Flaherty blames Menino for pension loophole, abuse

In a phone interview yesterday, Flaherty, who secured an early campaign endorsement from Boston Firefighters Local 718, took pains to avoid faulting the firefighters themselves for a practice that city officials say is costing taxpayers millions of dollars.

“This is about failed leadership,’’ Flaherty said. “It’s time to end the giveaways of the Menino administration.’’

Asked multiple times if the firefighters themselves bore any responsibility for what city leaders call an abuse of the public retirement system, Flaherty repeatedly steered his answers to Menino, who is seeking an unprecedented fifth term in office.

“The mayor, as CEO of our city, has to take responsibility for contracts that he signs on behalf of the residents of our city,’’ Flaherty said. “The buck stops on his desk.’’

The 1,500-member Firefighters Union supported Menino in 2005 but has been locked in a protracted battle with his administration over the mayor’s push for mandatory drug and alcohol testing and other concessions. In the spring, Local 718 endorsed Flaherty, helping the councilor at large from South Boston gather the signatures he needed to become the first candidate to qualify for this year’s mayoral ballot. Yesterday, Flaherty appeared with members of Local 718 at a Dorchester firehouse to protest the city’s plan to temporarily close certain fire companies.

The Globe reported last year that the number of Boston firefighters applying for higher disability pensions after reporting an injury while filling in for a superior had grown substantially since 2001, with 102 over a six-year period reporting career-ending disabilities while temporarily serving at a higher rank. In some cases, the firefighters filled in for superiors for just one day.

Governor Deval Patrick signed a major revision of state pension laws last month, ending this so-called “king for a day’’ provision and closing separate pension loopholes. In the final days before the new law took effect, at least two dozen Boston firefighters out on disability filed to secure enhanced pensions under the old rules. (Those applications still have to be approved by doctors and city retirement officials.)

The FBI is currently investigating whether some Boston firefighters faked or exaggerated on-the-job injuries while filling in for superiors in a bid to boost their pensions.

The “king for a day’’ provision already existed in state law when the city and the firefighters union agreed in 2001 to changes in staffing practices that triggered many more applications for enhanced pensions, according to Boston officials. The agreement, signed after two years of thorny negotiations, included a change in the way Boston fills temporary leadership vacancies in a firehouse. Instead of drawing on the highest-scoring candidates on civil service exams citywide, the Fire Department began appointing the next-highest-ranking firefighter at that station.

Menino administration officials say they authored the change in the interest of firehouse continuity and morale and did not anticipate that it would invite what they see as widespread abuse.

Blaming Menino alone for the result absolves the firefighters who gamed the system, said John Dunlap, Boston’s director of labor relations. He likened it to a neighbor who steals a barbecue grill, then faults the owner for failing to lock it down.

“Rather than accept responsibility for their own actions, they tried to blame Menino, suggesting that he should have anticipated that they would wildly abuse the disability pension system,’’ Dunlap said.

In an interview lasting longer than 20 minutes, Flaherty was asked on five occasions if Local 718, individual firefighters, or both should share some or all of the responsibility for what happened in Boston.

But he accused Menino of insufficient diligence. “It’s awful convenient of him to point the finger at someone else,’’ said Flaherty, who is challenging Menino along with Councilor at Large Sam Yoon and Boston developer Kevin McCrea. “This administration has taken zero responsibility for anything. It’s always someone else’s fault. Fortunately in this situation here, the state [stepped in to] close the loophole.’’

Asked a sixth time, Flaherty said that any fraud or abuse by an employee in any city department at taxpayer expense was intolerable.

“It’s unacceptable and should not be tolerated, period,’’ said Flaherty. “That’s across the board. That’s not with any specific individual or agency or department they work for; that’s anybody.’’