Law Revoking Retirement Pay to Be Debated

Congress needs to wrestle with the vague federal law that led to the revocation of Oliver North’s retirement pay after he was convicted on Iran-Contra charges, a panel of legal experts said Wednesday.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Joseph Biden, D-Del., said he will draft a report outlining arguments on both sides of what has become a politically divisive issue.

“We’ve got to solve this thing. We’ve got to make this thing square for everybody,” Biden said, suggesting lawmakers should deal not just with North’s case but with the situation of any federal official--including members of Congress--convicted of a felony.

North’s retirement pay as a Marine lieutenant colonel was $23,000 a year, less than he reportedly now makes for a single speech on the lecture circuit.

The pay was suspended July 5 after he was convicted of three felony counts. The law provides that anyone convicted of one of the counts, shredding government documents, “shall forfeit his office.” North is appealing the convictions.

The General Accounting Office, which has jurisdiction over federal pay matters, ruled that North’s status as a retired military officer came under that provision of the law, and that forfeiting his office meant he no longer qualified for military retirement pay.

Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., has forced the Senate to schedule a vote Nov. 3 on a bill that would restore North’s pension without changing the underlying law.

Legal scholars said at Wednesday’s hearing that might be unconstitutional.