We've seen the articles bubbling out of our fine capital city during the past few weeks. Apparently the newest long-term abuse of power by our electeds and their scions comes from driving state cars here, there and everywhere, many without the courtesy of reporting the benefit for tax purposes.

The reality is that the Internal Revenue Service only dings these folks for $3 a day in income for the privilege of driving a mediocre state-plated Chevy Impala or the like to or from home. Even with taking Columbus Day off, this is usually less than a grand worth of taxable benefit every year.

Obviously, this is worth more than a grand to most folks involved. For someone who might drive to Charleston 200 days a year from my home of Parkersburg, the value of eight gallons of gas a day and a free car probably is worth more then a grand. But that's just math on the back of my bar napkin.

I know when folks pay me to drive someplace for work, I can deduct 50 or so cents per mile. So my guess is that electeds who live outside greater Charleston with state cars like Treasurer John Perdue or Agriculture Commissioner Gus Douglass are getting a real deal, thanks to all of us.

You are welcome.

This is a big part of what bothers me about our Third World approach to government. It's greed -- but it's all low-dollar greed. It's a grand here or a grand there. Nobody seems all that likely or smart enough to pull an "Ocean's Eleven" and just try to walk out the front door of the Capitol with a duffle bag filled with $5 million in crisp, non-sequential $100 bills.

Instead it's about stealing a computer or borrowing a fleet car or getting someone's idiot brother a job with the Division of Highways road crew in exchange for a vote.

Honestly, the most expensive single event for taxpayers occur upon retirement. We just heard about a new one a couple weeks ago.

Delegate Bob Tabb, D-Jefferson, is a fairly obscure back-bench member of our House of Delegates. He represents parts of Jefferson and Berkeley counties. Tabb has represented his area since the 56th District came to be after the 2000 census.

Tabb apparently starts a job this coming week as a deputy commissioner of Agriculture under the aforementioned Douglass. Based on records of past payments to those with that job title from our state auditor, Tabb will go from making roughly $18,000 as a delegate to making $65,000 or so with full benefits.

Popular opinion holds that Tabb sees himself as a future candidate for Douglass' office, which again will be up for election in 2012.

In West Virginia, state employees have their retirement pension payments based on their salary in their final three years of work for the state. This is important.

Tabb has seven years in the books as a delegate at $18,000 or less. If he retired in three years at the age of 60 as a delegate, his annual pension from the state would be roughly $3,600 a year for the rest of his life.

Assuming Tabb lives to the average male age of 76 or so years, he stands to collect about $57,000. To get that amount, the state would have invested roughly $28,000. Sounds reasonable over 26 or so years.

Now Tabb will work for Agriculture. Let's assume he works there until he is 60; that's the retirement age for PERS participants. Let's say he works for three years and goes home to Jefferson County for good. Don't even factor in running for a higher office yet, which would make the taxpayers' bill still higher.

For three years, he makes about $65,000. That will guarantee him a retirement payment of about $13,000 a year from age 60 forward.

Let's say Bob hangs out in our temporal world until he's 76. Bob now will collect about $208,000 -- about $150,000 more than if he'd just stayed in the Legislature.

To get that extra $150,000, it turns out that only $22,000 more would have been invested by the state. Even an investment wizard would have trouble turning $22,000 into $150,000 over 16 years. Awesome.

In exchange for working three extra years, Bob Tabb walks out the door with a duffle bag with an extra $100,000 or more if he lives into his 70s.

Who pays for this sort of pension featherbedding? All of us. They've done it before. And they'll keep doing it until we stop them.

Watch your Legislature and see where these guys go to "work" when they stop being elected. Often it's some other state job, where they get to mark time for three years just to juice their own retirements.

Rob Cornelius of Parkersburg writes a column for The State Journal. His e-mail address is robcwv@gmail.com.