Benefits May 1, 2002

Wisconsin State Rep. Named Milwaukee Exec

May 1, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Milwaukee area voters tapped a Republican state lawmaker as Milwaukee County chief executive to replace the prior county head who resigned as part of a pension scandal.

Reported by

Fred Schneyer

Walking away with 58% of the vote was Representative Scott Walker, significantly in front of the 42% garnered by Jim Ryan, the Democratic president of a Milwaukee area municipality.

The 34-year-old Walker succeeds former County Executive Thomas Ament who stepped down in the face of recall effort that had already collected more than double the number of signatures necessary to put the issue on the ballot.

At issue was a controversial November 2000 plan authorizing $1 million lump-sum payments in addition to a regular monthly pension for top county officials. The news media reported that the plan would have also generated a $2.3-million lump-sum payment to Ament.

Ament, 64, and four other officials resigned in the fallout. Ament has said he did not know the payouts would be so high, and he agreed recently not to collect the higher benefits himself.