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 Lawmakers on the board for the General Assembly Retirement System, or GARS,
voted 5-2 April 26 to revoke former U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Dennis
Hastert’s pension, the Chicago Tribune reported. Hastert had been receiving an
annual pension payment of $28,025 from his six years in the Illinois House of
Representatives before being elected to Congress.
Hastert pleaded guilty in October 2015 to one count of illegally structuring
bank withdrawals to evade bank currency-reporting requirements, all stemming
from the cover-up of his sexual abuse of high school wrestlers he coached during
his 17 years at Yorkville High School. He received a 15-month prison sentence in
April 2016, which he began serving two months later.
 Hastert’s release from prison is scheduled for August 2017.
Illinois law allows for state lawmaker pensions to be revoked if the person
commits a crime related to his or her time in the General Assembly. State Rep.
Michael Zalewski, D-Riverside, argued that Hastert’s hush-money payment crimes
were committed to protect his political career, allowing the GARS board to
revoke his lawmaker pension.
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Similarly, state law allows for cancellation of a teacher’s
pension if the person commits felonies related to his or her time as
a teacher. Previously, Hastert also received a $16,622 per year
pension from the Teachers’ Retirement System, which was revoked
shortly after his guilty plea in April 2016.
Illinois has an unfunded pension liability of $130 billion, and GARS
is the most underfunded of all of Illinois’ pension systems.
In 2016, GARS had only 16 percent of the funding necessary to meet
its future obligations. And it’s taxpayers left footing the bill for
the state’s retired lawmakers, with the average estimated total
pension payout to a retired legislator coming in at over $2.1
million.
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