RSS Feed of the blog

Contributors:

Reporter William March has covered state and national politics since 1994. Email

Reporter Christian M. Wade has covered the City of Tampa since 2008. Email

Reporter Mike Salinero has covered Hillsborough County government for The Tampa Tribune since 2007. Email

Reporter Lindsay Peterson has been a general assignment reporter at the Tampa Tribune since 2005, focusing on higher education since 2009. Email

Tribune Politics Coverage

Florida Political Blogs:

• State Of Sunshine
• Pushing Rope
• Interstate4Jamming
• News Service of Florida
• FLA Politics
• Sayfie Review/

More Resources:

• TBO.com Home Page
• TBO.com Politics
• TBO.com News Updates
• Live Traffic Updates
• TBO.com Communities

Most Recent Entries

• 1 Killed This Week in Afghanistan
• Nelson: Obama birth control compromise “seems to solve the problem”
• Sharpe suspending campaign
• Sharpe to make announcement, may be out of House race
• Largo Military Museum Gets New Name, Mission
• Planned Parenthood: Polls show Catholics, voters favor contraception coverage
• Weatherford denies any attempt to undermine West
• Michelle Obama to tour Florida for healthy eating
• Pentagon Co-Spokesman Changed Trim After Boss’ Haircuts
• Brig. Gen. Becomes Highest-Ranking Death in Afghanistan
• Special Operations Command To Go Para-Commando Over University of Tampa
• Air Force To Cut Nearly 300 Planes, But None From MacDill
• POTUS Veterans Job Act: Billions To Hire Vets As Law Enforcement, First Reponders, Park Workers
• Will Israel Really Strike Iran? SECDEF Won’t Comment On Ignatius Assertion
• College Scholarship Available To a Lucky Family At MacDIll

More

• Breaking News
• Command Post Tampa
• Fact Finders - Databay Blog
• Guestbook: Remembering The Fallen Soldiers
• Fresh Squeezed Politics
• Political Safari

Monthly Archives

• Breaking News
• Command Post Tampa
• Fact Finders - Databay Blog
• Guestbook: Remembering The Fallen Soldiers
• Fresh Squeezed Politics
• Political Safari

Martinez eligible for congressional pension

Posted Aug 11, 2009 by William March

Updated Aug 11, 2009 at 10:59 AM

Florida Sen. Mel Martinez, who just announced he’s retiring early from his seat, will still be eligible for full congressional pension benefits because he reached age 62 while in office.

Martinez turned 62 in October, 2008.

He has served four years and about seven months in the Senate, and prior to that had served almost three years as Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

According to the Congressional Research Service (CRS), members of Congress elected after 1984 become vested for pension benefits at age 62 after five years of government service.

Martinez will get a pension based on his highest three years’ salary, which means his most recent three years in the Senate. The current salary is $174,000;
Cabinet secretaries made less than that during Martinez’s tenure there from January, 2001-December, 2003.

MOP doesn’t feel competent to estimate the actual amount of Martinez’s pension.

But according to the most recent CRS analysis of the pension program, the amount will be determined by a formula that multiplies the average pay from his top three years times his total years of service—about seven years and six months—times 1.7 percent.