July 15, 2013 02:38 PM UTC

Does Quaker Hickenlooper's Support for the Breach of Colorado PERA Pension Contracts Comport with "Quaker Values"?

• 5 Comments
• by: PolDancer

AS A BUSINESSMAN, HOW IS IT THAT HICK SUPPORTS BREACH OF CONTRACT?

Is just does not compute.

Apparently, Quakers do not traditionally embrace contractual relationships, Dr. Emma Lapsansky-Werner, Emeritus Professor of History, University of Pennsylvania:

"It is helpful to provide context by pointing out that even while eschewing formal contracts, Friends have shaped their theology and behaviors around what might be described as contractual premises."

http://law.hamline.edu/files/Lapsansky.Rev_..pdf

http://www.haverford.edu/faculty/elapsans

(Note that many branches of Friends exist today, and that belief in the sanctity of contracts, or whether one should become a party to a contract may vary among these branches.  Also, in case you're curious Wynkoop patrons, Teetotalism among Quakers is a myth.)

Hickenlooper has identified himself as a Quaker:

"In 2010, Hickenlooper told the Philadelphia Inquirer that he and Thorpe attend Quaker meetings and try to live by Quaker values."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hickenlooper

"Back on the bus, Hickenlooper credits this approach to his Philadelphia roots.  'We go to Quaker meeting three times a week,' he said of himself and his wife, author Helen Thorpe.  'My great-grandparents were Quakers.  And I tried to take that ethic into business.  Quaker honesty, Quaker mindfulness, that effort to build community across differences. . . . I get that from my Philly background.'"

http://articles.philly.com/2010-10-27/news/24953518_1_colorado-governor-wynkoop-brewing-denver-s-lower-downtown

As is common among the population as a whole, my guess is that most Friends respect existing contracts and believe that the failure to meet one's contractual obligations is immoral.  But, can the traditional aversion of Friends to enter into contractual relationships help explain Hickenlooper's lack of respect for Colorado PERA pension contracts?  How does Hick's support for the breach of the contracts of the State of Colorado constitute "Quaker honesty"?

HICKENLOOPER: Break Colorado PERA retiree pension contracts, seize contracted, accrued, PERA pensioner benefits:

“Hickenlooper told the group that changes two years ago seeking to sustain the Public Employees’ Retirement Association were insufficient . . .”.  ‘I personally think that we probably should go further,’ Hickenlooper said.  He said options the state could consider include reducing inflation adjustments for retirees, raising the retirement age for new hires and averaging employees’ last five years of earnings to determine pension payments rather than the last three years.”

http://www.chieftain.com/hickenlooper-talks-energy-water-pensions/article_25f92ef8-4ef1-11e1-a99f-001871e3ce6c.html

HICKENLOOPER ON LAST WEEK'S MIKE ROSEN SHOW: Break Colorado PERA retiree pension contracts.

Every month, Mike Rosen has Governor Hickenlooper as a guest on his radio program.  Last week, during a discussion of the public education ballot measure that may make this Fall's general election ballot, Hick repeated his call to break Colorado PERA retiree public pension contracts (July 11, 2013 – 10:00 AM Mike Rosen Show, 20 minutes into the discussion):

"I'm all for sitting down and figuring out the calculus of . . .  at what point,  if 8 percent is too high an expectation for PERA, is there a trigger at which point we say all right, then we have to lower the inflation rate of the money we pay to retirees or one of these other electric Third Rails, but what is that trigger?"  "That's a separate argument though . . ."

Hickenlooper on the relationship of the education funding ballot proposal to PERA funding:

"There is no lump sum subsidy of PERA anywhere in this."

Mike Rosen: "I didn't say there was."

Link:

http://www.850koa.com/pages/mikerosen.html

Hick, you never wanted to be a "politician," but you are certainly behaving like one.  Why do you believe that you can break the contracts of a small group of Colorado's residents with impunity?  Are these people just part of a subclass of Coloradans who have no constitutional rights?  Or, have you simply not taken the time to study public pension legal theory and case law?  Have you read the work of public pension legal scholar Professor Amy Monahan of the University of Minnesota?  Put some time into it prior to advocating breach of PERA pension contracts.

HICKENLOOPER: Seizing CORPORATE property is a “taking," how about PERA member property?

When government regulates mineral development, Hickenlooper believes that regulation is an illegal taking of private property.  When government takes property from PERA members by breaking their pension contracts, Hick thinks that's just hunky-dory:

"When you ban fracking, you're telling all those people that paid their money, their savings, their investments to get their mineral rights now they're being taken away," Hickenlooper said to The Coloradoan.  "That's called a taking."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/07/hickenlooper-says-state-w_n_2828221.html?utm_hp_ref=denver

2012 Colorado Court of Appeals Decision on PERA Member Property Rights:

Last Fall the Colorado Court of Appeals reversed a Denver District Court ruling on PERA retiree's Takings Clause claim in the Colorado PERA retiree pension lawsuit, Justus v. State.  On page 36 of its decision remanding the case to the Denver District Court, the Colorado Court of Appeals restores the plaintiff’s Takings Clause claim and cites the case Lynch: “contract rights can constitute property interests protected by the Takings Clause.”

HICKENLOOPER: Use Colorado PERA Member Trust Funds for Corporate Welfare.

“He (Hickenlooper) said the state could raise $100 million from investors and securitize about $50 million from the Public Employees Retirement Association to provide the loans.  ‘We would only use a small part of state retirement funds.  It would have to be run like a business.  This would provide access to capital they can’t get now,’ Hickenlooper said.”

http://csbj.com/2010/10/13/hickenlooper-considering-tapping-pera-for-loans/

Hold the phone, why should Colorado PERA members who own the Colorado PERA pension trust funds assume risk that the private sector won't touch?  How is it the responsibility of Colorado PERA members to meet a private financing need that is not being met by the private sector?  How is it the responsibility of PERA members to provide loans to corporations in an artificially limited geographical area?  How is that the highest and best use of their trust funds?  Hick, do you simply not care about the property rights of this lowly caste of Colorado residents?

As fiduciaries, members of the Colorado PERA Board of Trustees should have no responsibility to provide corporate welfare.  Why don’t these businesses try a bank loan?  Too risky for the banks?

Colorado PERA statutes:

“As fiduciaries, such trustees shall carry out their functions solely in the interest of the members and benefit recipients and for the exclusive purpose of providing benefits and defraying reasonable expenses incurred in performing such duties as required by law.”

Comment from saveperacola.com, Hick has an “imperious CEO mentality,” (from “Deborah”):

“Hickenlooper appears to have little concept of the state’s legal and moral obligations to the people who have worked long and hard to provide critical services to the people of Colorado.  His CEO mentality that assumes he can sweep away anything he decides upon, at our expense, is imperious, undemocratic and dangerous.”

BUSINESSMAN HICKENLOOPER: Break the State's Contracts.

Hickenlooper has years of experience in business.  He is successful businessman.  He holds a graduate degree.  He considers himself qualified to sit in the United States Senate (Ritter rejected him for Bennet.)

"In a brief interview, Hickenlooper touted his experience as a business owner and his time as mayor as pluses for Gov. Bill Ritter to consider when weighing whom he should appoint to replace Sen. Ken Salazar, who has been nominated for secretary of the Interior Department."

http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_11292904

Hick's business acumen:

"Hickenlooper has been an advocate of bringing the experience of business leaders into government service and has reached out to the business community through events which bring together executives government, education, and corporate sectors such as The IT Summit's IT Conferences."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hickenlooper

"He praised Hickenlooper's 'lack of cynicism, his businessman's belief that government can be honest, smaller, and still serve people.'"

http://articles.philly.com/2010-10-27/news/24953518_1_colorado-governor-wynkoop-brewing-denver-s-lower-downtown

"John Straayer, professor of political science at Colorado State University, said, 'John's business background makes the business community comfortable.'"

http://articles.philly.com/2010-10-27/news/24953518_1_colorado-governor-wynkoop-brewing-denver-s-lower-downtown

It just doesn't add up.  Businessmen support the sanctity of contracts.  Corporate America could not function without a general acceptance of the sanctity of contracts.  I am confident that, throughout his life, Businessman Hickenlooper has demanded that contracts to which he is a party be honored.  Does Hickenlooper possess some category of constitutional rights that are superior to those possessed by Colorado PERA retirees?

Not all Governors support the taking of accrued public pension benefits from elderly public pensioners.  From Pennsylvania Governor (of the Quakers) Tom Corbett’s 2013 State of the State:

“Resolving our pension crisis will be the single most important thing we do for decades to come. I will not allow any cuts to any benefits of our retirees.”

“Let me repeat that: no cuts to any retiree benefits. They earned their retirement. They earned their guaranteed security.”

“Nor will I allow any pension dollars already earned by any current employee to be diminished in any way.”

http://www.governing.com/news/state/pennsylvania-corbett-2013-speech.html

Republican Governor Bill Owens 2006 State of the State address:

"We also need to take the politically tough step of examining benefit levels for our current employees.  We can help make the system more sustainable by changing the age at which retirees receive full benefits and-if necessary-reducing benefits in the ‘out’ years for those furthest from retirement.  These changes should not affect those closest to retirement, but could be phased in for those who have years to go.”

Link:

http://www.pewstates.org/projects/stateline/headlines/colorado-state-of-the-state-address-2006-85899394414

Even the Terminator knows that public pension contractual obligations cannot be unilaterally terminated.  Republican Governor of a state with serious financial problems, California Governor Schwarzenegger, January 6, 2010, State of the State address: "Now, for current employees these pensions cannot be changed, either legally or morally. We cannot break the promises we already made.  It is a done deal."

As we have seen, the State of Colorado has not paid its bills for a decade; instead, the Colorado Legislature has placed expenditures for state programs on a "credit card."  The Colorado Legislature has funded state programs for the last ten years by borrowing from the state pension trust fund, Colorado PERA.

But, the Colorado PERA pension trust funds are not the property of the State of Colorado.  These trust funds are owned by the beneficiaries of the trust, active and retired workers who have paid into the PERA pension system.  Having failed to pay its Colorado PERA pension bills, and racked up its debt, the Colorado Legislature is seeking to push this debt onto others.  Apparently, Governor Hickenlooper would like to join a majority of Colorado legislators in this effort.  In 2010, the Colorado Legislature enacted a bill SB10-001, that breaks Colorado PERA retiree pension contracts, taking their earned, accrued, "fully-vested" public pension benefits to pay off the state's debt.

Colorado PERA active and retired members, we live in a state where many representatives of the Executive and Legislative branches do not respect our contracts, or our property.  They ask that the Judicial Branch of Colorado state government join them in setting aside the contract clauses of the Colorado and U.S. constitutions.  They ask that the debts of the State of Colorado be shifted onto the backs of a relatively small group of the state's elderly.

We have arrived at this point.  Only the Judicial Branch of the State of Colorado has the power to preserve justice in our state.  Support public pension contractual rights and the rule of law in Colorado.  Contribute at saveperacola.com.  "Friend" Save Pera Cola on Facebook!