F.O.P. On Huberman's Pension Claim: Um, No

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Oct 17, 2008 3:35PM

The Fraternal Order of Police is making a move to block CTA President Ron Huberman from claiming his police pension. The Ron, who makes $198,000 a year, claims that he's entitled to it since part of his job at the CTA is managing security. He had previously worked for the CPD for 13 years, serving as both a patrol officer and then an assistant deputy superintendent, focusing on technology; he last worked for the CPD in 2004. In an interview a few weeks ago with the Sun-Times, The Ron had said, "Part of my responsibility is security at the CTA. I'm not saying I'm a police officer because I'm not. But the law says if you're involved in security work and that's part of your responsibility, you have the right to pay in if you're on leave of absence."

This does not make Fraternal Order of Police President Mark Donahue a happy camper. In a letter to the Policemen's Annuity and Benefit Fund of Chicago last week, Donahue said, "At a time when we serve on a commission attempting to address the under-funding of Chicago's Pension Funds, to now take an extremely liberal perspective of the law without making legislative changes to it borders on irresponsible." Donahue also implied that strange things were afoot since similar requests in the past had always been opposed. "To have only one active representative on the board...take a stand against such consideration is disturbing." Strange shenanigans in Chicago City Politics? Noooooo! We have to side with Donahue on this one. With the budget clusterfuck meaning fewer police officers, somehow we think The Ron won't exactly be hurting for money if they say, "No."