Former Democratic representatives Corrine Brown (Fla.) and Chaka Fattah (Pa.) are still receiving taxpayer-funded federal pensions despite being convicted and sentenced to prison on corruption charges.
The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) confirmed to the Washington Free Beacon that Brown is still receiving Federal Employees’ Retirement System annuity benefits even though she was sentenced to prison for wire fraud and tax evasion—actions that stemmed from a sham charity founded by the former congresswoman.
OPM would not say how much Brown is receiving and added that the details of an individual’s annuity are protected from public release under the Freedom of Information Act.
Brown was sentenced to five years in prison last December and is still allowed to collect the government pension due to a loophole in the current law, according to Demian Brady, the director of research at the National Taxpayers Union (NTU).
Brady told the Free Beacon that based on Brown’s time in office, she is eligible for an annual annuity of up to $66,000 due to a loophole in the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007. “The language of that law cuts off a federal annuity for former Members of Congress upon being ‘finally convicted’ for corruption.”
“The loophole in the current law allows a politician sentenced to prison to continue to collect the pensions until a ‘final conviction’ is given when all appeals are exhausted,” said Brady. “For as long as a Brown is able to file appeals, even from a jail cell, she will not be considered ‘finally convicted’ and will remain eligible for her generous pension.” – READ MORE
[give_form id=”79809″] [divider][/divider]Cities with Democratic mayors have nearly three times as much debt as Republican-run cities, according to a new report by an organization that tracks the finances of state and local governments.
The report by Truth in Accounting, “Financial State of the Cities,” examines the debt load of the nation’s 75 biggest cities. It does not reference the partisan affiliations of the leaders of those cities, but the 52 with Democratic mayors have an average debt of $9,796.15 per taxpayer.
That compares with an average of $3,563.16 per resident for the 19 Republican-run jurisdictions.
Six of the cities have nonpartisan mayoral offices.
The organization produced a similar report in September 2017 showing that states with Democratic governors and Democratic-controlled legislatures on average had more debt than Republican-run states.
Truth in Accounting President Sheila Weinberg said cities have gotten into long-term debt problems for a variety of reasons. Some have suffered economic disruptions that reduced their tax bases. Some have experienced population loss. But much of the problems also have to do with differences in philosophy and political decisions. – READ MORE
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