Whistleblowers Eye 6-Figure Gov't Retirees

A California interest group is on a mission to publicize the names of public retirees with outsize pensions, arguing that they’re bankrupting local governments, the Wall Street Journal reports. Atop one list sits a former small-town administrator who pulls in $499,674.84 a year. But critics say this so-called “$100K Club” initiative raises privacy concerns, and paints a distorted view of public pensions.

“If you skim off the top 1% and say this reflects abuses in the system, that’s totally out of context,” said an official from a California school union. The interest group’s head, Keith Richman, is a well-known budget hawk. He’s trying to collect a million signatures to put a referendum on the ballot to reduce public pensions in California’s next election. (More pensions stories.)