April 25, 2008

Tin cup millionaire

Talk about missing the forest for the trees.

UC Berkeley insists "no laws were broken" and all the rules were followed when the school gave a $2.1 million retirement payout to the campus' longtime police chief, and then allowed her to remain in the job. Actually, the school admits it did bend the rules when it discussed future job terms with Victoria Harrison before she retired and when it allowed her to keep 61 unused sick days. But all of that was necessary because Harrison, 54, was already eligible to retire with 100 percent of her salary and she received a job offer from another police agency. Berkeley wanted to keep her.

But the point here is not did UC break or bend some rules. It's why on earth do we have to give campus police chiefs $2.1 million retirement packages or 100 percent of their pay at age 54 in the first place? I can't believe there is no one else out there who has the training and demeanor to do that job without such an extravagent package.

But Harrison says she is actually taking a big risk in accepting the lump sum payment rather than waiting for her pension and lifetime health care benefits.

"When I leave, I'll have to be self-insured," Harrison told the Chronicle. "If I don't do a good job investing all that money, I could be out on the street with a tin cup. I did a lot of soul-searching about whether I was willing to take that risk."

Poor thing.

Posted by dweintraub on April 25, 2008 09:19 AM