A 1950 Massachusetts law says public officials can take immediate pensions if they lose an election or fail to qualify for the ballot. The State Retirement Board granted the special benefits to 10 former state lawmakers who have enjoyed early, enhanced pensions after quitting the Legislature. The loose reading of that law could cost taxpayers up to $3 million in additional costs.MICHAEL P. LEWIS was fired as the head of the Big Dig project, but the move allowed him to more than triple his state pension, according to records. He also gets 80 percent of his health insurance for life. The pension increase was the result of a law intended to protect employees from politically motivated dismissals.
Some lawmakers took advantage of statutes to receive pensions while still working. Others enhanced their pensions by adding years at other jobs to their retirement tally.
TIMOTHY A. BASSETT was allowed to accept a job as executive director of the Essex Regional Retirement Board without giving up his $41,000-a-year state pension from a previous job. The gift came from former House speaker Thomas M. Finneran, a lawmaker said. Bassett earned about $328,000 he otherwise could not have received.
Additionally, while working on the Essex County pension board, Bassett and KATHERINE O'LEARY helped one another gain pension benefits. O'Leary was granted credit toward her pension for the summers she worked as a teenager. Bassett was given a special annuity worth about $63,000 annually, the equivalent of a second public pension upon retirement. On June 4, the Essex pension board voted to rescind the annuity, a move Bassett said he requested.
LINDA BASSETT, the wife of Timothy A. Bassett, a former state representative and former Essex treasurer, collects $26,000 a year in pension benefits, even while continuing to work part time. About $5,500 of her pension is the result of her six years of volunteer service as a Lynn library trustee.
JOHN A. BRENNAN JR., a former state senator and Beacon Hill lobbyist, was allowed to fold the years he volunteered on the Malden Public Library Board of Trustees into his pension calculation. The move doubled his pension, giving him an estimated $41,088 a year. After criticism, Brennan said he would drop $22,000 in retirement benefits.
ROBERT K. LAMERE AND MICHAEL P. CURRAN lobbied the Legislature in 2002 to win pension enhancements for serving as town moderators. Lamere has a pension of about $63,000 annually, based on the 22 years of presiding over Milton's Town Meeting and 10 years as a Big Dig lawyer. For 10 years as moderator and 12 years as Canton's town counsel, Curran collects about $46,500 a year.
PAUL MCCANN left the Boston Redevelopment Authority in 2005, but he earned $162,000 last year in consulting fees from the planning agency - on top of his $97,000 a year pension.