[StBernard] Congress moves to deny pensions to the felons in its midst

[Westley Annis]

WASHINGTON -- With another congressman sentenced to prison Friday, the House
appears poised to pass legislation that would strip lawmaker-felons of their
congressional pensions. 
 
The Senate already passed a bill dubbed "The Duke Cunningham Act" after the
bribe-taking California politician, and the House plans to take up a similar
bill Monday. 
 
But neither of the bills would touch the pensions of Cunningham or former
Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, who was sentenced Friday to 30 months in prison for
conspiracy. 
 
Cunningham and Ney may be the most recent poster children for congressional
misdeeds, but because neither bill would punish past behavior, they will
likely live out their days on the taxpayers' dime. 
 
Lawmakers pushing the bills say they would have preferred the law take
effect immediately, but say the Constitution prevents it. Article 1 forbids
passing laws retroactively, and the 27th Amendment prohibits instituting
changes in congressional pay until after an election is held -- a check on
members giving themselves raises. 
 
"Ideally, it would take effect right away, but we didn't want it challenged
in court," said Vince Morris, spokesman for Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who
authored the Senate-passed pension ban that would take effect in 2009. 
 
"We anticipated that a lot of individuals in trouble would be able to keep
their pensions," said Sam Batkins of the National Taxpayers Union, which has
pressed for years to block congressional cons from getting retirement
benefits. "Congress has always been reluctant to put restrictions on its pay
or perks. We're just glad it has some momentum." 
 
Current law withholds pensions only from members convicted of treason or
espionage. Despite a long and colorful history of otherwise-malfeasant
lawmakers, Congress has never seen fit to broaden the law. 
 
Even after five House members and one senator were convicted of bribery in
the Abscam trials in the early 1980s, Congress left lawmaker-felon pensions
intact.
 
Congress came close to acting in 1996 after former Rep. Dan Rostenkowski,
D-Ill., pleaded guilty to mail fraud for his part in the House post office
scandal and served 15 months in prison. The new Republican majority passed a
bill overwhelmingly, only to see it languish in the Senate. 
 
Rostenkowski is expected to collect nearly $3 million in lifetime public
pension benefits, according to the National Taxpayers Union. 
 
The group said that over the past 25 years, 20 lawmakers convicted of
serious crimes have enjoyed retirement pay. 
 
The current crop of congressional leaders, all of whom were in office when
the prison door slammed on Rostenkowski, say they are moved to act now by
the recent spate of lawmaker lawbreaking. 
 
Cunningham resigned in 2005 after he admitted taking $2.4 million in bribes
and underreporting income and Ney stepped down in October after pleading
guilty to conspiracy and making false statements in the ongoing Jack
Abramoff lobbying scandal. 
 
Ney continued to collect his congressional paycheck after his guilty plea by
staying in office until November. He collected more than $27,000 before
stepping aside. 
 
He is in line to get more. If the Senate bill becomes law, Ney, 53, will
collect a pension when he reaches age 62, starting at $29,000 a year and
going up annually with cost-of-living adjustments. The National Taxpayers
Union has calculated that Cunningham, a decorated Navy flying ace in
Vietnam, is drawing a congressional and military pension valued at $64,000 a
year, even though he is in prison. 
 
The House bill is slightly different from the one passed by the Senate, but
a House leadership aide said an effort was under way late Friday to adopt
the Senate's approach. 
Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, who is the target of an ongoing
federal probe, also would not be affected. 
 
Jefferson has not been charged and denies wrongdoing. He won re-election
with 57 percent of the vote despite a bribery probe that has netted guilty
pleas from two of his associates. 
Asked how he planned to vote on the House bill next week, Jefferson's office
declined to comment. 
 
Even if the House approves legislation next week, the matter is far from
settled. 
Both the House and Senate versions of the bill withhold retirement benefits
only for members convicted of bribery, conspiracy, perjury and other
"white-collar" crimes related to their public duties. Members would still be
able to commit other serious crimes, including murder, and go to prison with
the assurance they will collect a monthly retirement check for their years
of public service.