Convicted Indiana officials could lose pensions

A state senate committee in Indiana has approved a bill that would strip pension benefits from public officials convicted on corruption charges.

Senate Bill 322 would allow the Public Employees Retirement Fund board to eliminate the pensions of convicted felons.

It has been a high profile source of consternation in Northwest Indiana, where such high-profile convicted felons as former sheriff Rudy Bartolome and former County Councilman Troy Montgomery remain eligible for the state pensions, even after pleading guilty to accepting bribes.

“If a person is going to steal from the public, then the public should not have to pay their pension,” said Sen. Karen Tallian, D-Ogden Dunes.

She was a co-sponsor, along with Sen. Earline Rogers, D-Gary, of a bill by Sen. Dennis Kruse, R-Auburn. They met with Gov. Mitch Daniels earlier in the week. The governor has made the package part of his legislative plan.

It is a followup to a bill by Sen. Frank Mrvan, D-Hammond, that passed the General Assembly in 2005, which required elected officials to give up their seats after conviction, rather than waiting for sentencing. It came in the wake of the federal “sidewalks as bribes” trial, that included two sitting East Chicago city councilmen.