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Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Ind. Law - Health care perks and the 2006 elections

The Decatur Daily Democrat has an opinion piece today by Brian Howey headed "Health care perks and the 2006 elections." A quote:

Asked by a reporter if he was worried about the perception, [Senator Bob] Garton said, “The staff is included in the health care program. I suppose if you want to characterize it as a tax-paid program, the Medicare program is tax paid as well.”

Thanks, Bob. He’s lucky in that he doesn’t appear to have an opponent. When State Sen. Brent Waltz used the perk as a 2004 primary campaign issue against powerful Senate Finance Chairman Larry Borst, it polled off the charts and Borst was defeated. State Rep. Troy Woodruff used it to upset John Frenz .

Add the fact that these "part time" legislators get a 4-1 match from the state in their retirement plan and are allowed to take loans from that plan when no other public employee retirement program with the state allows loans, and the perks start to pile up.

[For earlier related ILB entries, select "Legislative Benefits" from the list of categories in the right column, or by selecting "Legislative Benefits" in the line directly below this entry.]

Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 24, 2006 04:27 PM
Posted to Indiana Government | Indiana Law | Legislative Benefits