Foolish Mind Games

It has been said that foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds. The Oregonian has once again demonstrated its miniscule mindedness. In yesterday's (Friday August 29) editorial, they displayed foolish consistency insisting that, although it would be painful, the Portland Police and Fire retirees who have benefitted from the erroneous calculations of benefits since 1995 (because of the Legislature's bill resolving the income tax gridlock coming out of Hughes v Oregon and Davis v. Michigan , should have to repay the overpayments. The PPFRS did not calculate the adjustment correctly and retirees have been receiving approximately 2.58% higher benefits since retirement. So, as in the case of PERS retirees, the Whoregonian insists that beneficiaries should repay their overpayments. My oh my, haven't we heard this line before. I hope that the coalition supporting PPFRS retirees is as agressive with their litigation as the PERS Coalition has been for PERS retirees. These are not errors for which the victims should be blamed. And there ought to be a statute of limitations on how long the funds have to recover the errors. Three years ought to be sufficient for auditing of payments and for finding mistakes. We are talking about errors that began as many as 13 years ago. Just because the administrators of these funds are totally incompetent, it doesn't mean that the beneficiaries should have to pay for their mistakes.