Kirk helping to strip pensions from felons

In 1996, former Illinois Rep. Dan Rostenkowski was convicted of mail fraud and sentenced to serve 17 months in federal prison. But despite being found guilty of stealing from the people he was supposed to be serving, Rostenkowski receives a federal pension of $125,000 a year and will continue to collect it until he dies.

Recently Alaskan Sen. Ted Stevens was indicted on seven counts of falsely reporting income after it was discovered that an oil company executive gave him numerous gifts and renovated his home for free. If Stevens is convicted he will lose his Senate seat and go to jail, but he will still be eligible to collect a pension even bigger than Rostenkowski's. This is unacceptable.

Last year Congress passed legislation to strip pensions from Congressmen convicted of certain felonies, but they did not go far enough. Under the current law Ted Stevens would escape with his pension intact.

Congressman Mark Kirk has authored legislation to expand the list of felonies to correct this problem and ensure that no corrupt Congressman can keep their pension. Every Representative should support Kirk's bill. Politicians who abuse the public's trust should never be able to retire on the taxpayers' dime.

Frank Stern

Highland Park