Rep. Tom Creighton: Prime example why people don't trust politicians
Lemoyne (12.27.11) – In 2000 Tom Creighton ran for Representative and assured voters that he would not accept a pension. According to LancasterOnline:
“In the 2000 Republican primary, Tom Creighton -- in an apparent attempt to separate himself from a crowded field in the 37th Legislative District contest -- said he would decline to accept a state pension if he were around long enough to qualify for one.
The pledge was reflective of Creighton's strongly held conservative views on such issues as government spending, farm preservation, education, tax reform and rights of the unborn. His views are shared by many Lancaster countians.
Creighton, of Rapho Township, won the GOP nod that year, and went on to easily defeat his Democratic opponent in the fall. He was elected time and again, becoming the current Lancaster County delegation's longest-serving Republican member, winning six two-year terms.”
When he announced his retirement last week, Rep. Creighton went back on the statements he had made a decade earlier. He announced that he would in fact be accepting a pension upon his retirement. As shocking as this reversal is, more shocking is the fact that Rep. Creighton, despite his campaign pledge NEVER opted out of the pension system. According to a right-to-know request CAP filed with the State Employee Retirement System, he has accumulated nearly 11 years of service.
Creighton did not just decide recently to take the pension; he has been misleading his constituents since the beginning of his tenure. From the first day he was in office, he has been in the pension system. What’s more in 2001, he voted for a pension increase that has contributed to the state pension system being under funded by between $29 billion and $100 billion (depending on who you ask). If a taxpayer wanted to have the same type of retirement security now enjoyed by Rep. Creighton, he or she would need to have over a $1 million in a CD account at today’s interest rates.
The losers in this are Rep. Creighton’s constituents who trusted him enough to take him at his word, without verifying if he had in fact not enrolled in the pension system.
It is a sad statement indeed that a person like Rep. Creighton is willing to trade their word and good name for $30,000 a year. This blatant act of self-enrichment is exactly the reason why CAP is working to elect Representatives and Senators through our Ben Franklin Project, who not only say they’ll decline the pension, but also actually do it.
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