Malkenhorst epitome of government service
Bruce Malkenhorst and his $551,000-a-year public pension are back in the news. The Orange County Register reports:
A stunning once-secret investigation into the escapades of former Vernon exec Bruce Malkenhorst… alleges that Malkenhorst stealthily and systematically bled hundreds of thousands of dollars from the peculiar city’s coffers.
I’m sure it all was done in the interest of the public he served. Here are some of the services paid by taxpayers that were essential to performing his duties:
- Groceries (top sirloin steak and fudge cake);
- Country club memberships;
- Christmas gifts for his family;
- Homeowners association dues;
- Massages;
- Haircuts;
- Property taxes;
- A multitude of other personal expenses.
Using tax money to pay property taxes was especially helpful to the California economy. This is what Keynesian economists call “priming the pump,” something you may remember from Econ. 101. According to Wise Geek:
“When the Great Depression hit, people’s natural reaction was to hoard their money. Under Keynes’ theory, this stopped the circular flow of money, keeping the economy at a standstill.
“Keynes’ solution to this poor economic state was to “prime the pump.” He argued that the government should step in to increase spending, either by increasing the money supply or by actually buying things itself.”
So Vernon paid for all those things for Malkenhorst. Commendably, money then was not “hoarded” by him, but recirculated back into the system. It went to grocery stores, golf courses, barbers, masseurs, the homeowners’ association, etc. These people and organizations then spent it on their own needs, thus increasing the “circular flow of money.”
Especially beneficial was using the money to pay local taxes. Malkenhorst thus, effectively, subsidized his own expenses. The money when to him, then to taxes, then back to him, then back out again to the barbers, golf courses, etc.; all of them paying taxes, which went back to Malkenhorst, who then spent it again in the community, and so circularly on.
The Keyensian circulatory system causes a “multiplier effect,” which is defined by Dictionary.com:
“An effect in economics in which an increase in spending produces an increase in national income and consumption greater than the initial amount spent. For example, if a corporation builds a factory, it will employ construction workers and their suppliers as well as those who work in the factory. Indirectly, the new factory will stimulate employment in laundries, restaurants, and service industries in the factory’s vicinity.”
Far from condemning Malkenhorst, we should commend him for contributing to prosperity. Indeed, all government workers — police, fire, teachers, nurses, guards, janitors, etc. — should be given salaries well into the six figures, with expense accounts for barbers, golf courses, etc., followed by pensions of more than $500,000.
Prosperity is guaranteed.
25 comments
Write a commentRelated Articles
Stemming police violence/misconduct: Why LAPD should emulate Rialto PD
The more I watch the law-enforcement complex at work, the more I think our criminal-justice system is often akin to
CalSTRS hearing underscores Mac Taylor’s destructive happy talk
An Assembly committee hearing Wednesday on the immense underfunding problems facing the California State Teachers’ Retirement System also illuminated another
Sacto Bee targets McClintock over Yosemite issue
April 27, 2013 By Katy Grimes Instead of criticizing the environmentalists who want the riff-raff out of Yosemite National Park,
LOL…this guy should be in a state Pen. His $550K pension was supposedly slashed (was SUPPOSED to be cut 2 years ago!!) just last week down to $114K, and he is suing City of Vernon in federal court over the cut, even though it was CalTURDS that did it….Personally, it is not right, fair or equitable to force Brucie to live on just $114K per year, we should all be outraged 😉
Rex, there needs to be a cap put on what a RAGWUS feeder can receive, and a good reference point would be no more than the average household income max.
This guy is just a shameless feral crook right out of the Rizzo mold. I wonder if this investigation showed any connection with the crook from Bell. And why wasn’t Rizzo’s henchman Chief Adams not prosecuted like the other thieves from Bell? Adams’s bootlicking police force were the muscle used to separate the people from their labor in Bell. The entire RAGWUS is evil!! 🙂
Poodle stop the curtness toward civil servants who bargained for their pay and benefits in good faith.
It is not our fault your economic opportunities only match your talents…..most of us get caught up in the Peter’s Principle….including you affable Poodle…poor chum…it is what it is.
Can I have a medium tricolor snow cone now?
The problem you have here UU is that there isn’t a an ounce of good faith in any bargaining that goes on with the RAGWUS. The RAGWUS produces nothing and therefore negotiates in a way that no private company had ever done, under the guise of producing something of value.
No one in government should be making more than the average household income of the state in which they live. The truth is that every RAGWUS job is nothing but welfare with a fancy title hiding behind a Quid Pro Quo scam called the RAGWUS!! 🙂
Can I have a medium tricolor snow cone now?
I am now only servings hotdogs and popcorn, what do you want teddy 🙂
UU: As mentioned in the article, I want to increase your pension to $500,000 a year.
Sure John, and while we are at it why don’t we all stop paying taxes and have the Fed make up the difference ay just adding more digital dollars to the debt! In that way we will all have more money to spend. 🙂
Come on, John. Malkenhorst may well be the epitome of a white collar criminal, but his actions hardly reflect the epitome of public service. It makes no more sense than claiming CWD is the epitome of journalism.
Malkenhorst is the same animal as Rizzo and Adams of Bell. The truth is Adams is typical of most in LE, stealing from the taxpayers while arresting others and calling them criminals. 🙂
By virtually any definition, Adams is not typical of most people in law enforcement. If he was stealing from taxpayers like Rizzo, why wasn’t he charged like everyone else in the case?
It’s your question Skdog, do you know the answer? I do!! 🙂
Because he wasn’t stealing. He was an unethical and greedy bastard, but he didn’t break any laws.
I see, you have taken the lawyer, or I should say, the RAGWUS view of stealing.
Like Jefferson said many times: “The law is often the tyrants will.”
Adams knew what he was doing was illegal. He was the hired muscle and had no qualms implementing Rizzo’s RAGWUS at every turn. 🙂
Skdog, Adams is like most people in LE. He retired on a disability pension(as most in LE do) and then went right back to work scheming the people of another city! 🙂
No, Donkey, most people in law enforcement don’t retire on a disability pension. Having an on-the-job injury doesn’t qualify someone for a disability pension unless it prevents you from being able to perform the essential job functions.
Adams didn’t receive a disability pension when he retired as Chief of the Glendale PD before going to Bell, and even law enforcement publications openly identify his unethical and illegal acts with Bell.
Sorry, Donkey, but Adams doesn’t reflect most people in LE in any manner at all.
http://forums.officer.com/t169123/
You are totally misinformed Skdog, or maybe lying all those years just becomes a part of a cops psyche muck like a Pavlovian Dog, most in LE take the disability route so that half their over fattened pension can remain tax-free, it’s all a part of the RAGWUS spiking plan.
Just Google thieving public safety crooks of California and you will see thousands of articles. Or try this one from the OCR, Public safety disability system ‘ripe for abuse’. 🙂
At least there are some of us that are fair and balanced!
Poodle there is no future in hotdogs unless you wear a multicolor beanie and thigh high black boots!
His pension isn’t outta whack considering where I live we have city police sargeants making over $300,000 a year which is what their pensions will be based on.
We need Willie Nelson to write and sing a song called Mommas Don’t Let Yer Babies Grow Up to be Anything But Gummit Employees!
Sorry, Donkey. You’re simply wrong once again. Most retiring law enforcement officers and firefighters do not apply for or receive a disability pension. Your claim is both incorrect and another ridiculous attempt to smear those individuals and groups.
Read and weep Skdog: CalPERS offers two types of retirement benefits if a worker is disabled. In “industrial disability retirement,” the “disability is due to a job-related injury or illness”; in contrast, “disability retirement” implies that the disability was not necessarily caused by employment.[95] The specific benefits vary by employer, by the contract between CalPERS and the employer, and by the employee’s occupation.[95]
Two major controversies have affected CalPERS’ disability retirement and industrial disability retirement program over the years. First, in the mid-1990s and again in the mid-2000s there were concerns about inappropriate industrial disability retirement for public safety personnel, including:[96][97]
Some non-disabled persons fraudulently claim industrial disability retirement, such as “a ‘disabled’ highway patrol officer riding in a rodeo.” Unfortunately, “state law forbids Calpers from requiring disabled retirees who are 50 or older to submit to another medical evaluation, even if there is evidence of possible fraud”.[98]
“A series of bills that expanded eligibility for these medical pensions – and made it easier to get them” increased costs for state and local governments.
The list of “disabilities automatically presumed to be job-related for public-safety workers” has grown to include diseases and conditions that may or may not be caused by employment, such as lower back pain, heart disease, cancer, syphilis, HIV, and mad cow disease.
Retirees can receive two safety disability retirements for the same condition if they are covered by two separate pension systems.
“The Irvine Police Department has the county’s highest disability retirement rate for a large city since the department was created in 1975. Sixty of 99 officers who have retired since the department was formed claimed to be injured or ill. Crime statistics show Irvine to be one of the safest cities in the nation.”
“Small police departments show a higher ratio of disability retirements, in large part because they have less room to provide light duty for injured or ill workers. Buena Park police, with 93 sworn officers, had a disability ratio of 62 percent over the last 5 ½ years – five of eight officers retiring took disability.”
“Former Irvine police officer Gregory R. Allen took a disability retirement in May 1996 after a back injury from an on-duty motorcycle crash. He gets $40,320 annually in disability retirement from Irvine.
But he didn’t stop working.
In 1998, he took a job with the Los Angeles Public Defender’s Office as an investigator. In 2006, he joined the O.C. sheriff’s department, passing all the agency’s physical tests.
Today he is a motorcycle officer in Lake Forest; the sheriff’s department pays him $114,000 per year, on top of his disability pension.
“That’s the epitome of double-dipping that makes Californians crazy,” Pellissier said. “That’s the poster child for abuse.”
LE does all it can to hide these figures!! 🙂
That is all very interesting, Donk, but none of it supports your claim that “most law enforcement people retire on a disability retirement.” Nothing you posted supports your claim. Even the Irvine officers making an injury claim didn’t all get a disability retirement.
Once a police officer or firefighter’s injury is “permanent and stationary” – in other words, the injury has stabilized and is neither worsening nor improving in any significant way – the police department, fire department, etc., makes the decision of whether that employee can continue to perform the essential job functions required for their position. If the illness or injuries prevent such performance, the law requires the department to file for a disability retirement on the employee’s behalf. The size and tax status of the pension depends entirely upon whether the injury/illness was job related or occurred outside of employment.
None of it is as simple as you seem to think, but that’s pretty much normal.
It is nothing but an elaborate scam Skdog, I know it is, and if you have an ounce of integrity you know it is too. The truth is that you are probably sucking off the disability baton yourself. 🙂
Sorry, Donk. Once again, you’ve proven yourself to be highly confident but completely incorrect.
What about the hundreds of NYC cops and firemen that have been busted lately for scaming the disability system? Never happens right!! According to the allegations, police and firefighters falsely claimed stress-related illnesses to pocket tens of millions of dollars in disability benefits.
It’s going on all over the RAGWUS!! 🙂
He was just a crook. Most public employees are honest and hard working. Bob, what city is it where police sergeants make $300,000 yr? That is certainly not the norm.