Jun 20, 2015 1 min read

As a state employee, I am tired of the attack on my pension. I am tired of politicians blaming us for the problem, I am tired of the media not reporting the truth about it, and I am tired of local school districts using it as an excuse to raise property taxes at will.

The truth is, I pay into my pension out of my paycheck. Our pension fund was fully-funded, even overfunded, so the powers that be in Harrisburg took money from our pension fund to fund other projects, and didn’t put money in the pension fund at all when times were good. Then, after the Great Recession hit in 2008, the commonwealth wasn’t getting the return on its investments it had hoped for, so now we have a pension crisis.

It was not the fault of any state employee that this happened. Politicians in Harrisburg caused this, and now they want us and everyone else to bail them out.

I paid into my pension fund. I’ve worked for my pension. So leave it alone.

James Rohrer

Waynesburg