April 29--A Democratic state senator wants to bar former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert from receiving his $28,000 yearly pension for serving as an Illinois lawmaker during the 1980s.
Sen. Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant, D-Shorewood, sent a letter to the General Assembly Retirement System on Thursday asking for the payments to stop after Hastert was sentenced to 15 months in prison for bank fraud related to efforts to cover up sexual abuse during his time as a teacher and wrestling coach in Yorkville. The Illinois' Teachers Retirement System already has canceled Hastert's $16,600-a-year teacher pension.
Bertino-Tarrant, who faces a potentially tough re-election battle in November against Republican challenger Michelle Smith of Plainfield, said taxpayers should not have to provide retirement benefits to someone who victimized children and betrayed the public's trust.
"I don't want taxpayers' dollars providing a retirement to this predator," Bertino-Tarrant said in a statement. "Knowing what we know now, he would have been fired and jailed decades ago and would have lost his teacher's pension and never had the chance to be a lawmaker, let alone get a pension. We have a chance to set the record straight."
mcgarcia@tribpub.com
