Posted on 11/27/2005 6:37:52 PM PST by calcowgirl
The state department that runs the California National Guard bears the weight of an unusually large and at times unchecked military bureaucracy that provides lucrative benefits for high-ranking officers, a Bee investigation has found.
The state's Military Department - about 400 soldiers strong - is known as a destination for those whose federal military careers have ended. As state soldiers, they can earn salaries and tax-free allowances well in excess of $100,000, and qualify for state pensions on top of their federal retirement income.
So many colonels, whose rank is signified by an eagle, have availed themselves of this opportunity that the Military Department headquarters in Sacramento is known among critics in the ranks as "the bird sanctuary."
In this environment, high-ranking officials benefit from windfalls largely outside the scrutiny of state agencies that normally monitor government operations.
The Military Department, for instance, dramatically boosted the pay and pensions of two high-ranking officials - one colonel and one general - with long careers elsewhere in state government by hiring them for positions never authorized by the state. In one case, even the adjutant general, the department's top boss, says that he didn't know about it.
In response to questions raised by The Bee, the department is auditing positions that may have been created without required approvals, including ones filled by workers classified as temporary who stayed on year after year.
"My problem with all of this is that, even if it's not illegal, it has been used to pad the salaries and create jobs for these old cronies," said retired Col. William Wenger, a former commander of the state's Army Guard, who returned this summer from a tour of duty in Iraq. "That's the tragedy here."
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
Taxpayers need to wake up.
"So many colonels, whose rank is signified by an eagle..."
Leave it to the Sacramento Bee to work on teaching the poor uneducated masses of the Bay area how the least little fact of life works. Luckily for everyone, the Bee stands on guard for the freedoms that we all cherish so much! GAG me.
I don't see the Bee, or any other MSM paper, bitching about politicians who server one term and retire at full pay. What is the difference? The only difference is these guys have faced death for their country, or at least some of them have and politicians rip people off for a living and then retire at full pay. Soldiers have to have a certain time in to retire, you can't do it on one inlistment.
The way life works? So you condone the practice?
The Sacramento Bee has been doing investigative reports on Pensions for the past couple of years. While I acknowledge their leftward slant, I am happy that someone is reporting the abuses that are raping taxpayer funds. I don't care if they are politicians, public employees, or military--abuse is abuse, and it should be stopped.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/projects/pensions/story/10689605p-11608072c.html
The Bee is a rag a**ed left wing pile of crap and I never pay attention to anything they write. They also own the three papers in my area and have completely ruined them with their communist BS. I don't believe their statistics, or figures. They could be telling the truth but I will not believe it until I see comfimation somewhere else, and that somewhere else would have to be conservative in nature. Sorry, but as much as I hate waste, everything the left may print and say is suspect, especially anything about the military.
The MSM has earned every bit of animosity I have for them. They work hard at it daily and are usually successful.
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