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Sunday, November 29, 2009 12:16 AM CST
OUR VIEW: Ryan has gall to ask for any of his state pension
By JG/T-C Editorial Board
We’ve got a deal for ex-Gov. George Ryan.
He wants his pension. How about if the people of the State of Illinois pay for his room and board until, oh, let’s say, about 2013? Then we’ll call it “even.”
The Illinois Supreme Court heard arguments earlier this month regarding why the convicted Ryan should receive a partial state pension of $60,000. He was stripped of the cushy $197,037 annual pension he once drew after his 2006 conviction on charges of racketeering, conspiracy, mail fraud, making false statements to investigators and tax fraud. This breaking of the law occurred when he was governor and secretary of state, and the state General Assembly Retirement System KO’d his pension after his conviction.
A state appeals court already reversed that decision and said Ryan should get to keep the portion of his pension earned from prior offices, the time period in which he was not convicted for committing crimes. His attorney, former Illinois Gov. Jim Thompson, argued to that point before the state’s justices. Jan Hughes, an assistant attorney general representing the retirement system, said the law dictates that Ryan must be stripped of his entire government pension due to his criminal conviction.
We certainly hope so.
Ryan, 75, entered prison in late 2007 to serve six years and six months for the misdeeds of which he was found guilty. He would be released in 2013 if he served that entire jail term. To many Illinoisans, that is the least penalty he should receive. He certainly should not be able to collect a pension from the state after federal corruption charges were proven against him.
The accusations against Ryan included his involvement in the illegal sale of government licenses, contracts and leases by Illinois employees during his service as secretary of state. The federal probe into a deadly Wisconsin crash that killed six children led investigators to the scheme in the secretary of state’s office under Ryan. Unqualified truck drivers received licenses through bribes, and this investigation mushroomed into an expansive corruption probe that reached Ryan.
There are real consequences to what Ryan did. Losing his entire state pension is the least of these. He should be glad he walked away with such lenient punishments in light of the charges of which he was convicted.
To give him any portion of his pension would be a ridiculous miscarriage of justice.
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Jim1969 wrote on Nov 29, 2009 9:47 AM: