The bozos who designed California's underfunded government-employee pension system made it ripe for a long list of abuses. There is, of course, the infamous double-dipping scams in which a government worker wins generous retirement benefits at one agency, retires, gets hired immediately at another agency and wins a second pension. Still, our own ex-Sheriff Michael S. Carona remains the face of the warped system. Now a convicted felon in the midst of serving a 66-month punishment in a Colorado federal prison, Carona's soothing, nightly dreams probably consist of dollar signs and an overflowing jackpot. About $1.5 million in taxpayer money will be deposited into the crook's bank account while he's incarcerated for public corruption. If the 59-year-old man lives another two decades, he'll grab at least $4.4 million more.
