The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-09-08
Politics
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 The "hot" political news of the geek, of course, was the municipal ,nnslon aystem. ft was tossed arovnd from hand to hand, but it eanalned for Mayor John 8. Mona gan bo assert fiatly and positively that he would have no part of any plans to postpone the terms of the penslon act passed by the Legisla. lure nor to change 1t in any way so that it would apply to one group of employees and not another. In short fIis Honor made it apparent that he iS willing to stake his politi- cal future on the issue of whether or not the City of Waterbury should have q pension system for its mu. nlclpal employees such as he thinks is best for oil concerned or one that Is demanded by groups Of employees. whether this means the pension question will be the para mount one of the campaign de. pends on what COP candidates, soon to be named, make of the hltuation. It may be that some heads in the COP ranks will sec ln this hullabaloo c boomerang that won't do them any good.
 As stated last week this topic ls one of those that could be aFgued for days and days with. out either dlsputant admitting dc" feat or the others point. There arc SO many angles to municipal pensions that the longer . per. son studies them the more con.
 vlnced he ls that there aFe no two alike. But the tendency 10 away from plans which provide hemeflts that are not within Feas son, In Waterbury's instance It hes been extremely generous In the pest in some instances. but on
 the other hand there are numers GUS caesS that could be cited where lt was shown that benehs diaries were not getting as much as persons In similar cateE0ries, separated simply by a number Of years In the issuance Of Che pen. slon. All of which indicates that no system, however generous IS
 without fault.
 Several things are clear, though sn relation to the local pension SyS. tenn for municipal employees. !t shouid Do centrally administered; 10 should he on such a baSiS aS te insurA lts approximation. geyona thak. the arguments begin--length If service, retirement age, amount If henetits, amount Of contributions, and the contingent features, such as disability, widows and depeldeney features, Generally c pension sys' lem is . matter between employer and employed. It can't DO conetruea as exactly that in c municipal syS' tenn. After all the employer iS the clty or town, represented by the otts: cern. but certainly with each ana every taxpayer As much concerned as < potential beneficiary. All or which would more or less show why Some Of the arguments and claims advanced during recent weeks are sonsuslng, certainly not amusing
 yust prior Co Che informal Mom' anatlon Of Mayor Jasper McLevy as She Socialist candidate for | mhyoF ln Bridgeport his City At: tarney, Harry schwarts, delivered cutie an attack on the members ef the police and Are departments of that city relative to thelr court eialm for back pay not reoelved during Che depression years. This nFlAgopOPt ease is being watche0 hv sLmlIaP groups Of employees in many ether New England towns where similar situations developed during Che period from l0SS to lese, Police and Are employees Iike other local municipal work. eFs, participated in Q local plan whereby Q percentage Of their pay vas deducted. In Bridgeport au employer signed waivers permit tlne such deductions. Now Che police and flFemen seek return Of Inc money deducted, about !l'. ooO,0Oo. Atty. schwarts said that victory for the employees In the courts would mean disasters Tor Tho municipality and general pub: llo." He also predicted increased taxes, salary reductions, loss of lebs, and municipal confusion All oe which iS no small thing to sace on the eve of an election that Mayor McLevy hopes will be successful.
 If Congress disposes of Chester Bowles, OPA boss during the curs rent session, as many Washington observers claim 1t plans to do, 1t might be that MT. Bowles will turn his hand to Connecticut politics. what progress he would make in the state picture would certainly depend, however, on what the trend se when nanaocrakic State Central