Kin of Pa. Official Who Killed Self Get $1.3-Million Pension
HARRISBURG, Pa. — The family of the state treasurer who killed himself at a press conference one day before his sentencing on bribery-conspiracy charges will receive $1.28 million in pension benefits, a state board ruled today.
The money, to be paid in a lump sum to R. Budd Dwyer’s widow, Joanne, and their two children, represents the largest death benefit payment ever made by the state system, said William Moran, chairman of the State Employees’ Retirement Board.
State law prohibits the payment of pension benefits to officials convicted of wrongdoing, but Andrew Cline of the Governor’s Office of General Counsel said conviction legally does not occur until sentencing.
Dwyer was to have been sentenced Jan. 23, but the day before he put a gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger as reporters watched in horror.
Moran said the pension benefit is based on Dwyer’s 25-year service as a teacher, state representative, state senator and treasurer.
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