DiNapoli: No pension for convicted officials

ALBANY - High-level public officials convicted of a felony relating to their work would be stripped of their state pension and face stiff fines, under legislation proposed Friday by Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.

The fines - at least double whatever was gained through an illegal act - would also apply to lower-level public employees, including those in the teachers' retirement system, DiNapoli said. Only elected officials and high appointees in the two main pension systems managed by DiNapoli for noneducation public employees - those of police and firefighters - would be forced to forfeit a pension.

The proposal will be among many ethics measures considered by lawmakers and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, following reports of pension payments continuing after high-profile corruption convictions.

The most recent example is former Comptroller Alan Hevesi, who pleaded guilty in October to a felony in a pay-to-play scheme involving the pension fund. He continues to receive a $105,000 annual pension for his 22 years in the Assembly and four as comptroller.

"There has been such an accumulation of public officials violating the public trust, I thought it was something we should address," DiNapoli said.

Pension forfeiture laws exist in 21 states and Washington, D.C. DiNapoli's proposal would apply only to future officials because New York's constitution forbids reducing a current public employee's pension. Hevesi's pension, and those of others convicted in the past, would not be affected.

Legislators have debated the idea several times since 1982 when a New York sanitation worker, John Cassiliano, pleaded guilty to accepting bribes but continued to receive pension payments of $25,000 to $30,000 a year.

Sen. Martin Golden (R-Brooklyn), chairman of the Civil Service and Pensions Committee, said he supports DiNapoli's bill. "It's good common sense," he said.

The idea's prospects in the Assembly are more uncertain. Assemb. Peter Abbate (D-Brooklyn), chairman of the Government Employees Committee, said an official's entire career and a family's reliance on the pension should be taken into account. He said it might be part of a broader ethics reform package to be hashed out between Cuomo and legislative leaders.

James B. Jacobs, a law professor who has studied the issue and is the director of the Center for Research in Crime and Justice at New York University, said pension forfeiture laws often result in unfair outcomes - such as a long-serving official convicted of "minor" charges losing hundreds of thousands in pension payments.

"It looks easy, and it has a nice ring to it, but wouldn't it be better just to fine them or put them in jail?" he said.