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IPFS News Link • Sexuality: Sex and the Law

Imprisoned Hastert fights for tax-covered pension

• http://www.sfgate.com, Michael Tarm

The ex-U.S. House speaker is now pointing to a technicality to argue that a state body should restore his $17,000-a-year teacher's pension that it yanked after his April 27 sentencing.
A recent letter from Hastert's lawyer to the agency overseeing the pensions notes his conviction was not for sexual abuse when he was at Yorkville High School from 1965 to 1981: It was for one count of violating banking law as Hastert withdrew cash from 2010 to 2014 as he sought to pay one victim $3.5 million to ensure his silence. On those grounds, the letter argues, his teacher's pension can't be revoked.
A look at the 74-year-old Republican's bid to hold on to his pensions:
A: What pensions did Hastert receive prior to his conviction?
Q: Hastert received tax-covered pensions totaling about $120,000 a year. In addition to the teacher's pension, Hastert also received a $28,000 pension for his five years in the Illinois General Assembly starting in 1981 and a $73,000 pension for his 20-year stint in Congress. By law, those can only be revoked if a lawmaker's crimes were linked to their time as lawmakers, so neither seemed in jeopardy. But in October, the board of the General Assembly Retirement System voted to suspend Hastert's legislative pension. It said it'll watch what happens with Hastert's bid to restore his public schools pension before deciding whether to revoke the legislative pension for good. There's no sign his U.S. House pension is at risk.


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