For Therriault, resignation would come with a price tag

Former state Sen. Gene Therriault, now an embattled aide to Gov. Sean Parnell, stands to lose big now and in the future if he resigns his $110,000 a year job as some in the state have suggested.

The cost to the onetime legislator from North Pole could be almost $750,000 in future retirement.

Therriault last year resigned his Senate seat to move into a post as energy adviser to Parnell. In the process, he went from making less than $30,000 a year to making about $110,000 a year. Some have criticized his move to the governor's office as unethical in view of a state Constitutional provision on separation of powers.

Parnell, however, has backed Therriault, arguing the complicated constitutional language stipulating a year's wait between leaving the Legislature and taking an executive branch job is ambiguous. The language refers to new jobs, and some have taken it to mean that authors of the Alaska Constitution meant only to prevent legislators from sliding into government jobs they had just created.

In Therriault's case, there is no evidence to indicate he had any role in creating the job. And Parnell argues he was just following a precedent set by one of his predecessors, Republican Gov. Frank Murkowski, who helped three legislators find jobs in his administration. Given all of this, Therriault has said he's staying, despite the suggestion of former lawmakers and a radio talk show host that he resign.

There is a strong financial incentive.

If he can hang on for three years with Parnell at $110,000 per or more, he'll stand to collect about $70,000 per year in state retirement on down the road. If Therriault, who is now 50, retires at the age of 60 and lives to age 75.5, the average lifespan for U.S. males, he stands to collect nearly $1.1 million in state retirement before his death.

Given his meager legislative salary, he would be eligible for only a fraction of that money if he left Parnell's employ tomorrow. It's all got to do with a state system that sets retirement based on a percentage of the highest pay for the average of the three highest paying years of employment. It is a huge incentive for legislators to take jobs with the executive branch to sweeten their retirement years.

As a retired legislator, Therriault would collect only about $20,000 per year. His total payout would amount to only about $310,000 in the years between retirement at age 60 and death at age 75.5. Thus Therriault would lose almost $700,000.

What would you do?

Contact Craig Medred at craig(at)alaskadispatch.com.