Pensions for convicted lawmakers draw watchdogs' ire
January 3, 2007
By Drew Griffin and Kathleen Johnston
(CNN) -- As Democrats pledge to clean up Congress when they take control this week, public interest groups are urging them to add one more item to their ethics reform list: Stop rewarding crooked colleagues.
Led by the conservative National Taxpayers Union, two dozen watchdog groups of all political stripes say it's time to stop making taxpayers pay the pensions of lawmakers who are convicted of or plead guilty to crimes committed while in office.
For example, Republican Rep. Randall "Duke" Cunningham of California, who pleaded guilty in 2005 to tax evasion and conspiracy to accept bribes and kickbacks from contractors he was voting to give government business, will pocket an estimated $64,000 annual government pension while serving eight years in a North Carolina federal prison....
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They come from both sides of the political aisle. James Traficant, a former Democratic representative from Ohio who was convicted of bribery, racketeering and tax evasion, is serving eight years in a Minnesota prison and getting an estimated $40,000 pension. Former Republican Sen. David Durenberger of Minnesota, who pleaded guilty to fraud in 1995 and served a year's probation, receives an estimated $86,000 a year, according to the National Taxpayers Union.
The figures are estimates because Congress keeps the amount of all federal pensions secret. Pensions are based on years in office and any contribution the officeholder might make. But most of the money comes straight out of taxpayers' coffers. Right now, federal law stipulates the only grounds to strip a congressional member of his or her pension is treason. Admitting to being a common crook does not cause forfeiture of the pension....
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/01/03/congressional.pensions/index.html