Il--Bill proposed to yank Hastert's pension; Victims respond
For immediate release: Wednesday, June 1, 2016
Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests(314 503 0003 cell, [email protected])
An Illinois lawmaker is pushing a bill that would further cut the pension of ex-House speaker Denny Hastert. We support this measure. We also call on Congress to censure Hastert and Hastert to voluntarily compensate his victims using the millions he earned as a lobbyist and for decades on the payroll of Illinois and US taxpayers.
http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20160530/news/160539947/
State Sen. Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant, a Shorewood Democrat, has filed a plan in Springfield aimed at Hastert's benefits, proposing that a pension be taken away if someone "at any time" is convicted of a felony "while in any position of trust, authority, or supervision in relation to the victim."
We applaud this move. Hastert’s victims have suffered enough. Illinois’ archaic, predator-friendly statutes of limitations prevents them from seeking justice in court. So the least Illinois lawmakers can do is limit the amount of money this admitted serial predator gets from the government.
And the least Congress can do is censure Hastert. It would be unusual but not unprecedented. (Rachel Maddow noted this on 5/20.) And it would warn those who would commit or conceal child sex crimes to perhaps think twice before doing so.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/congress-oddly-silent-on-hastert-sex-crimes-690041411973
http://gawker.com/when-will-the-house-censure-dennis-hastert-the-child-p-1773398760
And the least Hastert himself can do is to voluntarily use his millions to compensate his victims.
Later this month, Hastert will start serving his 15-month prison sentence.
No matter what lawmakers, judges or other officials do or don’t do, we urge every single person who saw, suspected or suffered child sex crimes and cover ups by Hastert to protect kids by calling police, get help by calling therapists, expose wrongdoers by calling law enforcement, get justice by calling attorneys, and be comforted by calling support groups like ours. This is how kids will be safer, adults will recover, criminals will be prosecuted, cover ups will be deterred and the truth will surface.
(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. SNAP was founded in 1988 and has more than 20,000 members. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)
Contact - David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, [email protected]), Barbara Dorris (314-503-0003 cell, [email protected]), Barbara Blaine (312-399-4747, [email protected])
Hastert to lose thousands more in pension benefits -
Mike Riopell, Daily Herald
Former U.S. Speaker Dennis Hastert's pension from his days as a state lawmaker will drop sharply following his federal sentencing last month, according to a letter sent from a state pension official.
And the longest-serving Republican speaker now owes the state $1,687.15, according to a May 27 letter sent by General Assembly Retirement System Secretary Timothy Blair.
Hastert lost his Illinois teacher pension the day he was . . .
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