You gotta be kidding: Jerry Sandusky seeks reinstatement of pension

[jmowreader]

http://www.centredaily.com/2014/01/06/3972909/jerry-sandusky-to-fight-for-pension.html

We all know Jerry Sandusky.

When he got convicted of doing all the things he did, the Pennsylvania state employees' retirement system cancelled his pension. Now he's trying to get it back.

[lpbk2713]

1. He forfeited his right to all those perks IMO.

That may not be the actual case but it should be AFAIC.

[LiberalAndProud]

2. The legal argument is interesting.

This will keep Sandusky in the news, no doubt.


If he prevails, could it be argued that since I started contributing to my Social Security trust back in 1976, I should be able to retire with full benefits at the age of 65?

[Recursion]

14. That's the difference between a pension and social insurance

You aren't vested in SS like you are in a pension; this comes with both advantages and disadvantages.

[Avalux]

3. I don't know how this will be decided legally, but I know why Sandusky's doing it.

He's being sued and his wife needs to continue to live in the way she's accustomed to living. Disgusting people.

[mike_c]

4. he earned it....

I posted this response in the LBN thread about this. I'm a bit shocked at how many supposedly liberal, progressive people seem to be obsessed with endless punishment.

I cannot support punitively taking away someone's pension for crimes that were not related to the employment agreement that gives them the right to a pension. That's a slippery slope we should not go down, IMO.

I'm a public employee on faculty at a state university, just like Sandusky. I'm not a pedophile, but no doubt I break some law or other every single day. So does most every other public employee with negotiated pensions. Should my pension be taken away, despite decades of service, because I use cannabis, for example? Some would view that as a moral issue, others simply as a legal matter. What about if I cheat on my taxes? Or just make a mistake? What if I trespass? What if I have non-consensual sex with my neighbor's kid? Where is the line, and what's the connection between having earned that pension through negotiated years of service and having committed an unrelated crime?

Sandusky is ALREADY being punished for the crimes he committed. He has been sentenced.

So where does the revenge stop? He'll spend the rest of his life in jail as punishment for his crimes. Should we simply impoverish his family too, or maybe send them to re-education camps in North Korea, too? Pull out some fingernails and tongues, as well? Our justice system is not supposed to be an endless pit of perpetual suffering.

[Blue_Tires]

6. Good point

FWIW, O.J. Simpson did keep his NFLPA pension intact after losing the civil suit

[woo me with science]

9. +10000 Extremely important post.

Your explanation here of why this is both legally and morally horrifying is spot on. Thank you for this post.

I would add that Americans will vastly regret setting precedents for taking pensions as a result of crimes that have nothing to do with those pensions. Keep in mind that we already have a criminal government working to find every possible avenue to loot pensions from the workers who have earned them, and we already have a criminal NSA fabricating evidence trails against Americans who cannot defend themselves. This is akin to setting (yet another) monetary reward for finding reasons to arrest people.

[NuclearDem]

10. Exactly.

Sandusky is a monstrous piece of shit, but I don't want to start a legal precedent that allows employers to (further) cut pensions.

[Recursion]

13. It's also a very dangerous precedent

If we ignore the fact that it's his money, and act like it's the state's, suddenly pension clawbacks all over become acceptable.

It's not the state's money to "take back"; it's his. If you want to take that money, there are civil tort procedures for that.

[Initech]

5. Good luck with that. Hopefully the judges continue to throw the book at that disgusting POS.

[kwassa]

7. Jerry is in jail forever, but should his wife be deprived of the pension?

How will she live?

I'm only a couple of degrees of separation from Jerry, though I've never met him. People close to me know him well.

[Jenoch]

8. His wife was complicit.

She new what was going on. He abused those boys at their home as well as at the school.

I think they should reinstate the pension and then give it to the victims.

[kwassa]

11. Was she? How do you know?

[Jenoch]

15. He was bringing all kinds of yoing boys home

and was sleeping with them in the family room. She knew what was gong on.

[kwassa]

16. How do you know that? Got links?

The sex that allegedly took place in the Sandusky home was in a basement bedroom, not the family room.

[Jenoch]

17. My mistake.

That makes it even worse that his wife ignored what was going on. I do not believe tgat she was unaware.

[Recursion]

12. It's not the state's money to withhold

That's his money. Unless the court ordered a financial judgement against him which involves seizing those assets, they're his.

(I do certainly hope the victims can sue the bejesus out of him and get all of that money, of course, but that's the way to do it, not by withholding his pension.)