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Browse This Issue: April 22nd, 2010

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The Billion Dollar Boondoggle
DROP is bleeding us dry.
by Ralph Cipriano
On Jan. 14, 2012, City Council President Anna Verna is scheduled to retire from office and collect a going-away present from the city — a lump-sum cash bonus of $584,777. But she doesn't have to stay retired for long. If Verna runs for office again in 2011 and wins, she can retire for one day, make a deposit at the bank, and then go back to work the next day, Jan. 15, 2012, and resume collecting her salary of $148,090.


Corrupt and Contented
Philadelphia could learn a lot from DROP debacles in California and Wisconsin.
by Ralph Cipriano
In recent years, both the city of San Diego and the county of Milwaukee adopted DROP programs, just as Philadelphia did. But in San Diego and Milwaukee, publicity over DROP bonuses sparked taxpayer revolts, criminal indictments, court battles, recall drives and a negligence lawsuit. Philadelphia, it seems, could learn a lot from those experiences. But, so far, it hasn't.