Supreme Court Justice's Problems Not Likely to Affect Generous Pension
With 20 years of judicial service, Justice Diane Hathaway could get $100K a year pension
In the face of alleged ethics violations ranging from tax fraud to money laundering, Michigan Supreme Court Justice Diane Hathaway announced this week that she is resigning.
That does not mean, however, that she will no longer be receiving taxpayer dollars. In fact, it appears that Hathaway can probably look forward to a pension that may be just shy of $100,000 a year.
The Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission has accused Hathaway of fraud, money laundering and "misrepresentations to the commission" for her involvement with a short sale of property.
Hathaway might best be remembered in connection with ads that were run against her opponent Cliff Taylor in 2008. The ads labeled Taylor, who was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, as the "sleeping judge," based on a false claim that he had dozed off while a case was being argued.
Coupled with a well-orchestrated campaign exhorting Barack Obama supporters to vote for Obama and Hathaway, the sleeping judge ads succeeded. In an upset, Taylor, who is now chairman of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy's board of directors, lost and Hathaway joined the state's highest court.
With Hathaway stepping down, she is eligible for a state pension. According to the Office of Retirement Services, she turned in the required paperwork on Dec. 20.
"We don't have the details yet on her pension," Department of Technology, Management and Budget Spokesman Kurt Weiss said. "It's still being processed."
Nevertheless, the basic formula for computing a Supreme Court Justice’s pension is straight-forward. To determine how much of a pension Hathaway can expect, the state will use a simple formula: multiply the number of years she served by her salary and a multiplier; which in this case is 3 percent.
Hathaway has 20 years of service in the court system, dating back to 1993 when she began serving as Wayne County Circuit Court Judge, after being elected to the post in 1992. The salary figure used is the employee’s final salary, which in Hathaway’s case was the $164,610 annual figure she made as a Supreme Court Justice.
As with all employees, several specific aspects of Hathaway’s employment history could potentially alter her pension. However, based on the general formula used for judges, it appears that her pension will likely be in the neighborhood of $98,766 per year.
Tight security locked out dozens of anti-right-to-work protesters from the State Capitol as Governor Snyder was delivering his "State of the State" address. Protesters tried to disrupt the speech by banging and chanting outside the building.
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FROM MICHIGAN HOME HELP PROGRAM PROVIDERS — OFTEN FAMILY MEMBERS
ATTORNEY GENERAL ORDERED THE STATE TO STOP TAKING MONEY ON MAY 25, 2012
opinion May 25, 2012
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) "organized” Michigan's self-employed Home Help Program providers for the purpose of skimming dues from their ailing and disabled clients' Medicaid subsidy checks. The majority of these providers are relatives or friends taking care of loved ones. It’s been estimated that less than 25 percent of the providers are hired in an employment setting.
The first counter tallies SEIU dues skimmed since the union and state officials first launched this scheme in late 2006. The second shows the amount skimmed since June 9, 2011, when the Michigan House passed and sent to the Senate a bill to ban this and all similar “stealth unionization” efforts. The third counter shows the dues skimmed since the Governor signed the bill into law on April 10, 2012. The fourth counter shows the amount skimmed since May 25, 2012, when the Attorney General opinion was announced.
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