Though this post actually involves a member of the previous Congress, I simply had to make note of this. Former Congressman of Ohio, Bob Ney, received a sentence of 2 1/2 years incarceration, 2 years probation & was fined $6,000 for his acceptance of bribes from former all-star GOP lobbyist, Jack Abramoff.
'You violated a host of laws that you as a congressman are sworn to enforce and uphold,' said U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle, who recommended that Ney serve his time at a federal prison in Morgantown, W.Va., about an hour-and-a-half drive from his birthplace in Wheeling.
Not hard time, to be sure (the "federal correctional institution" is minimum security, of course) but quite the fall from grace for one of the beneficiaries of the '94 "Republican Revolution." Tough times are ahead for the former "Mayor of Capitol Hill."
But, just as no good deed goes unpunished, the inverse seems to be true, that no bad deed goes unrewarded: current law will allow Ney to receive his full Congressional pension. He will be eligible for payments in as little as four years. Though there is legislation pending before the new Congress which "would deny pension payments to lawmakers convicted of crimes like bribery or fraud" the law would not be retroactive.
