Hefner's Federal Pension Will Be More Than $72,000

BY MARK WINEKA
SALISBURY POST

Former U.S. Rep. W.G. ''Bill'' Hefner, D-N.C., will receive a federal pension of $72,972 in his first year of retirement, according to figures released by the Roll Call Report Syndicate and the National Taxpayers Union.

Hefner retired in 1998 after 24 years in Congress. His pension will increase annually to protect against inflation. Most of the just-retired members of Congress also will receive retirement income from Social Security and the federal Thrift Savings Plan, a 401(k)-styled plan.

Congressional pensions can begin as early as age 55, if a member has 20 years of service. Most start at age 62, if the member is older than 55 when he or she leaves office.

Hefner is 68. He is receiving the same annual pension as retired U.S. Sen. John Glenn, but several other newly retired congressmen will have bigger pensions. They include former Rep. Bob Livingstone of Louisiana, $78,207; former Sen. Dale Bumpers of Arkansas, $82,060; and former Reps. Louis Stokes of Ohio, Joseph McDade of Pennsylvania, Sidney Yates of Illinois and Henry Gonzalez of Texas, all with $98,694 annual pensions.

The Roll Call Report Syndicate says the pension system for federal employees, including members of Congress, is ''more bountiful'' than the great majority of plans in the private sector, even among blue-chip companies.

The National Taxpayers Union is urging repeal of the part of the Federal Employees Retirement System that applies to Congress. It claims that at a time when Social Security and Medicare need fiscal repair, the congressional plan could make dozens of retired lawmakers into ''pension millionaires,'' if they live long enough.

Local legislators received their committee assignments last week for work in Raleigh. One appointment for Rep. Eugene McCombs, a Rowan County Republican, suggests that he may stand in good favor with new Democratic House Speaker Jim Black of Mecklenburg County.

Black made McCombs one of only four Republicans out of 21 House members assigned to the House Rules Committee, even though McCombs voted for Rep. Dan Blue in the close balloting for the speaker's seat.

The other Republicans appointed with McCombs were Steve Wood of High Point, who voted for Black as House speaker, and Jim Gulley and Edwin McMahan, both from Mecklenburg County.

Sen. Betsy Cochrane, R-Davie, will serve as vice chair of Appropriations and the ranking minority member of the Agriculture-Environment-Natural Resources Committee. She also will be a vice chair for the Commerce Committee.

Other appointments include Children and Human Resources, Education-Higher Education, Finance, Information Technology and the Select Committee on Tobacco Settlement Issues.

''I appreciate the confidence Senator (Marc) Basnight has placed in me,'' Cochrane said, ''and I look forward to these opportunities of leadership in these particular committees.''

Sen. Jim Phillips, D-Lexington, has cosponsored two education initiatives to raise teacher pay and increase accountability in public schools. The bills went to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

The first bill looks to allocate $274.9 million to the Excellent Schools Act, linking higher teacher pay to higher standards. The second bill gives $125 million to the ABCs (Accountability, Basics, Local Control) of Public Education Program.

''The ABCs program and the Excellent Schools Act have produced real achievements in our schools,'' Phillips said. ''We need to continue our support of these and other initiatives to help our students learn.''

Phillips chairs the Senate Pensions and Retirement and Aging Committee. He is vice chair of Health Care and a member of Children and Human Resources, Agriculture-Environment-Natural Resources, Finance, and the Appropriations Human Resources Subcommittee.

The Rowan County Republican Convention is scheduled for March 20. Rowan Democrats will hold their convention April 17.

On April 17, Sen. Beverly Perdue, D-New Bern, is expected to visit Salisbury as part of a daylong tour through the state promoting her candidacy for lieutenant governor in 2000.

The Libertarian Party of Rowan will hold its county convention at 7 p.m. March 1 at Shoney's.

The North Carolina Senate Select Committee on Tobacco Settlement Issues and the Senate Committee on Health Care is holding two public hearings on the proposed allocation of North Carolina's tobacco settlement proceeds.

The first hearing is scheduled for this afternoon and the second for Feb. 25, a Thursday, from 2 to 5 p.m. in Room 643 of the Legislative Office Building in Raleigh.

If you want to comment at the hearing, call 919-733-5651 and ask for Dee Bagley, legislative aide to Sen. David Weinstein, chairman of the select committee.

Comments will be limited to three to five minutes, and speakers should provide written copies of their comments to the committees at the hearing.

Richard Vinroot, the former Charlotte mayor, is making his second bid for governor. He lost to Robin Hayes in the 1996 Republican gubernatorial primary.

Charlie Jonas is serving as his campaign manager, and Vinroot already is sending out press releases on various state issues. He has called for the General Assembly to pass a statewide Taxpayer Protection Act to keep the legislators from raising taxes and contributing to ''runaway spending.''

Vinroot also has chastised a likely GOP opponent of his, Rep. Leo Daughtry, for brokering a deal with Democrat Dan Blue that, combined with Republican support, almost elected Blue as House speaker.

Vinroot said Daughtry almost delivered the Republican Party into the hands of one of the General Assembly's most liberal legislators - someone who supported partial birth abortion, opposed welfare reform, voted for the state's largest tax increase ever and favored spending all of a $1 billion surplus.

Vinroot said Daughtry ''chose political expediency and opportunism at the expense of his conservative principles.''