Union Leader Blasts Raimondo: “She’s Not Honest”
Monday, October 24, 2011
The President of the Cranston Firefighters is accusing General Treasurer Gina Raimondo of making people believe the state’s pension fund is in worse shape than it really is in.
Paul L. Valletta Jr. claims the Treasurer’s assertion that taxpayers will be on the hook for hundreds of millions in additional taxes if the General Assembly fails to pass legislation that will modify the pension system by freezing cost-of-living-adjustments, raising the retirement age and switching to a hybrid 401k-style plan is incorrect.
“I think it’s all a scam,” Valletta said Friday. “All the numbers are lies. Yes I think we have a problem, but they didn’t have to do these changes.”
Unbelievable Changes
Valletta was one of the few critics that appeared in the glowing New York Times Sunday profile of Raimondo and the state’s pension problems. The Treasurer maintains that her plan will cut the state’s unfunded liability by $3 billion. If the measure passes in its current form, Raimondo said it would keep taxpayer contributions to the system at the same level for next year (almost $300 million) and save taxpayers nearly $3 billion over the next decade.
But in an interview with GoLocalProv, Valletta said the critics of the pension system aren’t telling the entire story.
“They based everything on the last ten years,” he said. “When we had an attack on our country, two wars and a recession.”
Valletta said he believes the economy is starting to turn around and that a dramatic overhaul of the pension system is unnecessary.
“You look at what they’re doing to the teachers and the state workers, it’s unbelievable,” he said. “If I thought the numbers were accurate, that would be one thing, but they’re not. “They want a 401k and that just gives Wall Street and banks more money.”
Liability Over $7 Billion
But for Raimondo, who has consistently stressed that politics be pushed aside in favor of math, the numbers don’t lie. The system in its current form would bottom out by 2042 and it will continue to force tax hikes across the state if changes aren’t made immediately.
“As you know, the state’s pension system is approximately 48 percent funded and has an unfunded liability of over $7B,” Raimondo told the General Assembly last week. “Without reform, the taxpayer contribution into the pension system is projected to double to over $600M next year and to $1 billion in just over 10 years – much of this burden is passed onto municipalities.”
If the legislation doesn’t pass, the consequences will affect everyone, according to Raimondo.
“The current underfunded system places the burden most heavily on the taxpayers and younger employees,” she said. “The consequences of not passing this bold reform affect all of us, there will be significant tax increases, painful budget cuts, and a pension fund that could run out of money before many of today’s employees reach retirement.”
It’s A Political Thing
Despite Raimondo’s insistence that politics should have nothing to do with the legislation, Valletta said she the Treasurer is creating “class warfare and I believe it’s a political thing.”
“If she doesn’t run for Governor in four years, I’ll apologize,” he said.
Valletta criticized Raimondo for offering different messages to different groups of people as she traveled across the state in an attempt to shed light on the state’s pension crisis. He said he went to dozens of community meetings and Treasurer’s message was always tailored for the room she was in.
“She not honest,” he said. “If she was, why wouldn’t she tell everyone the same thing?”
In the end, Valletta claims the pension changes will severely affect the average worker.
“I still think they hit these people too hard,” he said. “Some people are going to lose their homes because of this.”
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Comments:
Travis Yowley
6:48am on Monday, October 24, 2011
Well, just look at her...she's getting her moment in the sun and is basking in it. I thought there might be a problem when she got all bent out of shape when her details were leaked.
Travis Yowley
6:51am on Monday, October 24, 2011
HAHA! Just noticed that she's started her next campaign on the top of the projo web site!
John McGrath
7:16am on Monday, October 24, 2011
The ProJo will no doubt be publishing the article in Sunday's (Oct 23) New York Times on the RI pension crisis. Everyone should read it, or just Google: The Little State With The Big Mess New York Times.
Lis Velva
7:45am on Monday, October 24, 2011
Paul Valletta jr is one briighest minds in labor pay attention to him. He knows her agenda.
TOO MUCHbs
8:27am on Monday, October 24, 2011
he thinks??
what year did pauly v attend Oxford?
Lance Chappell
8:45am on Monday, October 24, 2011
Your trying to compare the mind of a treasurer who attended Harvard/Yale and Oxford against the one of a firefighter?? This guy is kidding, right?
One thing to remember here.....this pensions plan came after many hours of meetings, which included the unions!!
The unions are going to throw roadblocks up against this plan, and for that matter, any plan that will interrupt the gravy train.
This treasurer has come out on the record and stated that if anything is changed in this plan, she will recommend a veto to the governor. We've had 4 decades of this nonsense and change is needed - the unions helped to create this mess. Of course they will want it to continue.
Real Clear
8:53am on Monday, October 24, 2011
The numbers are ginned up. Why 18 years instead of 30. Why are non-profits and construction companies on board with the Chamber of Commerce (EngageRI).
Tax cut for the wealthy, leads to revenue short-falls, leads to stealing from where the money is.
Gina is a liar and to intellectually lazy to admit HER tax cut hurts everyone else.
Robert Neill
9:03am on Monday, October 24, 2011
If it smells like "Wall Street" it must be "Wall Street"! Raimondo has created this problem by inflating numbers in one of the worst economic downturns since the depression and is using it so that her "Wall Street" friends can grab a slice of the pie. See an earlier article from ProJo:
Providence Journal - As R.I. treasurer, Raimondo would stress financial literacy
10/20/2010 12:46:22 PM
"While Gina M. Raimondo handles millions of dollars in her job as a venture capitalist"
ProJo Login
9:53am on Monday, October 24, 2011
Sorry, but I have a difficult time listening to a guy whose union managed to score a deal that gives them Sept. 11 as a paid holiday. Enough is enough - especially from the "firefighters". Let's strip out the EMS and privitize it like it is most places and we could close 3/4 of the fire stations in the state. Do that and the money we save might help the pension problem. Just the overtime for a bunch of guys learning to cook and lifting weights in their spare time while twiddling their thimbs waiting for the next patch of burning leaves could probably balance the state budget.
Doug MacPherson
11:44am on Monday, October 24, 2011
Sounds like more of "lets kick the can down the road" from the unions. The public sector union response is absolutely typical and predictable. Frankly, I would not want my money if a 401K vs a guaranteed pension if I had a choice, but I don't. COLA's, something I will never see in my lifetime. This has not even started to get ugly yet and I expect the response from the unions to be vitriolic, throwing everything but the kitchen sink at Raimondo.
Odd Job
12:50pm on Monday, October 24, 2011
Union crybabies whining because their pension scam has run aground!
kevin sadowski
1:18pm on Monday, October 24, 2011
I would be willing to go back to us (the workers of RI) putting in 5 % match and see how mr. Vendetta`s economic theory works out..it`s their Union we should stay out of it, and get back to helping the majority of the RI residents. there is 3 fire stations north, south and east!!! less than 2 miles from my home,Cranston had paid for a private study of them and it was suggested they close a minimum of 3 stations in Cranston, He was against that and threatend then mayor Laffyee in public of personal harm. at a city council meeting.you want to call people names so be it you knuckle draging neandathol.
Frank D'Orsi, Jr.
1:49pm on Monday, October 24, 2011
Unions are there own worst enemy. When they first formed in this country they had viable and admirable aspirations and goals. I think of the sewing shop sweat factories in NYC at the turn of the century, where conditions were deplorable, bordering on third world country standards - none. They have come a long way and have gained much respect, but when they sided with a political party, learned how to play the game - giving politicians they people's money in the form of union dues, etc. it distorts the process. I say let the people keep more of their own money and invest as each individual sees fit. With the advent of the computer, investing and access to a wealth of information allows for incredible power.
Odd Job
12:40am on Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Gina is a true hero with the backbone of a pitbull. She's the best thing that's happened to RI in forever. She is a shoe-in to replace Gump as governor!
Carol DeFeciani
11:04am on Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Mr. Valetta - you just gave me a good laugh. Is your guy RUBBERS honest? Puh-lease, spare me. Stealing condoms from CVS is good honest behavior now, isn't it? Let's not forget about the $88,000 salary scam to boy wonder Ianazzi who couldn't even finish RIC. GO GINA! They're afraid of you, as well they should be! They've got their tails between their legs and all they can do is WHINE.
William Berube
8:12am on Wednesday, October 26, 2011
You don't have to be a Harvard graduate to know that you're being screwed. And if this woman is so damn smart, why has she been telling us that the state police receive social security, when they do not and never have? What else doesn't she know? What other 'facts' that aren't true has she used as a basis to craft this plan?