Original Stories

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.

Illinois lost another 54,000 tax filers and dependents, net, according to the IRS. Since 2000, fleeing taxpayers have taken $94 billion of annual adjusted gross income with them.

Borrowing for current and past operating expenses, blanks for use of funds and more make Chicago’s bond sale planned for next week smell mighty bad. Mark Glennon’s interview is in the first ten minutes starting here.

Citing Wirepoints research, Jason Riley makes the case that the sensible path forward in Chicago would be to change or close the schools that are underperforming, but Mayor Brandon Johnson and his fellow progressives are far more interested in targeting the selective-enrollment school model. See Riley’s column here.

It’s March, which means we are being subjected the dumbest annual study going about how well Chicago is doing.

“You didn’t have to be a wizard t.o see it,” Glennon said, recalling that warning signs were evident as far back as the early 2000s when state revenues faltered after the tech bubble burst. The fiscal trajectory of many major cities, he said, has long reflected a pattern of expanding government commitments without sustainable funding models. Full interview here.

Justices on Illinois’ top court ran a Star Chamber. They personally comprised a cancel mob and acted in blatant disregard of constitutional rights to due process and free speech.

The Hispanic Chamber of Commerce is one among thousands getting billions in total from Illinois taxpayers that needs a close look, says Glennon. Audio Link Here.

Questions about how Illinois spends taxpayer money resurfaced on Chicago’s Morning Answer, as guest hosts Jeanne Ives and Jim Iuorio spoke with Mark Glennon, founder of Wirepoints, about millions of dollars in state grants flowing to nonprofit organizations with political ties. Audio and summary here.

Concerns about widespread benefits fraud, government spending, and the reliability of official data took center stage with Dan Proft and Mark Glennon, as new revelations from outside Illinois renewed questions about similar vulnerabilities within the state. Audio link here.

The cancel mob lives on. The latest example is in Illinois courts. There, the mob could hardly have been more brazen, defrocking a judge for daring to write about one of their favorite weapons – “lawfare” – abuse of the legal system for political or social goals.

The train of abuses in Illinois when it comes to free speech — democracy’s essential, bedrock right — is now long.

Questions about free speech, taxation, and the direction of city policy took center stage as radio host Dan Proft spoke with Mark Glennon, founder of Wirepoints, during a wide-ranging discussion on the state of governance in Chicago and Illinois. Audio link here.

Interview starts at the 5:53 mark here.

At long last, scrutiny over taxpayer-funded NGOs is rapidly expanding. Illinois is in the crosshairs. The Department of Justice is looking.

On Thursday night, all four leading major Republicans candidates for governor — Rick Heidner, Darren Bailey, James Mendrick and Ted Dabrowski — in the Tazewell County Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Forum. The video is a bit blurry, but the whole program is linked here.