Partial Credit Pensions – What a concept!
When the people at my workplace first heard that Frank Corrente was seeking a partial pension for the time he served government whilst NOT breaking the law, the reaction was universal: HA! That went for young, old and middle; men and women; conservative and liberal. Wow, we all thought, that takes some brass ones. But none of us were part of a key demographic: city machine insiders who comprise the majority of the Providence Retirement Board.
The Providence Retirement Board voted today to partially reinstate the pension of Frank E. Corrente, a former top lieutenant to former Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr.
Corrente, 79, was convicted of racketeering, conspiracy and extortion charges in U.S. District Court in 2002 in the wake of an FBI probe into corruption at City Hall….In voting 7-5 to give Corrente a partial pension, the board adopted a consultant’s recommendation last month that Corrente receive a pension for his first stint with the City, but not his second, tainted term of employment in the Cianci administration.
The vote means that Corrente would receive $1,852.61 per month rather than the full pension of $5,881.30 that he was getting when his pension was suspended in 2002.
This over the objections of Mayor Cicilline and pretty much anyone with an ounce of common sense. Only in Rhode Island, right?
ADDENDUM: Dan Yorke reminds that the same Retirement Board just recently took away the pension of former Providence Police Chief Urbano Prignano, Jr., who admitted to helping Providence police officers cheat on tests but was never convicted of anything (unlike Corrente).
And by the way, thanks to an amendment to the City Charter, the majority of the Providence Retirement Board are Cicilline appointments.
Who were the seven who voted for it?
Let’s name names!!
I suppose Robert Corrente’s pension could be based on his won-loss record in court, but he’d probably appreciate it if you corrected the first line of your post.
YIKES! Thanks for catching that Bob!
Dan Yorke said Corrente SHOULD get his pension
So the lesson is:
If you behave as a corrupt public official, and get caught, your pension will be prorated downward only for the period of your known corruption.
Meanwhile, the fruits of your corruption will remain hidden away in some Cayman Islands numbered account.
So if you get caught, you’ll be no worse off financially than if you’d never engaged in the corruption … and if you don’t get caught, you’ll be even more financially well off than if you’d conducted yourself ethically. So start soliciting those bribes – it’s a no-brainer here in MOB-CULTURED RHODE ISLAND!
One marvels at the ethical cesspool that is Rhode Island!
It seems safe to say that Corrente’s pension from LIUNA was never in danger – you know LIUNA, the RI headquartered labor union (in a building partially owned by Corrente) that was under federal trusteeship because of its mob ties.
The same union that with which “Corrente” was “negotiating” on “behalf of” the City:
http://www.laborers.org/coia_projo_10-8-92.html
“The Coia-Lapore law offices have received over 1033 and is currently under review by the Rhode Island Bar Association for possible conflict of interest violations. Frank Corrente an employee of the City of Providence and a partner in the Gateway Building Project has already been sited by a Rhode Island Ethics Panel for his role in the 1033 contract and its renting space in the Gateway building.”
http://www.laborers.org/Fino_Gow_4-18-96.htm
And Rhode Island has welcomed back Corrente’s corrupt “boss” Buddy Cianci like he’s some kind of returning hero (well, Cianci was Corrente’s public boss – not to be confused with Corrente’s (and Cianci’s?) mob bosses).
We should rename this place: The State of Rhode Island and Sicilian Plantations.
Thanks to Sissyline the “disabled” ex-cop that killed the fireman is still collecting his $4000 a month check. The Sissyline Crime Family has done NOTHING to stop the check to a murderer.
Maybe they were too busy sending out extortion letters (oops-I mean tickets) for the “Going Away To Jail Party” to city workers, vendors and people who regularly appear before city licensing boards.
Don’t forget Kathleen Parsons, a Cicilline crony at the Parks Dept. who was CONVICTED of embezzlement in 2004 and is STILL getting her full pension thanks to Sissy’s machinations.
Spin away Jerzyk.
Hold your horses folks Corrente had 20 years of honorable service when he left City Hall. There is no indication he was collecting his retirement when Cianci asked him to come back to work in City Hall.
I always thought retirement was based on your total years vested but I guess the Providence Retirement Board thinks differently.
Good news is it’s unclear when Corrente would start receiving the money. The retirement board vote must go to Superior Court for confirmation and implementation. It could get shot down in court.
This over the objections of Mayor Cicilline and pretty much anyone with an ounce of common sense.
And here I was sure those words would never be seen in the same sentence. Who knew?
Hold your horses folks Corrente had 20 years of honorable service when he left City Hall.
How do we know?
Chief Prignano was never even charged with a misdemeanor.No police officer has ever lost his pension in Providence absent being convicted of a felony for acts committed while employed.The Prignano revocation was engineered by Cicilline and Esserman and will not stand under review in Superior Court.Esserman is a fraud who wouldn’t make a pimple on Prignano’s rear end as a cop.Cicilline runs a morally corrupt administration.The benefit for his extortionist brother was obscene.I wonder what new attorney Jerzyk thinks of lawyers who shake down their clients?
This is an outrage and every member of the Providence Retirement Board should be replaced.
Cicilline and the City of Providence should sue Corrente for the salary paid to him during the years of “dishonest” service.
But EMT had the best insight: how do we know Corrente had 20 years of “honorable” service? Just because he didn’t get caught earlier?
Corrente’s pension grew from $1,852 per month to $5,881 per month as a result of just 39 more months of service (July 1999 to Sept 2002)?
Is anybody troubled by that?
And how about that 8.5% interest that he “earned”?
Three extra years of “service” and his pension grows by 218%
Is it any wonder why RI has a $5 billion pension deficit?
Bob Walsh, we don’t need Pension Reform, do we?
Oh that’s right. The Pension deficit is because the already over-taxed Taxpayers have not contributed enough, as opposed to nut-bag unsustainable benefits that are doled out to Entitlement-minded leeches, right?
I’m made happy by one thought:
THEY’RE PUTTING THE NAILS IN THEIR OWN COFFINS!
I’ve run across friends who are usually completely disinterested in politics that are furious with recent stories about the pension system. In two of the cases, the ticked-off people were “straight-line” Democrat voters who just assumed that the Democrats were the party of the “little guy”.
As the state’s population dwindles, there are fewer people to support the public sector benefits and those that remain are waking up.
Why should someone work until age 65 or 67 to support the lifestyle of a public employee who retires at age 50 or even younger?
As people begin asking these types of questions, they’ll start to see the light.
anybody know what correntes wifes pension is?
The feds said “Uncle Frank” was the bagman for Buddy Cianci.
Corrente was allegedly the “buffer” through which the bribes flowed.
I wonder how much money was allegedly stolen? Any guesses? My guess is a few million, at least.
CC,
Aparently not enough, given Cianci has been reduced to whoring himself out at 63 WPRO.
Corrente was allegedly the “buffer” through which the bribes flowed.
As the state’s population dwindles, there are fewer people to support the public sector benefits and those that remain are waking up.
Why should someone work until age 65 or 67 to support the lifestyle of a public employee who retires at age 50 or even younger?