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Partner denied Marrero pension
By AMY HERDY
© St. Petersburg Times, TAMPA -- It was over in minutes. Before a packed boardroom and a crush of media, a city pension board met to decide who should get the benefits of slain Tampa police Officer Lois Marrero.
"It's up to this board to determine whether Officer Mashburn was a spouse," Castillo said. Karen Doering, a civil rights attorney also retained by Mashburn, told the board its policy of allowing only legal spouses to receive pension death benefits was illegal. "That is on its face a clear violation of the Florida Civil Rights Act," Doering said. Those arguments didn't convince the eight-member firefighter and police pension board. Without discussion, Mashburn's application was unanimously rejected. Instead, the board voted to award Marrero's $50,000 pension contributions to her estate, in this case, her parents. Marrero, killed by a fleeing bank robber July 6, was paid $55,000 a year. She did not leave a will. The board's decision Tuesday did not come as a surprise. The board attorney and its chairman had both made it clear they would follow the law that provides death benefits to surviving spouses only. Afterward, Castillo said he was not discouraged. He said he will ask the board to reconsider its vote with a full evidentiary hearing that has yet to be scheduled. "I don't put any merit in the decision today as being the last word on this," he said, promising a lengthy legal battle. Mashburn said she felt good about her efforts. "This will be a change for the city of Tampa and a change for the nation," she said. Mashburn declined to answer questions about the Marrero family's opposition to her petition. The family says Mashburn has misstated the nature of her relationship with Lois Marrero -- that it was not the happy union she has portrayed it to be and that Marrero had become committed to someone else. Castillo said he would soon address that claim. "We have to start clearing up some of the outlandish allegations lodged in the public recently," he said.
"I supported my daughter, and I support the issue," Mrs. Marrero said. As her attorney, Martin Bubley, answered reporter's questions, gay rights activist Nadine Smith began to pepper him with questions as to why he was not acknowledging Mashburn and Lois Marrero's 10-year relationship. "The Florida Legislature is the proper place for them to change that law," Bubley said. "Therefore, there is no way Mickie Mashburn can claim to be a legal surviving spouse."
"Here is a woman who was not willing to put Lois on the title of her home," she said, referring to Mashburn. "Yet Lois was supposed to leave her her pension?" Brenda Marrero also took issue with the gay rights groups. "Strategically, we agree with them. Tactically, we believe they've made a mistake with focusing on taking sides. "This is a global issue. It's not about Mickie." Castillo promised the board a costly court battle if it denied Mashburn the pension. As the pension contract stands now, the spouse of an officer killed in the line of duty is entitled to half the officer's salary every year for the rest of the surviving spouse's life. A committee of City Council, police and fire union members will meet today to discuss changing the wording of their contract to include beneficiaries. - Amy Herdy can be reached at (813) 226-3386 or herdy@sptimes.com.
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