Texas may still be giving state-funded pension to convicted elected officials

Numerous former government officials convicted on corruption charges, ranging from a former Texas attorney general to local mayors and district clerks, are still eligible to collect lucrative public pensions, a Texas Tribune investigation has found.

The Tribune identified more than two dozen former elected officials with prior felony convictions who are potentially collecting retirement payouts. They include former Attorney General Dan Morales, former state Rep. Joe Driver and the former sheriff of Hidalgo County, Lupe Treviño. State Rep. Dawnna Dukes, D-Austin, is facing felony abuse-of-office charges and could soon join the list.

But a veil of secrecy over the state and local pension systems in charge of the retirement payments makes it impossible to find out whether individual government employees-turned-convicts are receiving them or how much they receive.

The Tribune investigation drew from news accounts and records obtained from the office of Sen. Van Taylor, R-Plano, who authored Senate Bill 14 — a sweeping ethics bill filed last month — in part to revoke pensions from law-breaking lawmakers. Taylor requested information on politician-convicts from the state's public pension systems and provided the Tribune with a list of names in response to a public information request.

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2017/02/16/texas-may-still-give-pension-convicted-elected-officials/