Mayor Bloomberg yesterday blasted as “the ultimate scam” a loophole that will allow Assemblyman Vito Lopez (D-Brooklyn) and 10 other veteran elected officials to collect both a state pension and a legislative salary.
The mayor’s comments followed a Post report revealing that Assemblymen Herman “Denny” Farrell (D-Manhattan) and José Rivera (D-Bronx) had filed for lucrative retirement checks, even though they’re slated to return to the Legislature in January.
“It is the ultimate scam,” Bloomberg said. “It’s an outrage. No one’s going to stop them legally . . . They shouldn’t do it.”
Lopez, who has been dogged by several investigations into the charity empire he founded, said a cancer relapse led him to file for his pension. “I made a decision based on my health status and my responsibility to my family,” he said.
He’s in line to collect an estimated $88,600 pension on top of his $92,000 annual salary.
But Brooklyn Democratic Committeeman Lincoln Restler said Lopez was gaming the system just like indicted Sen. Pedro Espada Jr. (D-Bronx).
“Throw in the $400 sushi habit, and it’ll be like Espada never left,” Restler said.
The pension loophole was closed in 1995, but the Legislature exempted elected officials who had already paid into the retirement system under previous rules.