May 03, 2013 08:55 PM UTC

Montana to Attempt a Colorado-style Breach of Public Pension Contracts. Montana Governor: It's Illegal, but What the Hell.

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• by: PolDancer

MONTANA'S GOVERNOR SAYS TAKING THE PUBLIC PENSION COLA BENEFIT IS ILLEGAL, BUT HE'S SIGNING THE BILL ANYWAY.

COME AGAIN?

MONTANA GOV. BULLOCK: STATE PENSIONERS WILL WIN THEIR LAWSUIT OVER THE COLA TAKING.

If Colorado's former Governor Ritter (an attorney) had such views, he wasn't sharing them in 2010.  Many states just want to roll the public pension dice. If they lose their pension contract breach case, they have the status quo, and the courts become the "bad guys."  I guess we can at least admire Governor Bullock's honesty.

From mtprnews.wordpress.com:

"'We believe that ultimately when current and retired employees bring challenge to them that they will be successful,' (Gov. Bulllock’s Budget Director Dan) Villa said, adding the bill fixes the retirement system with or without the reduction in yearly raises which he said just make the fix more aggressive."

"(Association of Montana Retired Public Employees President Russell) Wrigg said he wants the pension fix bills to pass without the raise reductions (COLA taking) – he would prefer that to them (pension reform bills) dying through a veto.  He says the group will consider legal actions against the bills if the governor signs them, which is expected.  But, he doesn’t approve of the tactic."

"'Legislation through litigation is really not the way to solve our problems in this state,' he said."'

http://mtprnews.wordpress.com/2013/05/03/fix-to-state-retirement-systems-opposed-by-retirees/

My comment: "Legislation through litigation" is the strategy employed by the proponents of our Colorado COLA-theft bill, SB10-001. Recall Colorado Deputy Attorney General for Legal Policy and Government Affairs Geoff Blue's comments [he’s now in private practice.]  Geoff Blue notes that since Colorado’s education establishment has failed to win new revenues at the polls lately, they are now seeking to “legislate through the courts.”  "They’ve been losing so they’re trying to legislate through the courts.”  Breaking PERA pension contracts frees up funds for Colorado's education establishment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0ZdUF0L8cU

This Montana situation is a first for me . . . I can't recall another instance, in which a Governor believes that a bill is unconstitutional, but signs it anyway.  When the Montana pensioner's case is filed it will be interesting to see how Montana's Attorney General goes about defending it.  The plaintiffs will certainly bring the Governor's position on the constitutionality of the pension COLA taking to the attention of the court.  The State of Montana as a defendant will have to argue in defense of statutory provisions that the Chief Executive of the State of Montana deems a breach of state contracts.

In the Colorado case, Justus v. State, there is a parallel in that officials from Governor Ritter's administration wrote a letter to federal regulators (GASB) after the 2010 COLA-taking contravening legal arguments made by the defendants.

You can read the entirety of the letter on the GASB site here:

http://www.gasb.org/cs/ContentServer?site=GASB&c=Document_C&pagename=GASB%2FDocument_C%2FGASBDocumentPage&cid=1176157387791

Colorado PERA active and retired members, are you as appalled as I am about the irrationality of the public pension debate in the United States?  Support public pension contractual rights at saveperacola.com.  Friend Save Pera Cola on Facebook.