Kathleen M. Dennehy-Fay -- State Transportation

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Subject: Kathleen M. Dennehy-Fay

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Date Posted: 22:19:23 04/16/09 Thu

By DAN RING
dring@repub.com

The Republican file photo
Kathleen M. Dennehy-Fay

BOSTON - Former Gov. W. Mitt Romney's commissioner of corrections significantly boosted her state pension by capitalizing on a loophole in state pension law.

Kathleen M. Dennehy-Fay, commissioner or acting commissioner of the state Department of Corrections between December 2003 and 2007, retired early at 54 in November with an annual pension of $106,212. She greatly increased her pension by shifting into a different job classification at the end of her state career, capturing the pension bonus given to police officers and prison guards.

After Romney left office and was succeeded by Democrat Gov. Deval L. Patrick, Dennehy-Fay obtained a job as superintendent of security operations for the county sheriff in Bristol County, who is a Republican like Romney. Dennehy-Fay jumped from her longtime group 1 administrative classification into a group 4 job at the Bristol County sheriff's office in May 2007. Benefits are more lucrative and begin sooner in group 4.

Group 4 is reserved for people with more hazardous jobs, including certain prison guards, police and firefighters.

In group 4, Dennehy-Fay retired with a $106,212 pension, or 95 percent of her final salary of $112,200, according to Bristol County records.

By moving ahead in job class for just the final year and seven months of her employment, she received a pension the same as if she had always been in that riskier job.

In a phone interview, Dennehy-Fay defended her pension. "All I did was follow the law," said Dennehy-Fay, the first woman to be chief of the state prison system.

If she had remained in group 1, she would have had to work another seven or eight years and retire no younger than 60 to achieve close to the benefits she is receiving by retiring at 54 in group 4, according to calculations from state retirement tables. Even though she was a manager most of her career, she increased her pension by at least $25,000, and likely more, by retiring from the pension plan set aside for prison guards.

By moving to Bristol County and getting a new job classification, Dennehy-Fay accomplished something that was denied her immediate predecessor. The state Board of Retirement in 2003 voted against a request by her predecessor, Michael T. Maloney, to be reclassified from group 1 to group 4, something that would have boosted his pension by about $40,000. Maloney's last job was as commissioner.

Dennehy-Fay said that when she took the job in Bristol County, she didn't know or inquire in advance that she was stepping into a group 4 position. She said she needed to remain in Massachusetts and she was recruited for the position in Bristol County. She said she didn't know it was a group 4 post until she filled out paperwork for the job.

Dennehy-Fay's switch into a different job classification illustrates how certain state officials can use obscure rules to benefit from state pension laws and hike their pensions.

Reform of the state-controlled pension system is an important issue on Beacon Hill this year. The state Senate has approved a bill that represents the first phase of a pension overhaul. The state House of Representatives is scheduled to vote next week on a pension bill of its own.

Even though she retired under the same plan as a prison guard, Dennehy-Fay's pension was calculated on her three highest years of salary when she was in group 1 as commissioner of the state Department of Corrections. She said she couldn't say exactly what she made as commissioner, but she said it was about $138,000 to $140,000.

She said she intended to stay longer in the Bristol County job, but ultimately decided to retire early.

She worked 30 years and 8 months for the state corrections department and then just 1 year and seven months for Bristol County. She did stints as superintendent of the state prison in Framingham, associate commissioner and other management jobs for the state.

Dennehy-Fay's switch into group 4 apparently is an unusual move, even for state government, where politically-connected officials are renowned for using retirement laws to increase pensions.

"The people who know me, know me," she said. "It is what it is."

Richard M. Theroux, city clerk in Agawam and chairman of the Hampden County Regional Retirement System, said Dennehy-Fay received something akin to "a gift from god" when she hopped into group 4 at the end of her state employment after working for many years in group 1. He said it was a rare maneuver and dramatically increased her pension.

"It's not right," Theroux said. "Obviously, she took advantage of the system. That's the problem."

Ralph White, a member of the state Board of Retirement, said he was amazed by Dennehy-Fay's move. "It is rare," White said.

Joseph Guarino, legislative representative for the Massachusetts Correction Officers Federated Union, said Dennehy-Fay probably increased her pension by about $25,000 by moving up in class just 19 months before she retired.

The union is supporting legislation that would require an employee in the state Department of Correction to work a majority of years in group 4 in order to retire from that group after 20 years.

Guarino said Dennehy-Fay won a pension under a "huge loophole" in state retirement law that gave her the generous benefits of group 4 when she was classified differently for the majority of her career.

Dennehy-Fay often clashed with the union during her tenure as corrections chief over issues such as abuse of sick time. She never worked as a prison guard, according to an article in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.

Thomas M. Hodgson, sheriff of the Bristol County Jail and House of Correction, said that after Patrick took office, he sought out Dennehy-Fay for superintendent of security operations to take advantage of her talents and experience.

He said she didn't accept the position just to be in group 4 at retirement. She had also planned to stay longer in Bristol County than 19 months, but had to leave for personal reasons, he said. "She had committed to being here much longer than that," he said

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