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The mayor’s office did not respond Monday to questions about why Lightfoot suggested only halting Lopez’s salary. Asked about the email exchange, Lopez said “They keep saying ‘We are all in this together.’ Time to put our money where our mouth is.” “Lightfoot should direct (Budget Director) Susie Park to offer it to all electeds and not use it for her petty politics,” Lopez added. “Otherwise I will just donate what I would have lost directly to local charities helping my residents.”
Summary and audio linked here.
Chicago’s political leadership is floating a pension buyout program as evidence it is seriously addressing the city’s thirty-six-billion-dollar unfunded pension liability, but Mark Glennon, founder of the Illinois policy research organization Wirepoints, said that the proposal moves debt from one column to another rather than reducing it, and that the broader fiscal picture facing the city continues to deteriorate across every measurable dimension. Audio here.
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The state’s existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis.
Full interview and summary linked here.
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