Letters: No pensions for convicted officials

Attorney Robert Gage Jr., left, with his client Dean Skelos as they leave the federal courthouse in Foley Square where his corruption trial is being held in Manhattan on Thursday, Dec. 10, 2015. Credit: John Roca
As I read about a convicted politician filing for his pension [“Convicted, Skelos seeks pension,” News, Dec. 30], I am disgusted!
When is someone going to change the law to prevent this? When someone who works for the government is convicted, the taxpayer has to foot much of the bill. Something has to be done to prevent these people from believing they are above the law. If someone is convicted of a crime, he or she should forfeit any benefits no matter how long a job was held.
Michael Hare, Levittown
Have any of the Albany politicians who were found guilty of crimes such as bribery, extortion, fraud, conspiracy or money laundering ever publicly apologized to the taxpayers who are footing the bill for their lifetime pensions and health insurance [“Corrupt pols & their pensions,” News, Jan. 3]?
Do they continue to maintain that they were entitled to “not guilty” verdicts?
They should be begging for our forgiveness and kissing our feet for the gift of taxpayer-subsidized lifetime pensions and health benefits for their families.
Instead they maintain their innocence, arrogance and sense of entitlement, which their respective political clubhouses wholeheartedly, if secretly, reinforce.
Andrew Malekoff, Long Beach
So, we’re going to watch former state Sen. Dean Skelos get paid for the remainder of his life, plus benefits, after he was convicted of corruption charges [“Convicted, Skelos seeks pension,” News, Dec. 30].
It wasn’t that long ago that we witnessed Pamela Gluckin, an official in the Roslyn school district, walk away with a huge pension after stealing millions.
Where else in America can you steal from your employer and still collect your pension and benefits? What’s the downside to destroying the public trust?
When you betray the public trust even once, you wash away credit for any good you may have done while in office, because we no longer have faith in your reasons for doing it. This is a case of one strike and you’re out.
Is it that much of a stretch to pass legislation stating that if you commit a crime against the people who elected you, you lose your pension?
Robert Broder, Stony Brook