By GREGORY N. HEIRES

In the past, public commissions have had at least a veneer of objectivity.
Not so under President George W. Bush, who recently appointed a new 16-member commission to “strengthen Social Security.”

Before meeting, before one word of deliberation, virtually all the commission members are on record saying they want to privatize Social Security.

The fix is in.

If this crowd gets its way:

• The retirement age will go up.
  
• Social Security checks will go down. With vital funds diverted to private accounts, retired working people could lose as much as 40 percent of benefits.
  
• Benefits could yo-yo. They would be subject to the notorious uncertainty of the stock market.

And the 10-year, $1 trillion transition cost of setting up individual investment accounts — combined with the president’s proposed millionaire tax giveaway — would basically wipe out the federal surplus, starve existing government programs and jeopardize any possible drug benefit for Medicare.

“By naming outspoken advocates of privatization to the commission, the president has stacked the deck against Social Security and the livelihood of our nation’s retirees,” said Gerald W. McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, DC 37’s parent union.

WHO is on the commission?
Bush campaign operatives, former politicians with pro-privatization views, corporate executives and “experts” tied to right-wing think tanks. Not one member comes from a union or retiree organization.

Five members are linked to the rabidly pro-free market (“hands-off business”) Cato Institute, which for 20 years has pushed worldwide to privatize Social Security systems. The commission “is a remarkably pro-privatization group,” said Michael Tanner, director of the Cato Institute’s Social Security Privatization Project. The panel’s members are evenly divided among Democrats and Republicans, but the devil is in the details. The appointment of former Democratic Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan appears to be a cynical ploy to promote the fiction that Bush is dedicated to real bipartisanship.

Moynihan is among a minority of Democrats who support partial privatization. He approaches Social Security reform from the right with the mindset of a stock broker, arguing that private investments grow faster than Social Security trust funds (which are invested in government bonds for safety).

Two decades ago, Moynihan served on a commission that led Congress to raise the retirement age, reduce benefits and increase the payroll deduction for Social Security.

Bush’s new commission will probably call for measures that could deal a deathblow to Social Security’s sacred promise of secure retirement. The question is, can we stop the steamroller?

Panel members: minds made up

• Co-Chair Richard Parsons, chief operating officer, AOL Time Warner: Managed a “permatemps” system that falsely classified thousands of employees as temporary workers or independent contractors. The Labor Department sued and Time Warner was forced to pay $5.5 million in back compensation.
• Co-Chair Daniel P. Moynihan, former senator: Proposed legislation that would have reduced benefits by cutting Social Security’s annual cost-of-living adjustment.
• Sam Beard, president, Economic Security 2000: On the board of right-wing Cato Institute’s Social Security Privatization Project. ES 2000 is a group pressing for private investment accounts.
• Carolyn Weaver, American Enterprise Institute: Architect of radical privatization plan to divert 40 percent of Social Security revenues into private investment accounts. Plan would have reduced benefits, slashed disability payments by 20 percent and raised the payroll tax by 1.52 percent. Ties to Cato.
• Tim Penny, former member of Congress: Serves on Cato’s Social Security Privatization Project. Introduced legislation to raise the retirement age and cut benefits.
• Bill Frenzel, former member of Congress: Supports raising retirement age and cutting cost-of-living increases. With Mr. Penny, co-chairs Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget; group has sponsored forums on Social Security reform nationwide with American Express Financial Advisors.
• John Cogan, Hoover Institution: On record for using Social Security funds to set up individual retirement accounts. Worked with Cato and advised Bush on budgets and taxes.
• Thomas Savings, Texas A&M economist: Has advocated complete privatization.
• Fidel Vargas, Reliant Equity Investors: Supported the most radical privatization plan of the 1994-1996 Advisory Council on Social Security.
• Estelle James, former World Bank economist: Led the institution’s efforts to promote privatization of public pension systems around the world.
• Robert Pozen, vice chair, Fidelity Investments: Fidelity and other financial, banking and insurance companies are lobbying for privatization, as they stand to profit enormously from managing individual investment accounts.
• Robert De Posada, executive director, Hispanic Business Roundtable: Roundtable has been actively exploring Social Security “reform” among the Latino population in the United States.
• Olivia Mitchell, Wharton School: Supports privatization and raising retirement age.
• Gerald Parsky, chair, Aurora Capital Partners: Was chair of Bush’s California presidential campaign.
• Gwendolyn King, Marsh & McLennan (financial services firm): Served as Social Security commissioner in previous Bush administration.
• Robert Johnson, Black Entertainment Television: BET is on the AFL-CIO boycott list because of his long-standing refusal to contribute toward pensions or pay fair wages for performers on the “Comic View” show.

Sources: Campaign for America’s Future, Cato Institute, news articles, and the White House.