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Chief watchdog Deborah Witzburg agreed she is requesting a trailblazing change, but only because “none of us is here to do our jobs the same way our predecessors did them,” she said. “No one should look out at the government accountability landscape in Chicago and in Illinois right now and think that the status-quo is good enough.” Witzburg also argued there is “nothing radical” about her proposed changes, which simply “bring Chicago into line with national standards and federal law.”
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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