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Politics : GOPwinger Lies/Distortions/Omissions/Perversions of Truth -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: American Spirit who wrote (61053)	1/3/2006 1:41:19 PM
From: Mighty_Mezz	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 173976

Stop special treatment for cons in Congress Even fellow Republicans are unhappy that former GOP Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham will get to keep his federal pension even though he has pleaded guilty to bribery. Turns out, it's another of those sweetheart deals Congress has cut for itself over the years. The Associated Press reported that under federal law, only a conviction for a crime against the United States, such as treason or espionage, can cause a member of Congress or other federal employee to lose his or her government pension. Since Congress writes federal laws, it seems obvious this one was done with an eye toward self-protection. Cunningham, a California Republican, will keep his pension of about $40,000 a year, even though he resigned last month and faces 10 years in prison when he's sentenced in February. While $40,000 isn't much by congressional spending standards, this abuse is flagrant and unacceptable. It's bad enough that there are so many instances of unethical, if not lawbreaking, practices by some members of Congress these days. But to allow an admitted white-collar criminal to continue bellying up to the public trough is too much. The Cunningham caper has renewed interest in Congress to reintroduce legislation that would deny federal pensions to a broader range of criminals. The bill would add a list of crimes including bribery, solicitation of gifts, perjury, making false claims and lying to a grand jury to the offenses that would result in loss of federal pensions. The legislation would apply to all federal employees. Its passage should be the classic no-brainer. Pension funding is becoming a major budget headache for government these days — from Olympia to Washington, D.C. In this state, Gov. Christine Gregoire wants to commit some of a projected $1.4 billion in unexpected revenue to ease an unfunded liability of about $4 billion in state public pensions. The pension systems are chronically underfunded by legislators who find it too easy to skip payments today and simply push the budget hole until tomorrow. In the private sector, there's movement toward negotiated retirement packages, as well as legislation in Congress to shore up employer-based pension systems that require companies to meet their obligations to retirees. To ensure that promised money is there when workers retire, both management and labor will have to be willing to give a little. That's not too much to ask when workers' hard-earned pensions are at stake. Little wonder the Cunningham situation is sparking such an outrage, both in Congress and with the public. There's something inherently wrong when someone can draw a federal pension while serving time in a federal penitentiary. Even if he doesn't get prison time, it's still wrong. The law must be changed to prevent it from happening again. yakima-herald.com