Joe Drivers felony and his $57,000/year State pension

Well if this doesn't just grind your gears nothing will.

State Representative Joe Driver stole over $63,000 from the State Comptrollers office by submitting travel expenses, that had been paid by his campaign, and pocketing it. It is called double dipping or in plain folks terms, a felony. For committing this felony as a State Representative he will be fined $5000, has to pay back the $63,000, and will be on 5 years probation. If he stays clean, his record is wiped clean.

And to top this all off, he receives a $57,000 a year pension from the state after serving 20 part time years as a State Representative and he receives health care for the rest of his rotten life.

Most fulltime teachers working 30+ years might get $24,000 a year in a pension. Civil service employees under the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) would receive at most $25,000 a year. Yet here we have a part time employee of the State who serves 6 months every two years, and who has admitted to a felony, and he will receive $57,000/year for the rest of his felon life.

The Judge,The Honorable Karen Sage, is not bound to the recommended sentence. Hopefully she will give Driver exactly what any other person would get for committing a felony.

The Honorable Karen Sage

Blackwell-Thurman Criminal Justice Center
509 West 11th, 8th floor
Austin, Texas 78701
Phone: (512) 854-9442
Fax: (512) 854-6494
Email: 299threset@co.travis.tx.us
Mailing address:
P.O. Box 1748
Austin, TX 78767