Aubertine: New Questions Arise as Renzi Pension Story Changes Yet Again
Now Says He Did Not Get Paid, Just Improper Benefits While Claiming $26K In Salary Credits

Aubertine Campaign Media Release

WATERTOWN, N.Y., Oct. 29, 2008  —  In another bizarre and misleading twist in the Dave Renzi pension scandal, Mr. Renzi told a local newspaper that he "did not receive a salary—his compensation was access to the benefits." Mr. Renzi's pension records show, however, that he claimed $26,539 in salary credit in the New York State Retirement System as well as 300 days of service credit. 

"Pension credits are based on salary, among other things, and if now he claims he did not get paid then he needs to explain why he claimed $26,000 in salary credits," said Aubertine Campaign Coordinator Cort Ruddy. "First we learned of the improper enrollment for the past four years. Then he reveals he had no contract. Then question arose about his padded hours. And now we learn he also padded his salary credits. If he had no compensation, what was his pension contribution based on? This is one tangled web." 

In the article, Mr. Renzi also commented on the statewide pension scandal, which the Attorney General has said is costing the state millions. Mr. Renzi said, "This is something that had been going on for years." The Aubertine campaign reminds Mr. Renzi that just because laws were being broken for years does not make it right. 

Still, Mr. Renzi's attempt to dismiss his wrongdoing as improper but commonplace stands at odds with the comptrollers assessment of Mr. Renzi's arrangement. A comptroller's auditor who is working on a report on this situation told the town of Pamelia that he had never seen such an agreement in any other town he audited across the state.

"Mr. Renzi has also claimed he didn't ask for these improper pension credits, yet now he's saying it was his only compensation," Mr. Ruddy said. "If we are to believe his latest story, became the town's attorney only to receive pension credits, with no contract, no set hours, and no salary. This means his only reason to work for the town of Pamelia was to get a pension he is not entitled to."
Ruddy said that Renzi still has yet to answer questions about his lack of a contract, improper compensation or anything documenting the more than 1800 hours and 300 days he has claimed on pension records to have worked as Pamelia town attorney – a town of 2,900 people. 

"For four years he received improper pension credits, yet he was not a town employee and had no contract. He did not keep track of his hours and the town supervisor has said he does not know if Mr. Renzi worked the hours he claimed. And now, he claims he did not even get paid. That can only mean he lied when told the pension system he made $26,000 and that he worked 300 days— all to pad his improper pension," Mr. Ruddy said. "Mr. Renzi has a lot of questions to answer about this increasingly troubling pension scam."


Official: Senator Aubertine