'Duke Cunningham Act' could cut off pensions

[question everything]

'Duke Cunningham Act' could cut off pensions

THE BOSTON GLOBE

February 9, 2006

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kerry plans to file a bill today that would strip government pensions from lawmakers who are convicted of official misconduct, adding a new element to congressional efforts to overhaul ethics and lobbying laws.

Kerry's bill – nicknamed the “Duke Cunningham Act” after the Rancho Santa Fe Republican who resigned last year after pleading guilty to accepting $2.4 million in bribes – would halt pensions for senators and House members found guilty of bribery, perjury or conspiracy to defraud the government.

Cunningham is entitled to a pension of about $40,000 a year under current law, which excludes only former lawmakers who are convicted of crimes against the United States, such as treason and espionage.

“It's disgusting that hard-working taxpayers fund the retirement of criminals like Duke Cunningham,” said Kerry, D-Mass. “We have to restore the public trust in the country.”


Find this article at:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060209/news_1n9duke.html

[brer cat]

1. Go Kerry!

Hurt them instead of the children and poor people cut off by cuts to medicaid, college grants, etc.

[Mythsaje]

2. All right!

Not as though they need them anyway.

[emulatorloo]

3. Kick and nominating n/t

[wicket]

4. Alright Kerry!!!!

kicked and recommended

:kick:

[MagickMuffin]

5. Way to go Sen. Kerry

Why should we have to foot the bill for criminals?

When you think of all the hard working people who have been screwed out of their pensions by the likes of Kenny Boy and the other Corporate crooks.
It only seems fair that these crooks should have to pay for their crimes, not the other way around.

Aren't these people what RayGun considered Welfare Queens??? :evilgrin:

[HuffleClaw]

6. a good idea in theory BUT

ya just know the republicans would end up abusing it horribly.

[saltpoint]

7. Senator Kerry's right about the climate of corruption, and he hardly

needed to add that a great majority of these current financial misdeeds have involved Republicans.

Good for Senator Kerry.

[calimary]

8. Worth a kick.

[loudsue]

9. No shit!! This is how it should be!

Thanks, Pres.Elect Kerry, for once again being the voice of reason here. :loveya:

:kick::kick::kick:

[AzDar]

10. Sounds like a fine idea to me. n/t

[tinymontgomery]

11. They do this to Veterans

If sent to jail they take away their retirment funds.

[blm]

13. If they can do it to a vet who went to war then chickenhawks deserve worse

.

[karynnj]

Interesting - wouldn't that be a precedent?

They're both federal retirement funds.

[BlueManDude]

12. Way to go JK!! Nice propaganda too "The Cunningham Act"

sounds like something the GOP would do. JK seems to finding his his fighting voice lately.

[karynnj]

15. Note that the link is to what is likely Cunningham's home paper

-even though it also seems from the exerpt to be a reprint of a Boston Globe article.

[BlueManDude]

18. It would be nice if the informal name was "TCA"

Dems need to understand that getting this sort of stuff out into the media bloodstream (while not necessarily nice or fair) is part of the process of winning elections.

[karynnj]

21. I assume that's why the Senator named it that

[question everything]

20. Yes, this is where I found it. And first searched this forum

to see if already posted from the Globe.

And, yes, the San Diego Union Tribune, as conservative as it is, went after Cunningham shooting with all barrels.

[sofedup]

14. why has this taken so long? n/t

[karynnj]

22. He's a busy man

He's doing other things. OR maybe the Senate was out of session through most of January. Kerry spent January going to India, Pakistan, Iraq, Israel, jordan and Afghanistan, leading the Alito filibuster, and attending the World Economic Forum.

This is a good, fair idea and a clever politcal move, but it's a pretty minor activity.

No one else did it either.

[jschurchin]

16. It is about time........

someone stood up and said "you are a criminal and you are not living on our dime".
Thank You Senator Kerry.

[Road Scholar]

17. Thank you President Kerry!!! nt

[ohtransplant]

19. Savvy Dem State Legislators

should pick this up and submit bills at the state level that would create the same penalties for unsavory activities on the state and local level.

[katty]

23. from GOP: applicable only to Democrats...it's disgusting that

ANY American is still paying Federal Taxes and participating in tainted to fraudulent elections, and not rioting ("I'm mad as hell and I am not going to take it anymore" march to the WH) in the streets when the Supreme Court APPOINTS/ANNOINTS a president as an utterly gutless, vile and out of control government hacks away at our democracy day in and day out.