Reilly appeals ruling on Bulger's pension

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Reilly filed a motion with the state Appeals Court contesting the Suffolk Superior Court ruling. In November, Judge Ernest B. Murphy ruled that Bulger, who is also the former president of the state Senate, was entitled to count his $36,000 annual housing allowance and payments to one of his retirement accounts as part of his regular compensation for purposes of calculating his pension.

The ruling boosted Bulger's pension by roughly $29,000, to about $208,000 a year.

Murphy's judgment overturned prior rulings by the State Retirement Board and the Contributory Retirement Appeals Board. The state Division of Administrative Law Appeals, a quasi-judicial state agency that hears pension appeals, sided with Bulger on the issue.

Reilly said yesterday that it was unfair to other state retirees for Bulger to claim his perks, as well as his salary, for purposes of his pension.

''The University of Massachusetts gave Bill Bulger a good deal with a generous pension that was based on his pay,'' Reilly said in a press release issued by his office.

''To include housing allowances and annuity payments in calculating his pension simply goes too far and sets a dangerous precedent for the Massachusetts public pension system,'' Reilly said.

Both Reilly and state Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill have called on the Legislature to pass a law that would rule out housing allowances and other perks in calculating pension benefits if the Bulger decision is not overturned on appeal.

Cahill also said the state should cap pensions, rather than see individuals such as Bulger depart with pensions that pay out more than $200,000 annually.

Bulger now has 30 days to file an answer. His lawyer, Thomas Kiley of Quincy, said yesterday that he was confident of eventual victory. ''We've already argued this case before [the Division of Administrative Law Appeals] and the Superior Court,'' Kiley said. ''The two times we argued it, we laid everything out there, and we were right and we won.''

Last week, the Supreme Judicial Court upheld a decision by state pension officials to strip Bulger's brother, retired Boston Juvenile Court clerk-magistrate John P. Bulger, of his $65,000 per year state pension. The SJC found that John Bulger forfeited his right to a state pension when he admitted lying to two federal grand juries investigating the disappearance of his other brother, fugitive South Boston crime boss and former FBI informant James J. ''Whitey'' Bulger.