"Judge asks state to explain action on DiMasi pension; Considers request to restore payouts" by Donovan Slack, Globe Staff | July 1, 2010
Lawyers for former Massachusetts House speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi and the State Retirement Board submitted to tough questioning yesterday by a Boston Municipal Court judge who will decide if DiMasi’s $5,000-per-month pension should be reinstated while he awaits trial on federal corruption charges.
And you wonder why the bankrupt state is slashing services?
Judge Lawrence E. McCormick demanded that the state explain why and under what authority it cut off DiMasi’s pension checks last year, at one point referring to the move as offensive and a burden to the former speaker....
Yeah, as a taxpayer I am feeling offended and burdened.
--more--"
"Judge orders pension restored to DiMasi; Former speaker is due $40,000" by Donovan Slack, Globe Staff | July 14, 2010
A Boston Municipal Court judge has ordered the state to restore the pension of former House speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi and pay him some $40,000 in back benefits immediately, ruling that the State Retirement Board did not have the authority last year to suspend DiMasi’s $5,000 monthly checks while he awaits trial on federal corruption charges.
Judge Lawrence McCormick said state retirement officials should have held a hearing at which both sides could present witnesses and evidence before cutting off DiMasi’s pension checks or they should have waited for a verdict in the federal case, he said.
State officials called off a full hearing last year, at the request of federal prosecutors who feared it could jeopardize their criminal case. But the Retirement Board stopped paying DiMasi’s benefits in October, saying the federal indictment against the former speaker justified the action.
DiMasi and three associates were indicted a year ago in an alleged bid-rigging scheme for state software contracts that prosecutors say netted DiMasi nearly $60,000....
DiMasi has argued that he needs his pension checks to pay for his legal defense in the federal case....
What, after TAXPAYERS already forked over $375,000?
Related: The Genesis of the DiMasi Case
Sal the Scum.
The decision on DiMasi’s pension comes at a time of deep skepticism about taxpayer-funded benefits and a string of corruption or fraud cases against public officials. DiMasi is the third consecutive House speaker to face criminal charges....
“I’m embarrassed. I’m ashamed and I’m sad"
About covers it, Massachusetts.
--more-"Update: Retirement Board to appeal ruling on DiMasi pension
