Richest Public Pensions in State History
Here are the backdrop payments received by 1,712 county employees. 255 collected anywhere from $255,000 to $1 million -- plus a monthly pension.
In November 2000, the Milwaukee County Board approved, on a 20-to-5 vote, a plan with new pension benefits for non-union workers that were particularly lucrative for veteran employees. In February, 2001, the board voted 22-2 to extend similar benefits to union employees.
The plan was passed with no media scrutiny. In October 2001, then MilwaukeeWorld.com editor Bruce Murphy (current editor of UrbanMilwaukee.com) wrote a story detailing the benefits and wrote second story filling in more details. Murphy’s story reported that Milwaukee County Executive F. Thomas Ament, should he serve as planned until 2008, would leave with a “backdrop” lump sum pension payment in excess of $2 million.
The issue received little attention until Murphy did a feature story for Milwaukee Magazine on the issue. This soon prompted the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to report the story on January 6, 2002, the first of a run of front-page stories devoted to the issue, reinforced by considerable coverage by TV and radio news coverage.
The resulting public outrage forced Ament to fire many of his cabinet members, sign a form foregoing his backdrop and eventually resign from office. Seven county supervisors were also recalled from office. Measured by the number of officials thrown out of office, it was the biggest political scandal in Milwaukee history.
The public’s outrage led directly to the election of Scott Walker, who served from 2002-2010, and claimed the mantle of a county reformer to run successfully for governor. But it was only under his successor Chris Abele that some reform of the backdrops was passed (with belated approval by the board), though it remains to be seen if the change will survive legal challenges.
The list below starts with the best paid employee to date, former assistant D.A. Thomas Schulz, who collected a backdrop of $1.080 million, plus an annual pension of $67,112, and goes from richest to poorest down to Deloris Bond, a nursing assistant whose backdrop payment was less than $3,200. Two other assistant DAs, Donald Jackson and William Molitor, also collected backdrops worth more than $1 million.
Other notables include Deputy District Attorney Jon Reddin ($976,499 backdrop), former county supervisor and court commissioner John Valenti ($536,051), ex-Ament aide Tom Mollan ($447,868), former county supervisor and assistant corporation counsel Richard Bussler ($425,307), court commissioner Anthony Machi ($407,816), Sheriff Lev Baldwin ($333,450), county board research staff head Tom Kuzma ($290,407), Register of Deeds Walter Barczak ($254,767), Corporation Counsel Robert Ott ($125,454). Ott and Tom Mollan were influential proponents of the pension plan and Kuzma was an Ament loyalist who some county board leaders didn’t trust to do research on the backdrop proposal. And Baldwin was accused of making political threats to board members to make sure political officials were eligible for the pension sweeteners.
As lucrative as these backdrops are, all recipients also received a monthly pension for life, which in itself was often very generous.
Backdrop Spreadsheet
More about the Milwaukee County Pension Scandal
- Back in the News: Actually, County Comptroller Could Get $1.3 Million Backdrop - Bruce Murphy - Jul 12th, 2023
- MKE County: Pension Backdrop Costs Hit $354 Million - Angeline Terry - Aug 16th, 2021
- Murphy’s Law: Mr Pension Scandal Wants Your Vote - Bruce Murphy - Jul 22nd, 2020
- Murphy’s Law: Schmidt’s Pension An Issue for Deputies - Bruce Murphy - Aug 13th, 2018
- Murphy’s Law: Schmidt Will Get $1 Million Pension - Bruce Murphy - Aug 2nd, 2018
- Murphy’s Law: Schmidt Pension At Issue In Sheriff Race? - Bruce Murphy - Aug 2nd, 2018
- The $400 Million Pension Problem - Mitchel Writt - Jun 6th, 2017
- Eyes on Milwaukee: Will County Give Pension to State? - Jeramey Jannene - Mar 23rd, 2017
- Murphy’s Law: Who’s To Blame for Pension Mess? - Bruce Murphy - Mar 7th, 2017
- Murphy’s Law: County Pension Scandal Poster Boys - Bruce Murphy - Mar 3rd, 2016
Read more about Milwaukee County Pension Scandal here
Most of the people on that list are not public figures. I fail to understand how publishing their names and a benefit they received serves the interests of those living in the urban Milwaukee area.
Sadly, self-serving greed exists on both sides of the aisle. The cost isn’t just in dollars.
Good for them! I bet you think you are cool for posting all of these names. Could you please post how much you make?
@Tom – Don’t have the exact number on hand, but it was under $40,000.
As a public employee your salary isn’t private. Nor is your pension or the “backdrop” amount you may have received. If you have concerns with this call your legislator and ask them to restrict access to this type of information. Don’t hold your breath for their help. Good luck.
What is worth noting is that by far, the vast majority make much less than these few. Also worth noting is how many of those people with the large takes are non-represented, meaning the county executive could have stopped those at any time, but chose not to.
But the objective of this little exercise is to try to rile people into being against the county board so that people will willingly through themselves into the hands of the corporate special interest which make up the GMC.
I am assuming that most of these people also get SS checks.
@Capper and @Jeramey Jannene,
I love it when different factions of the vast leftwing conspiracy collide (unions fighting local hiring requirements, environmentalists fighting renewable energy projects). I also love to watch the vast rightwing conspiracy do the same (GOP Presidential debates otherwise known as Crazyfest, choice school advocates ripping non-Milwaukee public education such as Brookfield or Appleton schools).
I am betting Jannene isn’t in league with the GMC.
One reason we decided to post this information is that it cannot be found anywhere else. Milwaukee’s pension scandal received national attention, and we felt there should be one place where you can easily reference all the information on it. This will not be the last story; we intend to do more Data stories in the future. Any recommendations will be considered.
There seems to be an ongoing debate about the value of Data stories compared to the potential privacy issues. JSOnline has a searchable database of teacher salaries and benefit costs. There was a paper on the east coast that published the homes of everyone with a concealed carry permit. And searchable sex offender databases are nothing new, not to mention crime reports. Given that all that information is publicly available (if not usually publicly accessible), is it biased to make it available online?
Make it sortable and include each person’s start date so it’s clear how long they worked to earn their pension.
So is there an alphabetical form of the list available that you could post? I know a couple of retirees who don’t seem to be on the list and I wanted to see it alphabetically before tossing around accusations of the county hiding data from you.
to find a name all you need to do is hit control F and enter the name.
you can also click on the on the table; hit control A; control C and then control V in an excel database.
these are simple commands that most elementary computer users should know.
Also, keep in mind that these people probably saved into the county’s qualified retirement plan (403b/401k), too. This was one of the biggest scams this state has ever seen. Hats off to Bruce Murphy for breaking (and continuing to report on) the absolute pillaging of Milw. Co. taxpayers.
The story doesn’t describe how the pension dollar amounts were calculated. Why not?
The monthly pensions don’t appear to me to be excessive. The spreadsheet should also include the number of years of service by each individual listed to provide appropriate context. Likewise the article should describe, at the very beginning how the larger backdrop payments function to reduce the amount of the monthly payment (and save taxpayers money).
Why an article headed with the word DATA fails to provide all of the information needed to interpret it correctly is curious. Likewise, a story headlined with an assertion that these are the richest public pensions ever in Wisconsin should include further data of pensions provided in other comparable Wisconsin counties.
12/6/14: Jeramey Jannene:
Do you have any update regarding the Milwaukee County pension backdrop pay since your data entered on March 25, 2013. To my knowledge, employees are still retiring with said backdrop pay at this time.
Thanks! Marie
I would like any updates on and other 2013 and 2014 Milwaukee County employees who received the backdrop pay. Thanks for keeping me updated.
Let me Google that for you, Marie:
http://county.milwaukee.gov/Retirement/RetirementsGranted.htm
People know little about mob in government. ..they destroyed my life for years before the Hoffa-Teamsters like pension shell out hit news in 2000. I divorced the son of F.Thomas Ament pal Jim Heidenreish, 6 years before the ripoff hit news in 2000. Had impartial lawyer for child…law firm Podell and Podell. Hahaha impartial. Knew about the games and they knew I knew. Heidenreich was voted out as ATU 998 pres in the 70s after trying to do pretty much the same to the transit pensions. They realized it would bankrupt the company. Old games, these. Jimmy Hoffa got 1.7 million in lump sum…Ament was to get a million. These people play stupid…we never knew. I laugh. Heidenreich ran for Wauwatosa Assembly against Peggy Rosenzweig and I was at meet and greets where people from the DAs office and all over government were talking about the games with their pensions and how to collect big lump sums. I dealt with the mob for years alone. Judges, legislators, DA office. Bought by the mob. My life was destroyed because I knew what justice was, had a conscience.Was an adult. Ms. Podell got over 600 thousand bucks in a lump sum pencil trick ripped off the taxpayers. And lo and behold. Surname of political advisor for DA JOhn Chisholm…Podell. Political advisor hahaha. The surname Podell comes up in mob history from New York in Luciano days…also mob stuff and attached to the Copacabana. Heidenreich signed the name Humphrey Pushcart to Ament recall petition and said to the media they would go to the grave wondering what he meant. Not likely. In the days of Luciano, the pushcart was symbolic to the mob. Most began their mob careers in buying and occupying government by robbing and extorting pushcarts. The Luciano Story by Joesten and Fever is a good place to start. Humphrey has to do with the Humphrey/Hoffa/political organization COPE ..an organization well known for its all mobbed up style. People play games, rip off taxpayers blind and play stupid and whitewash AFTER the ripoffs. The mob always depends on taxpayers having a real short memory. It becomes hard to do that when them threatening your life regularly is part of what you lived through. I do not ever want to hear the words American and justice together again. American justice is spineless morons protecting the mob.