Galen Quint, a Maine retiree, is the most important person when it comes to the future of the Maine Public Employees Retirement System. I'm sure you're asking "who is Galen Quint?" and "why should I care about him?" The answer is simple – Galen is part of the American dream that affords workers, after a life of hard work and playing by the rules, the opportunity to retire with dignity and security. Galen's future retirement security, along with the over 70,000 other retired teachers, fire-fighters and state workers and tens of thousands more current employees in Maine is at risk.

In the interest of full disclosure, Galen is also the loving father of yours truly. And no, Galen did not pay me to write this about him and quite frankly would probably rather me not write about him. However, his story is one that needs to be told over and over again. Galen, who was a 36-year employee of the Maine Department of Transportation, worked hard every day. He was proud to be part of a department that ensured Maine's roads are safe for his neighbors. He went to work every day and did his part. He did not cause the unfunded pension problem that we face today. In fact, he paid his share to help fix the problem, but more on that later.

Governor LePage and the Maine Legislature are faced with "fixing" the pension system. First things first; the system does not need to be "fixed." It isn't broken. If you listen just to our legislative leaders, the Governor, and most recently State Treasurer Bruce Poliquin, you would be left with the impression that the state pension system needs to be blown up and redrawn from scratch. Treasurer Poloquin wrote, in a recent blog post, that the system where is a "fiscal tsunami" and a "fiscal nightmare". This is simply not based on facts.

I don't mean to come down on the Treasurer too hard. He deserves credit for his press conference yesterday where he committed to working with all interested parties involved and stated, "Our goal should be to find a way to honor the retirement benefits of teachers and state workers..."

Is there a problem? Yes, and the numbers associated with it are huge. However, it is important to distinguish between the unfunded liability (UAL), which was further exacerbated by the 2007-2008 downturn in the stock market, and the normal operating costs of the system. The UAL needs to be addressed and Labor is ready to come to the table and work to address it.

Teachers and state employees pay 7.65% towards their pension, compared to the 5.5% the state pays. Of that 7.65% that teachers and state employees pay, a portion of that goes to the pay down the UAL. As I said above, Galen Quint did not cause this problem, but he, and every teacher and state employee in the state, are paying for it. There are a number of proposals floating around the Legislature that looks to further punish teachers and state employees for a problem they did not create. Rep. Cebra has submitted legislation "to temporarily suspend cost-of-living adjustments" in retirees' benefits and "increase contribution levels." To significantly alter the pension benefits of people who are first responders in our communities – police, fire-fighters, nurses and teachers – and in some case their surviving families is the wrong solution.

This issue is going to require all groups to come to the table and work together on a shared solution that is based in facts, not campaign rhetoric that looks to demonize those workers who just want to go to work everyday, do their job well, and get to a place where they can retire with dignity. This is what we all should want. This is what Galen deserves.