Perkins won’t retire early

Kirsten Searer

Thursday, Dec. 9, 2004 | 11:21 a.m.

Despite a federal agency's repeated statements that his deputy police chief job violates a federal conflict-of-interest law, Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, said he won't retire early from Henderson Police.

The 43-year-old Perkins had publicly pondered an early retirement but decided he would have been doing it for political reasons, not because he wanted to leave his job, he said.

"It's the job I love, and I don't think I need to retire," said Perkins, who is eyeing a run for governor in 2006.

Perkins is under investigation by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel on a complaint that he violates the federal Hatch Act by serving in the Legislature.

The Hatch Act, intended to prevent political patronage, prohibits participation in partisan political activity by federal and some state and local government employees who are paid with or oversee federal funds. The act disallows federal and some local employees who deal with federal money from holding public office.

Perkins said he believes he ultimately will be cleared of Hatch Act violations.

The police department has structured his duties so he does not deal directly with federal funds, he said.

But initial word from the special counsel's shows that the federal government might disagree. The office stated in a legal brief this year that Perkins oversees some officers and programs that receive federal grants, therefore violating the law.

If found guilty of violating the Hatch Act, Perkins could be forced to leave his city job or the city could lose federal funds equal to two years of Perkins' salary. Perkins is paid more than $130,000 a year by the police department.

Beyond the Hatch Act investigation, Perkins said he was feeling political pressure to retire early because of the light cast on part-time legislators who also work as full-time public employees.

In previous legislative sessions, he had worked on off-hours for the police department, drawing some criticism, though he said he will not do that this legislative session. Instead, he will use up his vacation time and take a leave of absence.

Perkins is married with five children and would have had to purchase four years in the retirement system in order to draw about two-thirds of his current police salary.

While retirement would have been a financial hit to his family, Perkins said they ultimately encouraged him to leave only if it was what he wanted. Police work is the only job he's known, Perkins said.

At this time, retirement "was just the wrong thing to do," he said.