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Since January 2016, Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s political campaign has spent more than $700,000 to purchase tickets to Chicago Cubs, White Sox and Bulls games.
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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Hopefully a state legislator will introduce a bill to disclose the names of the people receiving the tickets from such PAC expenditures. Apparently volunteers and contributors to the Friends of Michael J Madigan PAC prefer the Cubs by a wide margin over the White Sox, as the beneficiary of all the ticket expenditures was the Michael J Madigan PAC, and the break-down of the ticket expenditures is: Cubs – 63%. White Sox – 24%. Bulls – 13%. The 22nd State Representative District is on the southwest side of Chicago, surrounding Midway Airport. Not many Cubs hats in that area, although… Read more »