Youngstown Daily Legal News

Legislation designed to stop corrupt officials from collecting pensions

TIFFANY L. PARKS
Special to the Legal News
Published: June 10, 2013

State Reps. Mike Dovilla and Marlene Anielski are back before the legislature pushing for a bill that would require the forfeiture of public pension benefits for public officials convicted of extortion and perjury.

The measure, House Bill 162, also would strengthen current state law to allow pensions to be forfeited based on federal criminal convictions.

Dovilla, R-Berea, and Anielski, R-Independence, originally introduced the proposal as House Bill 323 in the 129th General Assembly.

That bill, which gained the support of Ohio Auditor Dave Yost, stalled after being reported out of the House Criminal Justice committee.

In vetting HB 323, Dovilla said he and Anielski learned of additional loopholes in Ohio law and have expanded the scope of the new proposal to include certain federal offenses.

“While seeking last year to add extortion and perjury to the list of felonies for which public officials convicted of such crimes would forfeit their public retirement system benefits, we learned of an even greater shortcoming of our public corruption statutes: they only apply to state-related charges,” he said.

Dovilla pointed to the situation involving former Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora and Cuyahoga County Auditor Frank Russo as a prime example of why federal convictions should be included in the proposed legislation.

“In July 2008, FBI agents raided the county offices and homes of Jimmy Dimora and Frank Russo, bringing into the public spotlight the most widespread corruption probe in Ohio history,” he said.

Dovilla said that to date, more than 40 Cuyahoga County officials, employees, and contractors have pleaded guilty to crimes in connection with that scandal.

“And because these charges are brought in federal court, the state does not have any recourse in seizing the taxpayer-funded pensions of these corrupt officials. Since that time, we have witnessed officials holding higher office indicted and convicted under federal charges, and currently serving time in jail, for offenses as egregious as those which occurred in Cuyahoga County,” he said.

Under Ohio law, only elected or appointed officials convicted of felonies involving bribery or engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, theft in office of property or services and conspiracy, complicity or an attempt to commit any of these offenses at the state level forfeit their retirement and disability benefits.

“Closing the loophole that allows felony convicted public officials to keep their taxpayer-funded public pensions or disability benefits must come to an end,” Anielski said. “Federal convictions should be treated the same as state convictions.”

In previous proponent testimony, Yost said “honesty and integrity are the keystones for public service.”

“All too often our public officials fall prey to the temptress of power,” he said. “It is important that public officials who abuse their power and commit crimes in office are punished in the appropriate manner. As state auditor, I have seen firsthand how a few public officials can and will abuse the system.”

Dovilla said Ohioans are “rightfully concerned” about public corruption from the municipal level to the state level.

“They correctly expect those who have been elected to positions of honor and trust to carry themselves in a manner befitting those high offices, not take advantage of their positions to line their own pockets or unfairly get ahead,” he said.

“Public offices belong not to their current occupants but to the people those individuals were elected to serve as temporary stewards of the public good.”

Yost described the bill’s provisions as a necessary “step to insure our tax dollars are spent appropriately.”

“It is important to hold those who commit crimes accountable for their actions,” he said. “They should not receive the generous benefits the government allows if they betrayed the public trust.”

Dovilla said HB 162 was crafted to protect taxpayers not the pensions of corrupt politicians.

“Some may ask why it is necessary to make this change to the law, wondering whether public officials convicted of extortion and perjury are continuing to benefit from their public pensions,” he said. “To my mind, the question should be put another way. Even if there are not rampant examples of such cases, why is it that loopholes exist for these particular crimes under Ohio law?”

The bill, which has gained bipartisan support from lawmakers, is before the House Judiciary committee.

“While we cannot undo the damage to public trust done by those who have wantonly ignored their oaths of office or their responsibilities to those who elected them, we can do the right thing going forward by assuring our fellow citizens that those who do abuse their offices will not continue to benefit from taxpayers in retirement,” Dovilla said.

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