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Lisa Madigan: No pension for Ryan

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Illinois

I thought we were going to see an opinion on a different topic today, which is what the earlier notification was about. But, hey, we take what we can get.

Attorney General Lisa Madigan today issued an opinion in response to the September 6, 2006 request from the General Assembly Retirement System for guidance regarding whether former Governor George Ryanâ€™s felony convictions result in a forfeiture of his pension benefits under the Illinois Pension Code.

Madiganâ€™s opinion concludes that Ryan has forfeited all of his public pension benefits because his felony convictions arose out of and in connection with his service as a state official. Madigan further advises the General Assembly Retirement System that it may suspend Ryanâ€™s pension benefits as of the date of his criminal sentencing

â€œFormer Governor Ryanâ€™s extensive and reprehensible criminal conduct was directly and inherently related to his official duties as state officer,â€ Madigan stated. â€œIn my opinion, the criminal conduct in which he engaged for over a decade as a state official is precisely the type of misconduct and breach of public trust that the felony forfeiture provision of the Pension Code is designed to discourage. Consequently, I have concluded that Ryanâ€™s felony convictions clearly require the forfeiture of all of his pension benefits.â€

The entire opinion can be found on this page.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Sep 12, 06 @ 5:19 pm

Comments

“Ouch”

Comment by Walking Wounded Tuesday, Sep 12, 06 @ 5:49 pm
I second WW’s comment. Talk about a huge hit.

Comment by Huh? Tuesday, Sep 12, 06 @ 5:55 pm
Madigan made the right call. It is sad though for the Ryan family.

Comment by Downstater Tuesday, Sep 12, 06 @ 6:10 pm
Did Lura Lynn ever work? If she doesn’t have her own pension, I’ll bet she wishes she had. She could have had a state pension too. This is one of those occasions our mothers warned us about — “always make sure you can take care of yourself, dear, because you never know what might happen.”

Comment by NoGiftsPlease Tuesday, Sep 12, 06 @ 6:17 pm
The trial judge was shooting for 7th Circuit if Demo won in 2008.
On Appeal, one or more of the 3 Judges may have been helped by Ryan somewhere along the way.
If decision is reversed, it will result in retroactive reinstatement with a large lump sum payout. If that happens, this decision will become big time trouble for Madigan in 2010. She should have left it alone.

Comment by True Observer Tuesday, Sep 12, 06 @ 6:24 pm
True,

What the hell are you talking about? She is on real sound legal footing in her opinion. If the conviction is reversed, it has no bearing on her opinion as to his pension status as a convicted felon. An appeal would reflect on the trial, not on the AG. Think before you type.

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Sep 12, 06 @ 6:30 pm
Lisa made the right decision, all 5 times.

A sad day for Lura Lynn and other Ryan family members? Yes! However, let’s not forget their feeding at the money tree helped lead to this day. Not indicted does not mean not involved. I hope they had the forsight to bank some of those payments for future use.

George and Lura Lynn had it made. Several million in his political bank account that he could convert to personal use and a nice fat pension. Senior living was going to be sweet. Now the big bank account and pension are both gone because he was really dumb, dumb, dumb.

Comment by Anon2 Tuesday, Sep 12, 06 @ 6:37 pm
If Lura Lynn were divorced from Ryan, would she lose the pension also.

Maybe she’ll make the legal argument that she’s entitled to half his pension for her supportive role. And since she didn’t do anything wrong she shouldn’t lose her benefits.

Without reading the opinion I’m wondering how it squares with August Taddeo convincing the Illinois Supremes that he should get one of his pensions since his conviction arose from his malfeasance in his other public office.

Comment by Carl Nyberg Tuesday, Sep 12, 06 @ 6:41 pm
Anon 6:30

Sound legal footing only plays to the lawyers.
Supreme Court Judge James Heiple was on sound legal footing too in the Baby Richards case. All the lawyers said so.

This was not a cut and dried decision. If it was, they wouldn’t have needed to ask her for it.

If decision is reversed, the refund number may approximate $100,000.00 or more and it will be in the Tribune on the front page in large print above the fold.

Comment by True Observer Tuesday, Sep 12, 06 @ 6:46 pm
He get’s all of the money he paid into the pension system back, and the state can’t deduct the payments they’ve already made to him. All he’s losing is future interest.

I’d say he’s lucky.

Maybe telling folks they can’t get the money they paid into the system back would encourage folks to play by the rules, or help balance our pension debt.

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Tuesday, Sep 12, 06 @ 6:57 pm
Lisa, as always, delivered the correct opinion legally.
…but I feel bad for the old guy. Ill think he will win on appeal.

Comment by Bill Tuesday, Sep 12, 06 @ 6:58 pm
Yes, Lura Lynn has her own social security, but not much. There is no left over money from funds already paid out because as much as it has been said otherwise, Ryan was paying lots of legal bills.

Comment by Downtown Tuesday, Sep 12, 06 @ 7:15 pm
Dang.. now how is he going to pay all of that restitution? Bet he’s wishing he got one of those Judge Cochonour deals.

Comment by HoosierDaddy Tuesday, Sep 12, 06 @ 7:25 pm
Judging by who is now serving on the General Assembly Retirement Board, I doubt they will accept the AG’s recommendation.

The General Assembly Retirement Board has the final say on this. My guess is they will allow George to keep the amount he would have received if he retired when he was lt. governor. (There is some case law that could be interpreted to allow this.)

But lets take a look at the board members and how they might vote:

Kurt M. Granberg — has a close relationship with a former member of Ryan’s cabinet.

James Clayborne — is tight with Emil Jones, a friend of George’s and a man who has expressed compassion for his situation.

Don Harmon — also a member of Emil’s caucus.

Richard T. Bradley — ???(He is a member of Mike Madigan’s caucus. But I wouldn’t be surprised if the Speaker might be concerned enough about Lura Lynn’s plight to quietly break with his daughter’s opinion and support a reduced pension.)

William Brady — Well there is a vote against George receiving anything.

Lee Daniels — Ummmm, well, ummm. I don’t see him voting to eliminate the pension of a high-ranking official convicted of a felony.

Phillip Collins — One of George Ryan’s closest friends.

Comment by Political Insider Tuesday, Sep 12, 06 @ 7:41 pm
Heck, Laura Lynn survived on $150/year, she can make it on SS.

Comment by Wumpus Tuesday, Sep 12, 06 @ 7:57 pm
Anyone see Monday’s Sun Times article from the Northwestern Professor talking about the genuine possibility of Ryan winning his appeal? Very sound legal grounds for that…especially when the jury found him guilty on two counts where there was never one word of evidence presented. The judge dropped those two counts in sentencing…but what does it say about a jury that convicts someone on two counts when no evidence at all was ever presented? Stay tuned on this one…and pick up Monday’s Sun Times on this article.

Comment by Reality Check Tuesday, Sep 12, 06 @ 8:20 pm
Rich,

The link you provided shows this is Lisa’s second opinion letter of the year. She’s obviously must be busy litigating!

She is once again the poor-man’s Elliot Spitzer.

Lisa opines “[f]ormer Governor Ryanâ€™s extensive and reprehensible criminal conduct was directly and inherently related to his official duties as state office. . . .”

Lisa carefully does not specify what jobs Ryan held when he committed his crimes. Well, this legal scholar should know that Ryan’s extensive criminal conduct was only related to his Sec of State position.

She overstates her case to win political points.

Comment by Elliot Spitzer "a real attorney general" Tuesday, Sep 12, 06 @ 8:49 pm
Eliot, you spelled your name wrong. I’m not a lawyer, and apparently neither are you. Several counts of the conviction relate to incidents that happened dring his time as Gov. (e.g. fibbing to the FBI.)

I don’t know that the GARS Board will find it that easy to ignore an AG opinion. Good setup of the people and politics of the board there, Insider. Can you share that “case law” for the pension junkies?

YDD, the loss to George is bigger than it seems. He’s helped by being in the more lucrative GA system and by not having to have his payments to date deducted from his contributions. Even after that, one’s own pension contributions usually only pay a few years’ worth of pension payments.
After that, the State contributions and investment earnings pay the freight. As of last year, the GARS was barely one-third funded, so they can use every spare buck they can find. Someone may want to check and see if regular state workers have the same provision.

Just remember that this broad interpretation will also apply to any future convicted felon constitutional officers as you all handicap the chances of various things happening…

Comment by NumbersGuy Tuesday, Sep 12, 06 @ 10:14 pm
Lura Lynn Ryan, who will have been by her husband’s side for 50 years when they celebrate their golden wedding anniversary June 10, has spent most of her life doing charity work. She is entitled to receive $365 a month in Social Security.
(copied from Sneed)

Larry Warner has turned over 3 properties that he owned and all of the fines (his and George’s) have been paid in full.

Comment by Downtown Tuesday, Sep 12, 06 @ 10:20 pm
Political Insider. I can’t see any of the GARB voting to let him keep any of his pension after Lisa’s opinion. Close friends in politics? Come on.
Granberg: he is in the fight of his life and would be nuts to take a vote like that.
Clayborne: he has his sights on being Senate Pres. and doesn’t need any negative press helping out an old friend.
Harmon: he comes from a district that would hang him out to dry if he took that vote.
Bradley ??? well maybe.
Brady: you already answered
Daniels: my guess he doesn’t show up for another hearing or meeting in an official capacity ever again.
Collins: ok. you have two votes

Comment by anon Tuesday, Sep 12, 06 @ 11:11 pm
Don’t be too sure about Don Harmon. I live in Oak Park. On any issue of the day, Don is Mr. Waffle, although he does waffle in the direction of extreme Democratic liberalism.

I’m not too worried about George or Lura Lynn.
The Republican party (read, Big Jim, who must be worth eight figures after all those years at Winston) will take care of Lura Lynn if George goes to jail. And both are presumably eligible
for Medicare now. Even if they lose their state retirement health insurance (do we keep paying for state retirees’ health insurance after they become eligible for Medicare? Why?), they will not be uninsured. And George’s prison expenses are free to him.

What needs examination here is the exorbitant Illinois state employee retirement payout which far exceeds what these folks could get in the market. George is just an extreme example.
The system is far too expensive for us taxpayers to continue to support and needs a significant revision.

Comment by Cassandra Wednesday, Sep 13, 06 @ 9:56 am
Anon,

I disagree. But we should know the first Wednesday of veto session, when the GARB meets. The election will be over. If granberg loses the election, I can easily see a lame duck voting to vote for Ryan. If he wins, he’s more than two years away from his next election. My guess is members of Emil’s caucus will vote to help George. How would it hurt Claybourne in a run for Senate president? He has a safe home district and I’d guess most members of the senate think Lura Lynn will get something. Danilels has been MIA lately, but don’t think a call from George would get him to return to Springfield for this vote?

Comment by political insider Wednesday, Sep 13, 06 @ 10:03 am
I litigated this issue for a former county superitendent of schools who after teaching for 30+ years retired. Then two years later he was elected superitendent. He was convicted of malfeasance and lost his pension. My arguement was that he had 2 seperate pensions, one as a teacher, one as superitendent and that he should lose the latter one. No dice. Madigan seems to be on very sound legal ground here. Its a shame for Ryan’s family, however.

Comment by paddyrollingstone Wednesday, Sep 13, 06 @ 11:29 am
I don’t doubt that she is on sound legal ground. But as we all know, what happens in the Illinois General Assembly often has very little to do sound legal arguments. My contention is that the pack of good ‘ol boys on the pension board will come through for George despite Lisa Madigan’s well reasoned opinion.

Comment by political insider Wednesday, Sep 13, 06 @ 2:25 pm
George Ryan is a criminal/felon. He’s probably been on the take during his entire career as a public official. He didn’t just turn into a crook when he became SOS - but the remuneration/perks probably increased a lot.

He deserves no sympathy from anyone. His pensions should rightfully be forfeited. Presumably the family will take care of Lura Lynn.

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Sep 13, 06 @ 2:48 pm
It is the duty of the Attorney General to issue such an opinion, however, if Attorney General Madigan is under investigation by the federal gov’t, which the U.S Attorney’s June 20, 2006 letter illudes, this opinion could be void!

A convicted criminal cannot be legally judged in anyway by the states’chief legal officer if she is under federal investigation!

Comment by One Man Can Make A Difference Wednesday, Sep 13, 06 @ 3:46 pm
Cassandra, the GA retirement system benefits (for about 3-400 retirees) are hardly typical of tha average State employee, teacher, or university employee. The average SERS retiree gets about $1500 per month according to Tim Blair’s recent testimony. Besides, most of the pension over any retiree’s lifetime doesn’t come from “us taxpayers” but from investment earnings.

If you want to save money, support legislators who will stop spending pension money on other things. The $45 billion unfunded debt is the onlt thing that’s “exorbitant” from where I sit.

Comment by NumbersGuy Wednesday, Sep 13, 06 @ 6:02 pm
NumbersGuy,

Ryan’s public service began in 1968 and ended in 2003. That’s 35 years into his pension. The feds only went after his Sec of St record. As far as the lying to the feds charge, they spin that on everyone so again, Lisa is overstating the case against him by denying him his pension completely.

Comment by Elliot Spitzer "a real attorney general" Wednesday, Sep 13, 06 @ 9:27 pm