Terry Mutchler Discusses the Suspension of Rhode Island’s Retired Public Employees’ COLAs

In an article published in the Providence Journal on April 17, 2023, Terry Mutchler, Chair of Obermayer’s Transparency & Public Data Practice, continues the discussion about her ongoing efforts to get documents from Rhode Island’s treasurer’s office explaining why the R.I. pension fund’s investment expenses skyrocketed from $46 million in 2012 to $187.8 million in 2021, before dropping to $166.7 million in 2022. “A battle is brewing to restore COLAs for retirees,” examines the suspension of RI’s retired public employees’ cost of living adjustments (COLA).

The retirees’ underlying question: Why didn’t the tens of millions of extra dollars paid to hedge fund and private equity managers by Raimondo and her successors go to them instead?

“I think it’s wrong that anybody has to hire a lawyer to get … basic public record( s) about a public pension plan. They are going to the attorney general’s office, she said, and won’t let it rest “until we get the records [or] a judge says that we can’t have the records,” Terry told the Providence Journal.

Read the full article here.