Day: August 30, 2015

Illinois, NOW You’re Figuring Out That SB-1 Pension Reform Was a Gimmick? – WP Original

August 30, 2015 1 Comment

  By: Mark Glennon*   J. Fred Giertz is emeritus faculty at the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois. Last week, he wrote an article widely republished across Illinois. It asks whether maybe, just maybe, SB-1, the pension reform law now invalidated, was a sham and a can-kick. There’s a big lesson here about how startlingly far behind the curve much of Illinois is on the pension crisis and the workings of the General Assembly.   Maybe the legislature was not incompetent, he says. They have a short time horizon and the chaos in Springfield

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Don’t cave to Madigan: Why independent Democrats should put taxpayers first – Chicago Tribune

August 30, 2015 No Comments

This bill has one purpose: to block a governor who’s trying to discipline an undisciplined state government. Rauner vetoed the bill because it would let AFSCME declare an impasse during contract talks and head to binding arbitration. Arbitrators — unelected middlemen unaccountable to taxpayers — would choose between AFSCME’s demands and Rauner’s retort. The Senate has voted to override Rauner’s veto. If the House does the same, the bill is law. Comment: If passed, it would be among the worst bills in Illinois’ history.

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