When part-time lawmakers land full-time government jobs, pensions soar

When state Sen. Ken Stolle announced earlier this year that he was stepping down to run for Virginia Beach sheriff, lots of people were surprised.

Why would one of the most powerful men in state government want to run a city jail?

Stolle said he wanted to be sheriff to get back to his roots in law enforcement. He was a Virginia Beach police officer from 1976 to 1987 and spent many of his 18 years in the General Assembly working on law enforcement issues.

It's also true that after Stolle serves one term as sheriff, his pension pay will skyrocket to almost five times what it would have been if he'd remained in the state Senate.

That's because his annual salary will jump to about $143,000, which is $108,000 more than his top salary as a police sergeant. Retirement pay for government workers is based on the average of a worker's three highest-paid years.

Stolle is far from the first member of the part-time legislature to move into a full-time public job that promises higher pay and a much sweeter pension.

"It's gaming the system. I don't think there's a more polite way to describe it," said Quentin Kidd, a political science professor at Christopher Newport University. "When late in a legislative career you switch to a job like sheriff or treasurer, whether you admit it or not, the pension is one of your motivations."

Tom Moss, former delegate and speaker of the House, was elected Norfolk treasurer in 2001 after 36 years as a legislator. His pay was $36,321 as speaker, and he now earns $144,252 per year.

Kenneth Melvin, a delegate who represented Portsmouth for 24 years, was appointed a Circuit Court judge in April. His yearly pay jumped to $158,134 from $17,640 as a legislator.

Then there's the case of state Sen. Tommy Norment, R-James City County, who accepted a $160,000-a -year part-time faculty appointment with the College of William and Mary last year while he was still pulling in $18,000 per year plus expenses for his work in the Senate. If the 18-year legislator stays in the William and Mary job another year and a half, his much higher salary will be used to calculate a much more substantial state retirement benefit.

Critics say using the three highest salaries to calculate pensions encourages legislators to switch jobs near the end of their careers, which costs the ailing system money and clouds public service motives.

"Both parties do it, but it's something that we'd be better off to avoid," said James Koch, an economist and former president of Old Dominion University. "It transfers them into a situation where it appears as their entire career was at the higher salary."

Stolle's case differs from the others in that he sponsored a 2007 bill that increased retirement benefits for public safety workers, including sheriffs. He was elected Virginia Beach sheriff last month.

He said he had no plans to run for the position when he pushed the legislation and that for years he'd advocated a pension bump for public safety workers.

His bill raised a pension multiplier number - one of the main variables used to determine a pension - from 1.7 percent to 1.85 percent.

Stolle, who disclosed he had Parkinson's disease when he announced his bid for sheriff, said he was aware of the boost in benefits but it did not influence his decision to run.

"The decision to run for sheriff was not impacted by the benefit package at all," he said. "I've never done an analysis to see if I would make out better."

Had Stolle stayed in the General Assembly, his annual retirement pay would have been $18,737. That figure is based on the average of his three highest-paid years of public service - $33, 400 - as a sergeant with the Virginia Beach Police Department in the 1980s.

With his sheriff's salary of about $143,000, he will get $87,302 in yearly retirement pay, an increase of $68,565.

About $7,000 of that is due to the multiplier increase from his 2007 bill.

Stolle noted that he's giving up his salary as a lawyer at Kaufman & Canoles, where he said he makes "more than $200,000," to become sheriff.

If he serves one four-year term as sheriff, his increased retirement pay will make up for his lost lawyer's salary and General Assembly pay in about five years. If he serves two terms, it would take nearly 11 years.

Kidd, the political science professor, suggested that paying legislators more could reduce the temptation to seek higher-paying public jobs.

"It's a political situation driven by the idea of a citizen legislature," he said. "The problem is what they're paid doesn't reflect the work they're doing. If we don't want people to do this, then we have to pay them more."

Stolle defended his decision to run for sheriff, arguing that getting elected to a public office is much different than being appointed.

"This is not like I have gone in the twilight of my political career to a state agency after taking a gubernatorial appointment," he said. "I ran for election and the people had to decide who they wanted for sheriff. My motives had to be judged by the people of Virginia Beach. Forgive me for asking, but when did somebody trying to get a better job become a bad idea?"

Pilot writer Julian Walker contributed to this report.