Friday, February 06, 2009

Illinois corruption update: George Ryan wins one

Disgraced Governor Rod Blagojevich's disgraced predecessor, George Ryan, won a significant legal victory today.

After the Kankakee Republican was found guilty on various corruption charges two years ago, a state pension board stripped him of his entire pension. The longtime lawmaker's main source of income was that retirement stipend.

But an Illinois appeals court ruled that Ryan, who is imprisoned at the Federal Correctional Institute in Terre Haute, Indiana, can collect a pension based on his time served as a member of the Illinois House and as lieutenant governor--about $65,000 a year. The rationale is that Ryan wasn't engaged in crooked activities during that part of his public career.

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2 comments:

Cal Skinner said...

The lesson is to hold different public offices, if the Illinois Supreme Court does not overturn it.

Marathon Pundit said...

Or in other words, "diversify your portfolio." Brilliant!