PolitiFact.com
Statements about Retirement
Rick Scott

Rick Scott

False

It's funded better than many other states

"Today, you can't rely on (the retirement fund for public employees), it's not funded."

Gary Chiusano

Gary Chiusano

False

This claim’s off by $1.3 billion

Says pension contributions under Gov. Chris Christie would represent "75 percent of the total contribution made between the years 1995 and 2010. That's right, in 15 years, total state contribution was only $2.1 billion."

Rick Santorum

Rick Santorum

False

Veterans pensions, workers' comp were among programs in place then

"When my grandfather came to this country back in 1925, there were no government benefits."  

Steve Rothman

Steve Rothman

False

Debunked yet again

"The Republicans just voted last year to end Medicare."

Chain email

Chain email

Pants on Fire!

Another lie that won't die

"If you sell your house after 2012 you will pay a 3.8 percent sales tax on it."

Newt Gingrich

Newt Gingrich

Mostly False

Nursing home residents kept kosher

"Gov. Romney cut off kosher meals for Jewish senior citizens who were on Medicaid to save $5 a day."

Richard Codey

Richard Codey

Mostly True

A payment, not ‘the payment’

"And by the way, when I was governor, I did make the payment into the pension fund."

David Cicilline

David Cicilline

Mostly True

Close but no cigar

"I think with the exception of the last year or maybe the last two years, we were at 100 percent" when it came to contributing to the Providence pension fund.

Loretta Weinberg

Loretta Weinberg

Mostly True

Payment is scheduled

"(Chris Christie) has not paid one dollar of state money into our pension system, and then states that the system is broke."

Philip Keefe

Philip Keefe

False

Misquoting his own evidence

"If they made no changes whatsoever, the [state employees pension] plan still had enough money to go forward for approximately the next 16 years."

David Mellon

David Mellon

False

Unconfined by facts

"The job [of correctional officer] lowers your life expectancy . . . Metropolitan did a study in, I believe it was 1998, and the life expectancy was 58."

Kathleen Connell

Kathleen Connell

False

Closer to 22 percent

"Sixty-percent of the state retirees...don’t get Social Security.’’

Paul Valletta

Paul Valletta

Mostly False

Increase was 1 year, not 22

Rhode Island Treasurer Gina Raimondo "raised the mortality rate from 65 to 87" and "used a 1994 annuity chart" to create the pension crisis.

Lincoln Chafee

Lincoln Chafee

False

Hardly new

"If Rhode Island does a hybrid [retirement] plan we’ll be the first state in the nation to do this.’’

Rachel Maddow

Rachel Maddow

Mostly False

Fees for many are much lower

"A recent Department of Labor study guessed Wall Street fees cost a worker 28 percent of the value of your plan over the span of your career."

George Nee

George Nee

Half-True

True for R.I., not for U.S.

"This is the first time in our state, and one of the first times in the country, where benefit reductions . . . has happened to people who are retired."

Rhode Island Retirement Security Coalition

Rhode Island Retirement Security Coalition

Mostly False

Savings will take decades to achieve

"In the past six years alone, changes to the pension formula … have saved over half a billion dollars."

Rachel Maddow

Rachel Maddow

Mostly True

Older Americans hanging in there

"Poverty among Americans 65 and over is statistically unchanged" in recent years because of Social Security.

Hetty Rosenstein

Hetty Rosenstein

Half-True

New retirees, larger pensions

"The average state pension, including managers, is $23,000 a year; and just $14,000 for local government workers."

Dennis Richardson

Dennis Richardson

False

Raises were double digit, but so was inflation

Says Oregon state employees received a "catch-up" pay raise in 1981 -- just two years after they agreed not to take a raise in exchange for a retirement benefit.

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