a GREAT day in …Alllepo. Senator Graham..”!!!?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5yLxBBKHMw
We wonder how the FITSNEWS stock “dividends” can be verified that they do not help support terrorism …? Obviously, the silence from the workers at the Post and Courier on this website comment section must mean that they could care less how their paper delivery fuel is supporting the WAR for OIL scam…..!!
….and to beat all……Mr. Folks, you have the gall to give SC Treasurer a freebie in paying “dividends”..?? Where the heck was SC Treasurer Loftis in educating SCSU students about the transportation funds that went missing.?? His website is no more transparent than the website for SCSU….or USC…or Clemson..!?
Just keep crackin’……..Wil…! (Your advertisers are lovin’ it…)
Gosh, who is Curtis going after next? The SC Law Enforcement Association, the SC Education Assn.? The SC School Administrators Assn.? The SC Coaches Assn.? The State Employees Assn.? The SC Sheriff’s Assn.? The State Troopers Assn.? The SC Financial Managers Assn.? ETC., ETC.! If he comes after one, he can come after lots more on the same issue. Careful–starting to add up to some votes there. It would be nice if he paid full attention to the job he was elected to do instead of those of everybody else.
I think it is clear that Treasurer Loftis wil “go after” anybody involved in fraud waste and abuse. That is why I like him!
Loftis will go after anybody who disagrees with him. This has been documented and will be released at the appropriate time.
There are always partisans that hate politicians and Loftis certainly has his detractors. Loftis has had tremendous effect on state government by shinning the light on bad practices. “Sunlight is the great disinfectant” and because of that sunlight many poor practices have been halted and many internal controls have been instituted.
From Department of Transportation to the Investment Commission to the B and C Board to the Universities significant changes have been made and those changes have been good for SC. These groups alter their behavior because they do not want to have their shenanigans on the front page of the paper.
You can call him a bully but I call him a hero of the taxpayer. We can disagree. One thing the readers can see is that your post are disrespectful and hateful and are typical of mindless partisans at play. Adults desiring a better government should be better than that.
Loftis is pissing off all the right insiders and that is all i need to know.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend?
All I ask are some good hard examples. Saying he “shines light” and that “practices have changed” doesn’t do much for me. Saying that he upsets all the “right insiders” is hardly offering proof of any positive outcome. Surely you can see that some documentation that Loftis has chased down fraud waste and abuse–that some fraudulent, wasteful abuser has been arrested or fired–is needed to prove his claims. Otherwise, he just seems like a loud mouthed busybody. If he has really rooted out fraud waste and abuse, there ought to be some objective outsider–the State Auditor, the Inspector General, SLED, SOMEBODY–who can verify that. Why is that such a difficult concept to understand. If I made such claims, you certainly wouldn’t accept just my statement. You would want to see third party objective verification of specific examples. That is all I am asking. Fraud, waste and abuse, my eye. These are just political slogans designed for populist appeal until you can provide significant third party verifiable examples. My bet is you can’t because they don’t exist. If they don’t exist how can you say he roots out fraud waste and abuse. Do you really think we are all just fools? Apparently so. I invite you to think again.
All I ask are some good hard examples. Saying he “shines light” and that “practices have changed” doesn’t do much for me. Saying that he upsets all the “right insiders” is hardly offering proof of any positive outcome. Surely you can see that some documentation that Loftis has chased down fraud waste and abuse–that some fraudulent, wasteful abuser has been arrested or fired–is needed to prove his claims. Otherwise, he just seems like a loud mouthed busybody. If he has really rooted out fraud waste and abuse, there ought to be some objective outsider–the State Auditor, the Inspector General, SLED, SOMEBODY–who can verify that. Why is that such a difficult concept to understand. If I made such claims, you certainly wouldn’t accept just my statement. You would want to see third party objective verification of specific examples. That is all I am asking. Fraud, waste and abuse, my eye. These are just political slogans designed for populist appeal until you can provide significant third party verifiable examples. My bet is you can’t because they don’t exist. If they don’t exist how can you say he roots out fraud waste and abuse. Do you really think we are all just fools? Apparently so. Think again.
You are too busy hating to see the big picture. He does not want publicity; he uses it to control the bad actors. Now that the bad actors know he will put them on the front page he puts that aside and uses the office of Treasurer to apply the pressure. That is, after all, from where the money flows.
I was a doubter at first but I have been watching for two years and I think his plan is brilliant. While you are bitching and moaning he keeps changing state government.
If you don’t believe me, ask him. I did, and he will tell you straight up what he is doing.
By the way, he talks about it in his speeches. That is called transparency.
You people need to chill. There is more to life.
Go Gamecocks.
It amazes me that people cant or wont see what Curt is doing. I have known him since college and he always knows what he is doing and generally speaking he will tell you what he is doing, why and how. It is like the old saying, “hiding in plain sight.” Go Curt Go.
I’ll believe that Loftis is for transparency and sunlight when I personally read the secret contract that he agreed to sign with the Bank of New York. Until that happens he is nothing but a lot of talk and no walk.
He has yet to prove a single case of “fraud, waste and abuse” to anybody’s satisfaction. Not to the State Auditor, not to the Inspector General, not to the Attorney General, not to SLED. You have to base your allegations on some version of facts, not just that you don’t like a particular practice. Who has he found breaking laws, absconding with money, violating the public trust? I’ll tell you who…nobody! He just creates conflict and wastes the time of a lot of people. He is an ideologue who actually believes his own rants. So you can add “out of touch with reality” to his characteristics. I’m sorry you like him. You need to do your own research on his tirades and perhaps you won’t like him so much any more. That is, assuming you base your opinions on facts and not his absurd allegations. (Also assuming you are not him. I hear he spends a lot of time haunting these opinion pages under various aliases–but that is hearsay, not facts that I can verify.)
Curtis Loftis is doing a great job. I don’t know what, if anything, he is doing on this issue but I can tell you be is doing a great job working to fight fraud, waste and abuse. Some people that have been making a fortune off state government are not happy and that is probably the best measure of success.!
I hope Loftis continues to protect my money.
Let’s see, Bill. What is the last documented conviction of one of these fraudulent, abusive wasters that Loftis has caught? Somehow, I just can’t think of one and he has been in office almost three years. Don’t you see? We have to have at least a modest little bit of proof that he is eliminating those who commit fraud waste and abuse–not just him saying he is. Otherwise, he starts sounding like a blowhard ideologue.
The main money Curtis protects is that of his lawyer friend he got $2 Million for by soliciting and allowing him to get in on the NY bank settlement without having to do any work…a deal of no benefit to SC retirees. None.
Go to The State and hunt for Cindi Scoppe’s editorial on that dirty deal. You’ll never see it here. That is…if you ever even try to look at both sides.
When will you people learn to stop deifying these politicians?
I can’t understand why non government employees receive government retirement. This must be a drain on the system.
Please continue to write on this subject.
Why didn’t “anonymous” name some of the organizations ???