Critic takes his own steps to double-dip

By Barry M. HORSTMAN

Cincinnati Enquirer

CINCINNATI

Hamilton County Auditor Dusty Rhodes, long a harsh critic of “double-dipping” in public service, has taken preliminary steps to let him double his $94,248 annual salary next year by drawing both a pension and a paycheck if he is re-elected in November.

Rhodes insists he is “simply preserving my options” and will not decide whether to begin drawing pension benefits in addition to his salary — which could raise his annual compensation to more than $188,000 — until 2011.

He said that one reason he filed a notice of intent with the Hamilton County Board of Elections to begin drawing his pension next year was to protect himself against proposed changes in state retirement plans that could reduce future benefits.

Rhodes said he recognizes that some people will accuse him of hypocrisy, in part because he has been so critical of double-dipping — simultaneously drawing a salary and a pension for the identical or essentially the same job — in the past.

As long ago as the 1990s, he encouraged state legislators to close legal loopholes that allowed double-dipping. In one typical remark from 2007, he faulted public officials who argued that double-dipping is sometimes less expensive than paying a pension to one person and a salary and benefits to another.

“It would be cheaper if I stole money from my neighbor, but that doesn’t make it right,” Rhodes said then. “This is an abuse of the system. You can put all the lipstick you want on the pig. But at the end of the day, it’s still a pig.”

By placing himself in a potentially unflattering spotlight, Rhodes said he also hopes his case will prod the Ohio legislature to finally move to end double-dipping — even at considerable political risk to himself in his toughest re-election campaign in years, against Republican Tom Brinkman.

“If this gets people talking about it, let it rip,” he said. “I’m willing to fall on my sword if that’s what it takes. I’m not even sure I’m going to do it, but if this gets the issue out there, that’s good.”

Under Ohio law, elected officials who are considering, for pension purposes, retiring during the term for which they are running must file a written notice to that effect with their elections board.

Accordingly, Rhodes in February filed a “declaration of intent to retire” with the elections board.

“Although I do not know the exact date I plan to retire it is my intention to exercise my option in 2011,” Rhodes wrote.