January 16, 2025: While we await further news from the Social Security Administration on plans to implement WEP/GPO repeal under the Social Security Fairness Act (last SSA update was on 1/6/2025), we have been busy reviewing 41-years of archived materials on the topic in order to produce a special edition of our newsletter “The Voice” to commemorate this historic achievement. The trip down memory lane has uncovered a wealth of forgotten history, such as the article below from the May 2001 edition of The Voice.
WEP/GPO began and ended as a nonpartisan issue, that took the efforts of a wide bipartisan coalition, working for more than four decades, to finally see the laws repealed. Throughout that time, Mass Retirees has worked closely with elected officials from both parties, here in Massachusetts and across the country, to represent the interests of our members. In 2001, on the eve of becoming governor, then Lt. Governor Jane Swift became the first MA constitutional office holder to take a public stand against WEP/GPO. In the photo from the May 2001 Voice, Mass Retirees Founder and former President Ralph White and then Legislative Liaison Shawn Duhamel meet with Swift to review a letter she sent to President George W. Bush. Governor Swift’s support was a huge boost to the cause at the time and helped focus the attention of the newly elected Bush Administration on finding a solution to WEP/GPO. Sadly, the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 and the events that followed resulted in WEP/GPO becoming back burner issues for much of the early 2000’s.
On the 2nd page from the May 2001 Voice is a photo of representatives from the Mass Association of Contributory Retirement Systems (MACRS) meeting with former MA Congressman Barney Frank in Washington, DC. MACRS and the entire public retirement community here in Massachusetts worked closely with Mass Retirees advocating for an end to WEP/GPO. While the MACRS officials shown in the 2001 photo passed away prior to the repeal of WEP/GPO and serve as a reminder of the generation of retirees who never received relief from these unfair laws, we continue to remember and owe a debt of gratitude to Roy Sacco (Belmont), John Murphy (Plymouth/Somerville), Bob Drew (Natick), and Gerry Miller (Pittsfield).
If you are a retired Massachusetts public employee, but not a member of the Mass Retirees Association, please join today at www.MassRetirees.com/join. Improving and defending your retirement depends on a strong & engaged membership.
