Dear Editor:
Perhaps Mr. David Kaeini should have done slightly more due
diligence than simply pass along an Internet rumor email to your
publication as a
”
letter to the editor.
”
Dear Editor:
Perhaps Mr. David Kaeini should have done slightly more due diligence than simply pass along an Internet rumor email to your publication as a “letter to the editor.”
If he had done even an iota of research, he would have found that this is patently false, but, like much out there in the world, has been repeated enough to make people think it is true.
The fact of the matter is that members of Congress do indeed pay into Social Security. They also pay into the Federal Employee Retirement System – and the federal employee health benefits system.
They enjoy the same “golden fleece” that other federal employees do, and only recoup on retirement what they are owed from their time in federal service.
A three-second Internet search turned up a more complete discussion of this hoax (http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/c/congressionalpensions.htm) and this is just one of the hits that came back refuting this.
As a former federal employee and a former congressional staff member, I felt the need to speak up on this issue, since there are much more legitimate – and truthful – issues that need to be brought out into the open for public discussion.
Craig O’Donnell, Santa Cruz
