Del.icio.us
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
StumbleUpon
Public Outrage
It's infuriating that we have to pay for the retirement of these crooks, but it's just as scandalous that lawmakers aren't doing anything about it. Quite the opposite. Congress has offered lip service since as far back as 1996, when a bill to strip pensions made some progress before dying quietly. After Ohio Rep. James Traficant was convicted of taking bribes and kickbacks in 2002 and began to draw his $40,000-a-year pension, there was a bipartisan push to change things. But again, it didn't happen. "There has been little political will," says Melanie Sloan, executive director of the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
Why? "I think many senior members [of Congress] are afraid they might be next," says Rep. Mark Kirk of Illinois, who has been pushing for a tougher line on convict freeloaders. Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute explains that legislators worry about a slippery slope that could add more common offenses to the list. And of course, the clubby atmosphere on Capitol Hill keeps legislators from wanting to throw the book at friends and colleagues.
The lesson here is that Congress can't be trusted to police itself. Need one more bit of proof? In 2005 an attempt at reform never made it out of the House committee that would oversee a change in pension rules. The committee's chair that year: Rep. Bob Ney of Ohio. The same Bob Ney who pleaded guilty last fall to doing illegal favors for a lobbyist in return for things like a lavish golf junket to Scotland. And even though Ney sold his influence, he'll still be eligible for a $29,000-a-year pension when he turns 62.
The new Democratic-controlled Congress swept into power with much fanfare about cleaning up Washington. But when it comes to cracking down on these pension payments, it looks like our representatives might wimp out again.
True, the House has passed a bill to strip pensions from lawmakers convicted of any of five felonies, including perjury and bribery. Sounds good, right? Not according to Rep. Kirk. He says the Justice Department gave him a list of 21 felonies related to public office, and he wrote a bill covering them all. But the legislation was never brought to a vote. Instead, the "reform" plan now moving through Congress doesn't even cover crimes like evading taxes or attempting to buy votes.
Kirk is appalled that Congress can't manage to do what the state of Illinois did years ago and just say public officials convicted of crimes can lose their benefits. (An oversight board stripped former Illinois Gov. George Ryan of $197,000 in benefits last year after his racketeering conviction -- although Ryan had the gall to sue for them.)
Probably the only thing that will get Congress to act is public outrage. A good first step: Go to congress.org to send an e-mail to your representatives. Tell them it's time they passed a new crime bill -- one that takes Congressional convicts off the dole.
Advertisement 
Your Comments
See all
...