West Virginia Loophole Allows For Judicial Double-Dipping As Some Judges Simultaneously Collect Pension, Paychecks

In Kanawha County, West Virginia, an opinion column in The West Virginia Record comments:

• Kanawha Circuit Judge Charles King doesn't want to talk about how he found a legal loophole to rip off the taxpayers and enrich himself. We don't blame him. When it's your job to serve as a trusted arbiter of disputes between others who put their fates in your hands, the last thing you'd want is for word to get out that, when the robes come off, you play the legal angles for cash. Judge King "retired" last October after 20 years on the bench. He sent in a resignation letter to Gov. Joe Manchin.

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• King retired in October and won re-election in November. Now he's back on the bench -- collecting his judicial salary and his pension at the same time. That was the cash-point of the letter. It enabled King to double-dip on West Virginia taxpayer coffers, gaming [the] state pension system so he can work and collect a pension at the same time. Indeed, Judge King cynically knew what his future would bring.

• King's 'legal' ploy -- retire and then rejoin the bench two months later -- lets him "earn" a taxpayer-supported paychecks of up to $188,000 per year. You can buy a lot of fancy robes with that.

• Called on the carpet for his similar subterfuge, Cabell Circuit Judge Alfred Ferguson was quick to note that his deal is "perfectly legal," arguing that since he paid into the pension system, he's just collecting what is rightfully his.

For more, see Judicial hustle.

For other posts on the sometimes questionable judgment exercised by some of the members of our esteemed judiciary, go here and go here. knuckleheaded judges zeta