Ken Johnson did not ask the Ohio General Assembly to revamp the rules of retirement. He legally took advantage of new laws going into place that would affect him financially.

On Monday, Cleveland City Council members agreed to appoint recently retired colleague Ken Johnson to succeed himself, a move that allows Johnson to collect his earned public pension after 43 years in a state retirement plan and also draw his annual council salary.

We applaud the 14 members of the legislative body to “welcome back” Johnson who has been nothing less than an exemplary public servant to his ward.

Voting against the move to appoint Johnson to succeed himself were council members Dona Brady, Brian Cummins and Mike Polensek, the Dean of Cleveland City Council.

This newspaper has always supported Polensek on these editorial pages. We suspect we will do so in the future. He is a no-nonsense man of integrity who continues to serve his north Collinwood constituents well in addition to the City ofCleveland.

But on this particular vote Polensek made against fellow Councilman Johnson reeks of hypocrisy.’

Since 2009, Polensek has also been what is called a “double dipper,” a public servant who retires to collect a pension only to come back in the same job and collect the same or similar pay.

We are not here to debate the merits of state pension plans that permit such practices. At the end of the day, it is legal. Those at the state level have not seen fit to close this loophole because they themselves have often benefited for it.

Ken Johnson did not ask the Ohio General Assembly to revamp the rules of retirement. He legally took advantage of new laws going into place that would affect him financially.

If there is to be uproar over “double dipping,” it should be taken up with the Ohio General Assembly.