Chief's Disease

The Sacramento Bee reports that the man appointed to find workers' compensation fraud in the California Highway Patrol claims that it is the top brass and not individual officers who were abusing the system.

The Bee's investigation last year found that about 80 percent of CHP chiefs file workers' comp claims within two years of retiring. They win injury awards and lifetime medical care, with the injuries laying the groundwork for medical pensions, which shield half of retirement income from taxes.

Several CHP employees have complained anonymously to The Bee in the past year that the system has been used to ease out those who face disciplinary problems or have fallen from favor.

So nobody ever gets fired, they just go on disability. It is pretty much a universal problem that under-performing state employees never get fired. This is a huge expense in the state budget. What we need is for Schwarzenegger to literally be "The Terminator" for employment contracts.