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Setting the stage for a potential battle with one of the state’s most powerful Democrats, a Northwest Side alderman and three other Democratic committeemen on Friday picked a successor for former state Rep. Luis Arroyo.
They did so with the use of Arroyo’s proxy votes — though he faces federal bribery charges, Arroyo remains the 36th Ward committeeman. That led another Democratic committeeman to leave the meeting, declaring “the fix is in.”
Arroyo didn’t attend, but 30th Ward Ald. Ariel Reboyras cast his own weighted vote and Arroyo’s proxy. In the end, Eva-Dina Delgado, an assistant to the president of Peoples Gas, was ultimately selected to finish Arroyo’s term.
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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