Following a string of scandals at the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, the president and CEO of the state-funded student loan agency decided to accelerate his plans to retire. Richard Willey left PHEAA in October, in response to public outrage over news reports that the agency spent $860,000 from 2000 to 2005 on sending board members to luxury resorts and also spent $409,000 in an unsuccessful legal battle to keep PHEAAspending records secret.

Even before the controversy over those spending abuses had a chance to die down, it was learned that the agency had paid year-end bonuses to two dozen top staffers amounting to $6.5 million over the past three years. Then, after the board, which is dominated by state lawmakers, publicly vowed to control costs, the agency spend $108,000 on an employee appreciation day at an amusement park.

The final blow forWilley, in which these and other spending abuses were detailed, was a critical report on PHEAA spending practices by state Auditor General Jack Wagner.

Though Willey officially resigned, he was essentially fired. Yet the outrage is far from over.

Based on his having accrued 74 sick days and 65 annual-leave days, Willey earned a $97,522 "separation payment" when he left PHEAA. That amount was dwarfed by his predecessor at PHEAA, Michael Hershock, who left the agency with a $374,850 lump sum payment in 2002.

But the really shocking news is not Willey's generous severance package. It's his pension.

Based on his years of employment with the state, including about 20 years as a legislative staffer, the pension formula also factors in his top five salaries, which were boosted by massive year-end bonuses. When all the calculations were completed, it was determined that Willey will be receiving a monthly pension of about $30,000. That's $30,000 a month — not year — according to published reports based on information from the Pennsylvania State Employees Retirement System.

Beyond the indefensible spending of taxpayers' money at PHEAA, it is Willey's outrageous pension that is most stunning. The wasteful spending at PHEAA can be stopped, but the giant pension payments to Willey will continue for the rest of his life. And this one example suggests a state government pension system that is unsustainable.

There are others to be found among state legislators and other state employees, including teachers, who have long employment histories.

Pennsylvania's pension system for state employees is clearly out of control. The so-called pension grab of 2001, when lawmakers voted themselves a 50 percent pension hike and gave teachers a 25 percent boost, only made matters worse.

When pension payments equal or, in some cases, exceed a person's salary when they were working, something is wrong. Despite his lack of spending restraint while leading PHEAA, Willey could be seen as having done the state's taxpayers a favor if his outrageous example of pension folly helps to fuel the major overhaul of the state pension system needed in Harrisburg.

But taxpayers should not kid themselves. Asking state lawmakers to pare back the pension program is asking them to go against their own financial self-interests. And past experience — based on the 2005 pay-raise vote and related abuse of unvouchered expenses — suggests there are precious few lawmakers willing to do that.

Shock over Willey's pension check and a greater awareness of the looming financial impact on property tax payers from the 2001 pension grab could be enough to push voters to demand change — or, in the 2008 elections, to replace incumbent lawmakers with people more committed to taxpayers' interests than their own.