Pataki may veto transit pension refunds

Newsday reports:

Gov. George E. Pataki has indicated he may veto legislation that would give a majority of the city's transit workers $110 million in refunds from their pension plan, throwing into doubt a key part of a tentative contract deal reached this week.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Transport Workers Union agreed to support legislation that would give up to 20,000 of the union's 33,700 members refunds of payments they made to their pension plan before 2001, when the plan was renegotiated.



The members would each receive up to $14,000 apiece in refunds if the law is passed, the union says.

The MTA agreed to the refunds in negotiations monitored by state mediators after the union ended a three-day strike that stranded millions of commuters days before Christmas.

The concession took the Pataki administration by surprise and a spokeswoman, Joanna Rose, said that the governor has vetoed similar legislation in 2000 and 2001.

We'll see if Pataki has the guts to veto this.If he's thinking of running in 2008 and wants support in the Republican primaries the veto would do him some good.