The New York Post reports that, "a fierce dispute has erupted between Mayor Bloomberg and other top city officials over whether the public is entitled to know the names and earnings of some 300,000 members of the city's largest pension system..." The 'dispute' can be traced back to a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request, and subsequent lawsuit, seeking the names and pension benefits of New York City's retirees.
But the implications here are much larger than just one pension system being secretive. As the Post reports, the other four NYC pension systems, which had previously shared their lists of retirees, "instantly followed the NYPD system's lead and also went into lockdown mode." Even when pressured to release the information by their Mayor, the system quickly -- and decisively -- said no.
So here's the point -- the pension systems want us to believe that the taxpayers who fund these generous pension plans for public employees no longer have the right to see where that money goes. That just seems wrong.
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