The Sun points out that Gov. Patrick's tax-and-spend
extravaganza would do nothing to address massive pension
underfunding in the Commonwealth ("Patrick ignores the pension
crisis," Jan. 21.).  Meanwhile, the Legislature is only good for
pennyante pension reform, most of it designed to rein in
doubledippers, disability fraudsters and other small-time
villains.  When it comes to heavy-duty reform - tackling
billions in underfunding, pegging the retirement age to Social
Security, migrating public workers to 401k-type retirement plans
- there's nothing doing.  Genuine reform is elusive, in part
because state legislators are themselves eligible for public-
worker retirement benefits, which are richer than anything
available to median-income families in the Merrimack Valley.
Access to those benefits is a strong incentive for politicians
to slink away from reform, no matter how badly taxpayers need
it. That's a plain conflict of interest.  To kick-start reform,
taxpayers have to take the lead.  We have to end the c