Guess he needs it after all he spent in legal fees, eh? NOT I think it’s wrong that any government official who has been convicted of a crime gets to keep his pension. Wrong wrong wrong. When I read this I thought of Shoebox Paul Powell…..anybody remember him? The Illinois Secretary of State’s office has had it’s share of crooks over the years! Republican and Democrat alike.

CHICAGO –Convicted former Gov. George Ryan is suing to keep at least part of his $197,000 state pension, the third of it that he says he earned before the scandals that now have him facing 6 1/2 years in prison.

Ryan was found guilty in April of mail fraud, money laundering, extortion, obstruction of justice and bribery while he was secretary of state and governor between 1991 and 2003.

After his conviction, the General Assembly Retirement System board voted to strip him of his entire annual pension.

Ryan’s attorneys argue in the lawsuit filed Wednesday that the Republican former governor should still get $65,000 in annual pension payments that he earned in the 24 years before 1991, when Ryan was a county board member, legislator and lieutenant governor.

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