Yep, Da Guv sure knows how to game the system! He’s got his salary as Guv, his pension as Guv, his pension from being a placeholder president of Des Moines University, income from his several partnerships and corporations, fees from the numerous boards on which he serves, and who knows what other income from other sources.

Don’t hold your breath for him to pay anything back.

It’s good to be Da Guv.

Being retired military, I always find it laughable that people who didn’t serve this country through military service are always the first to complain about the retirement that I and many others earned through our service. Frankly, you should be embarrassed to question that. Whether someone served in peacetime or at war does not matter. I thankfully, was never called to serve in combat. But the time I served, there were places like Lebanon, the Phillipines, Grenada and Panama where the President called on the military to protect US interests abroad. In fact, many good friends died in far off places like Lebanon. Does that mean that my service is not held as highly as our combat veterans? That I didn’t earn my pension? Holding the office of governor and double or triple dipping on his pensions is quite different than my siting on a flight line waiting to be loaded on a C-5 fully combat loaded with live ammunition to fly to the Phillipines or combat exercises so close to the 38th parallel you are a target for North Korean snipers. Kurt for you to insinuate that my peace time service does not warrant the pension I receive is exactly the same as people waiting at the airport in the late ’60′s calling Marine arriving home baby killers. You should be ashamed you even thought about writing your previous post. You should never question the patriotism or the right to a pension we’ve earned. Frankly you should be thankful that my contemporaries and myself served so you could sit back and have a beverage of choice while complaining about the cost of those pensions.

I can tell you this. I spent 10 years in the military prior to being medically discharged in 1989. I worked for the postal service from 1992 until 2005. I can assure you that mine another pensions are not adding up to the amount of pensions the governor receives. You know the one he used to write off his taxes so he ended up paying $54 this year in taxes. I will not get rich, nor will I be able to live comfortably on the military pension. Nor will about 60% of the rest of our military members who retired. If you retire after 20 years, you’ll only receive 75% of the maximum salary. I you are enlisted, that makes a nice supplement. But by no means is it the amount the governor, or members of congress get after 1 term. You want to know where the waste is on pensions. Look towards the politicians, they’re the one voting on their own retirement. Do you get to do that? They’re also the ones deciding what benefits members of the military get upon retirement. Seems to me it should be the other way around.

Correct me if I’m wrong but doesn’t the congress determine not only their own benefits but also those of the POTUS? Is the General Assemby the body determining the Iowa governor and lt governors salary’s and benefits? That should make it clear that the gov or president don’t decide except by signing the legislation passed by congress. If those of you object to the gov. benefits, want to change it. Get yourself elected to either the senate or the house and make it happen. Then the rest who object on the basis that the gov makes more money each year than you or one of your friends does, get your act together and run for the office you envy.