Oldgamer
Diamond Member
By Steve Schmadeke
Tribune reporter
1:58 p.m. CDT, July 3, 2014
A decision today by Illinois Supreme Court that allows disgraced former Chicago police Cmdr. Jon Burge to keep his pension despite his felony conviction was called an extremely disturbing outcome by an attorney who has been involved in litigation against Burge for more than a quarter of a century.
I think that when you contrast it with the (torture victims) who bravely testified against him some of them have no jobs and theyve received no compensation from the city, yet Burge continues to get his compensation said attorney Flint Taylor, who has represented more than a dozen alleged torture victims of Burge and detectives under his command. I find that to be an outrageous miscarriage of justice.
In a split vote, the Supreme Court upheld a Cook County judge's ruling that allows Burge to keep receiving his pension despite his 2010 conviction for lying about the torture of suspects.
At issue was whether Attorney General Lisa Madigan had the legal authority to challenge the administrative boards split decision that allowed Burge to keep his approximately $3,000-a-month pension.
In a 4-to-3 decision, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that Madigan did not have the legal standing to intervene under the state's pension statute.
What the Attorney General is seeking then, through the filing of her complaint, is the authority to contest every administrative decision made by the Board, however limited in scope or effect, and to do so outside the confines of the Administrative Review Law, said the majority opinion, delivered by Justice Anne Burke. This would be a fundamental change in the workings of the Pension Code.
"This opinion should not be read, in any way, as diminishing the seriousness of Burges actions while a supervisor at Area Two, or the seriousness of police misconduct in general. As noted, the question in this appeal is limited solely to who decides whether a police officers pension benefits should be terminated when he commits a felony. On this issue, the legislative intent is clear. The decision lies within the exclusive, original jurisdiction of the Board under (the law).
Madigan issued a brief statement this morning saying she was extremely disappointed with the decision.
This will result in the police pension boards vote to allow a torturer and convicted felon to receive his taxpayer-funded pension, she said.
Burges attorney, Michael Moirano, applauded the court decision, saying it will protect all police officers in the state from attack by the attorney general anytime she disagreed with a police pension board decision.
We are very pleased the Supreme Court did the right thing, Moirano said in the statement. I am sure Jon Burge is a very happy man today, for the first time in a long time.
David Kugler, the attorney for the police pension board, emphasized the court case came down a fairly narrow technical issue and had nothing to do with Burges allegations of misconduct. He said it was the first time the attorney general the states top lawyer had challenged a decision by the citys police pension board.
If you poll people they probably dont like the (pension board) decision, but thats not really the principle in this case, Kugler said. The principle is if the attorney general has standing to intercede in an action where they didnt allege any misconduct by the board.
Burge, 66, is serving a 4½-year sentence in a federal prison for his 2010 conviction on perjury and obstruction of justice counts. He is scheduled to be released to a halfway house in the fall and to be freed on parole next February.
Following his conviction, the board of directors of the Policemens Annuity and Benefit Fund of Chicago held a hearing to decide if Burge should be stripped of his pension. The board deadlocked 4-4, but Burge was allowed to keep his pension despite the tie vote.
The key issue before the board was if Burges conviction was related to his police work. Four current or former Chicago police officers elected to the pension board by their fellow officers supported Burge, while four civilian trustees appointed by then-Mayor Richard Daley voted in opposition.
A week later, Madigan filed a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court, saying the board violated the law by allowing Burge to keep his pension even though, her office argued, his conviction was directly tied to his police job.
But Judge Rita Novak dismissed the lawsuit, saying that Madigan was not a party to the administrative decision and that even if the boards ruling was erroneous it was not a decision open to legal challenge by an outside party.
An appeals court, however, reversed Novaks ruling, finding that the judge did have jurisdiction to hear Madigans challenge. The appeals court also found, in a 2-1 split, that a majority vote was needed to allow Burge to keep his pension.
Attorneys for both Burge and the pension board appealed that ruling to the state Supreme Court.
During oral arguments in January, attorneys for Burge and the pension board argued that allowing Madigans lawsuit to move forward would open up pension board decisions to legal challenges by outside agencies or individuals who didnt like the outcome.
Pension board decisions are typically challenged only through an administrative review process by the person applying for benefits or the government body paying for them.
That the Burge case resulted in an unpopular result is clear. The Attorney General doesnt like it, the newspapers dont like it, the public doesnt like it, four members of the board didnt like it, David Kugler, an attorney representing the pension board, said at oral arguments. But being an unpopular decision doesnt mean that the boards action was wrong.
Richard Huszagh, an assistant attorney general, dismissed the arguments about Madigans lawsuit opening the floodgates to legal challenges as an unfounded parade of horribles. He said his office was seeking to overturn the pension boards ruling not because it was unpopular but because it was illegal.
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With rulings like this, is there any hope at all??
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