Senate nominee says he won't take Pa. pension

CHELTENHAM Robin Gilchrist, the Republican nominee for state Senate in the Fourth District, says that if elected, he will not accept a legislative pension.

Gilchrist, 43, a nurse at Abington Memorial Hospital, said he "refuses to be a hypocrite" by profiting from a system that is straining the state's finances.

"How can I go to Harrisburg and fight for pension reform if I am directly benefiting from it?" he wrote in a news release.

Gilchrist would have to draw a state paycheck for 10 years before he became eligible for a pension. If he served three full terms, his pension could be about $23,000 a year.

If he didn't make the 10-year mark, he would be able to recover only his own contributions plus 4 percent interest.

The Fourth District includes parts of North Philadelphia and southern Montgomery County. - Jessica Parks