Pension stripped from former state lawmaker who called bribes he passed to another pol ‘the jackpot’

A state retirement board Friday voted unanimously to terminate the legislative pension of former state Rep. Luis Arroyo after he pleaded guilty to pocketing thousands of dollars in bribes as part of a plan to advance gambling legislation in Springfield.

The state General Assembly Retirement System board voted to strip the Northwest Side Democrat of his more than $4,500-a-month state pension, citing state law that allows retirement benefits of ex-lawmakers to be taken away if they commit felonies arising from their time in office.

Arroyo’s pension had been suspended since November 2021, when the onetime member of former House Speaker Michael Madigan’s leadership team entered a guilty plea to wire fraud related to the bribes he took. Arroyo is now serving a nearly five-year prison sentence.

Friday’s vote makes that suspension permanent.

“It is no small punishment that he’s going to spend five years of his life in the federal penitentiary for his corruption. But it’s an additional indignity that when he gets out, what would’ve been a quite generous … retirement security, that’s gone. He has nothing from his service in the General Assembly,” said state Sen. Robert Martwick, D-Chicago, chairman of the legislative pension system board.

Asked if the Friday vote sent any message, Martwick said, “It’s a way to make sure that elected officials are aware they need to comply with the laws and put their service and their constituents first and not their own pocket.”

Arroyo took bribes from politically connected businessman James Weiss, who ran a company seeking to legalize unregulated gambling devices known as sweepstakes machines.

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

The son-in-law of former Cook County Assessor Joseph Berrios and husband of former state Rep. Toni Berrios, Weiss was found guilty last week for his role in bribing both Arroyo and former state Sen. Terry Link, as part of Weiss’ push for sweepstakes legislation.

Link, a government informant who pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion, secretly recorded Arroyo’s offer of $2,500 to Link for the senator’s help with the legislation. That offering was a downpayment on what Arroyo promised would be a monthly payment in that amount for a year. As he was writing out the initial check from Weiss’ business’ for Link, Arroyo was recorded saying, “This is the jackpot.”

The retirement board’s action Friday followed a June 2022 opinion from Attorney General Kwame Raoul that concluded Arroyo’s crime was a “service-related felony that requires the forfeiture of his pension benefits.”

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times file

Link, meanwhile, is positioned to hold onto his own legislative pension after Raoul determined in 2021 that Link’s self-admitted tax evasion — the result of illegally not paying taxes on campaign funds Link converted to personal use — did not relate to his service in the General Assembly.

Retirement system records from last month showed Link receives a $7,753-a-month legislative pension.

Dave McKinney covers Illinois government and politics for WBEZ and was the Chicago Sun-Times long-time Springfield correspondent.