Editorial: Pensions Paying Foolishness - WSFA.com: News Weather and Sports for Montgomery, AL.

Editorial: Pensions Paying Foolishness

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By John Shryock - bio | email

  • Editorials

  • Thursday, May 16 2013 7:20 PM EDT2013-05-16 23:20:04 GMT
    In my editorial on Tuesday I chided our legislators for being the last state to pass a no-brainer  bill legalizing home brewing.  Today I want to challenge them to be one of the first states to pass another no-brainer;
    In my editorial on Tuesday I chided our legislators for being the last state to pass a no-brainer  bill legalizing home brewing.  Today I want to challenge them to be one of the first states to pass another no-brainer;

  • Tuesday, May 14 2013 7:20 PM EDT2013-05-14 23:20:07 GMT
    Kudos, or perhaps, cheers to the Alabama Legislature for passing HB9, the home brewing bill. Legalized home brewing may not be up there with education reform or prison funding, but it was overdue. 
    Kudos, or perhaps, cheers to the Alabama Legislature for passing HB9, the home brewing bill. Legalized home brewing may not be up there with education reform or prison funding, but it was overdue. 

  • Thursday, May 9 2013 7:20 PM EDT2013-05-09 23:20:06 GMT
    What was the old Pan-Am gas station at the corner of Bibb and Coosa is now no longer.  Last weekend that landmark was demolished with nothing remaining where it once stood other than the outline of a foundation. What
    What was the old Pan-Am gas station at the corner of Bibb and Coosa is now no longer.  Last weekend that landmark was demolished with nothing remaining where it once stood other than the outline of a foundation. What
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MONTGOMERY, AL (WSFA) - Sending checks to a prisoner doesn't make sense.   Especially when our tax money is being sent.  

Evidently that doesn't matter.  Taxpayers are funding hundreds of thousands of dollars in pensions every year for public employees who cheated the public while in office and are in prison now for it.  They are being rewarded for their misdeeds with lucrative pensions.   

There is some well overdue ethics legislation being discussed this week but one item is not included: ending the practice of paying out pensions for convicted public officials. It is past time to stop it.  

Legislators had a chance to do just that more than 20 years ago and didn't.   We hope with a new legislative body now, they will change the law that allows this to happen.  

Return to these convicts what they contributed, but don't give them a dime of retirement paid for with public dollars. 

With the threat of losing a pension as a penalty for wrongdoing, perhaps public officials would think extra long about doing wrong in the first place.