In a win for government transparency, the state’s highest court last week ordered the state and New York City teacher pension funds to release the names of pension recipients.

The state’s Freedom of Information Law expressly prohibits the release of pensioners’ home addresses and the names and addresses of pension beneficiaries. When the Empire Center for New York State Policy asked for the names of pension recipients, the pension funds said no, citing court rulings involving much broader requests for information. Lower courts agreed with the pension funds. The Empire Center petitioned the state Court of Appeals to compel disclosure.

News organizations from around the state, including Syracuse Media Group, filed an amicus brief in support of the Empire Center. Not being able to attach names to pension recipients would prevent us from reporting on waste, fraud and abuse in the taxpayer-funded public pension system.

Without access to this information, taxpayers would never know about the New York City cop who received a disability pension of $86,000 a year for “bronchial asthma” while regularly competing as an elite triathlete. Or the 97 percent of Long Island Rail Road retirees who, in one year, applied for and received disability payments. Or the dozens of public officials who collect a public pension on top of a public paycheck, known as “double-dipping.”

The Empire Center’s Tim Hoefer hailed the court’s ruling as “a huge win for the public’s right to know.”

“Taxpayers are primarily responsible for funding public pensions, and taxpayers ultimately back up the state constitutional guarantee that public pension benefits won’t be reduced,” Hoefer said. “That’s why taxpayers are entitled to know who is getting how much from our public pension systems.”

Bravo to the Empire Center for persevering. Bravo to the Court of Appeals for reaching the right result.

© 2014 Syracuse Post-Standard