McHenry County Blog

The Associated Press highlighted the well-funded Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund yesterday.

You know why it has enough resources to pay the pensions local government employees have earned?

One reason is that forty-some years ago, it required participating governments like McHenry County to sign an agreement to agree over the next forty-year period to put enough money into the IMRF to enable the pension fund to have enough money to, as they say, “fully fund” the pensions of its participants.

It happened in the late 1960′s when I was McHenry County Treasurer, not that I had anything to do with the agreement, except signing the checks.

So, the IMRF has 100% of the money it needs to pay the obligations that have been incurred.

The five state pensions are funded at 63%.

Guess who gets to make up the difference.

You’ve got it.

It’s Illinois taxpayers.

And, lest I seem ungrateful, thank you for paying the taxes to pay my pension.

Recently, the Chicago Sun-Times pointed out that former State Senator Carol Ronan had used a loophole in the legislative pension plan to increase her pension by $38,000 a year for eight weeks work for Governor Rod Blagojevich at the annual salary rate of $102,000.

Ronan wasn’t the first to do that.

I remember that after State Senator John Friedland (R-Elgin) he took a lobbyist job with the Elgin Sanitary District for a couple of months at about the same salary and similarly jumped his pension.

Legislators appointed sanitary district trustees, myself among them during the 1970′s. We who were not from Elgin deferred to the recommendations made by Friedland, however. So, the people Friedland appointed gave him the job.

Earlier in his career, Friedland earned a figurative “Badge of Honor” for standing up to Governor Richard Ogilvie. Friedland refused to vote for the income tax Ogilvie proposed. Ogivie decided to make an example of Friedland, but, fortunately, for the concept of separation of powers, failed.

Blagojevich is merely following in the foot steps of former Secretary of State George Ryan, who allowed former Republican State Rep. Roger Stanley (R-Streamwood) a little work job that similarly boosted his pension.

Stanley admitted to various felonies and served time in federal prison. Among his admitted misdeeds was a postal fraud charge in which Stanley fronted for Lee Daniels’ House Republican Campaign Fund and created a fake organization that mailed out the hit piece reprinting the then-Northwest Herald’s Amy Mack’s reporting of my ex-wife Robin Meridith Geist’s false divorce court charges.

And, speaking of hiking legislative pensions, in the summer of 1999, Daniels chief of staff Mike Tristano asked me at Daniels’ DuPage County office if I would like to be assistant Auditor General. The salary would have been over $100,000, with a massive pension boost to follow.

In return for the appointment I would have to agree not to run in 2000.

I told Tristano if the offer were to be Auditor General, I would think about it, but not the assistant’s job.

I was later told that Daniels got to decide who filled that job in the deal to make Bill Holland Auditor General. I was told Daniels even put his former travel agent in the post. When she found out she would have to go to work, she decided she didn’t want the job, the story went.

After I lost the 2000 primary election to Rosemary Kurtz, another offer was made via Tristano. It was to be assistant director of the department where my former state legislative colleague Jack Schaffer had been director during Jim Edgar’s terms. The pay was about $96,000, with understood subsequent pension boost.

I decided to retire instead.

The Associated Press highlighted the well-funded Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund yesterday.

You know why it has enough resources to pay the pensions local government employees have earned?

One reason is that forty-some years ago, it required participating governments like McHenry County to sign an agreement to agree over the next forty-year period to put enough money into the IMRF to enable the pension fund to have enough money to, as they say, “fully fund” the pensions of its participants.

It happened in the late 1960′s when I was McHenry County Treasurer, not that I had anything to do with the agreement, except signing the checks.

So, the IMRF has 100% of the money it needs to pay the obligations that have been incurred.

The five state pensions are funded at 63%.

Guess who gets to make up the difference.

You’ve got it.

It’s Illinois taxpayers.

And, lest I seem ungrateful, thank you for paying the taxes to pay my pension.

Recently, the Chicago Sun-Times pointed out that former State Senator Carol Ronan had used a loophole in the legislative pension plan to increase her pension by $38,000 a year for eight weeks work for Governor Rod Blagojevich at the annual salary rate of $102,000.

Ronan wasn’t the first to do that.

I remember that after State Senator John Friedland (R-Elgin) he took a lobbyist job with the Elgin Sanitary District for a couple of months at about the same salary and similarly jumped his pension.

Legislators appointed sanitary district trustees, myself among them during the 1970′s. We who were not from Elgin deferred to the recommendations made by Friedland, however. So, the people Friedland appointed gave him the job.

Earlier in his career, Friedland earned a figurative “Badge of Honor” for standing up to Governor Richard Ogilvie. Friedland refused to vote for the income tax Ogilvie proposed. Ogivie decided to make an example of Friedland, but, fortunately, for the concept of separation of powers, failed.

Blagojevich is merely following in the foot steps of former Secretary of State George Ryan, who allowed former Republican State Rep. Roger Stanley (R-Streamwood) a little work job that similarly boosted his pension.

Stanley admitted to various felonies and served time in federal prison. Among his admitted misdeeds was a postal fraud charge in which Stanley fronted for Lee Daniels’ House Republican Campaign Fund and created a fake organization that mailed out the hit piece reprinting the then-Northwest Herald’s Amy Mack’s reporting of my ex-wife Robin Meridith Geist’s false divorce court charges.

And, speaking of hiking legislative pensions, in the summer of 1999, Daniels chief of staff Mike Tristano asked me at Daniels’ DuPage County office if I would like to be assistant Auditor General. The salary would have been over $100,000, with a massive pension boost to follow.

In return for the appointment I would have to agree not to run in 2000.

I told Tristano if the offer were to be Auditor General, I would think about it, but not the assistant’s job.

I was later told that Daniels got to decide who filled that job in the deal to make Bill Holland Auditor General. I was told Daniels even put his former travel agent in the post. When she found out she would have to go to work, she decided she didn’t want the job, the story went.

After I lost the 2000 primary election to Rosemary Kurtz, another offer was made via Tristano. It was to be assistant director of the department where my former state legislative colleague Jack Schaffer had been director during Jim Edgar’s terms. The pay was about $96,000, with understood subsequent pension boost.

I decided to retire instead.

Last week the Chicago Sun-Times ran a story about how a large proportion of truck drivers probably have sleep apnea. (Sorry, I can’t find it for a link.)

It’s a condition I have and, boy, can I relate to the problems outlined in the article.

Often the last day of session was a long one.

I’d get in the car and head north.

I’d keep wondering if I was going to make it home without having an accident.

I remember during what I called the “Death March,” when Lee Daniels was House Speaker, he would keep us in session well after midnight and, then, expect us to return for a 9 AM session.

For some reason, Daniels allowed the Democrats to talk and talk and talk. And it wasn’t just for five minutes. Inexplicably, he allowed (usually) Lou Lang to use other people’s time.

Give me about 9½ hours sleep and I resemble a human being the next day.

After getting less than 8 hours sleep a couple of nights in a row, I went into Chief of Staff Mike Tristano’s office and told him I was leaving at Midnight, that I was going to get 8 hours of sleep a night.

“You can’t do that,” Tristano said. “We need your vote.”

“Watch me,” I replied.

That was certainly a miserable session.

Last week the Chicago Sun-Times ran a story about how a large proportion of truck drivers probably have sleep apnea. (Sorry, I can’t find it for a link.)

It’s a condition I have and, boy, can I relate to the problems outlined in the article.

Often the last day of session was a long one.

I’d get in the car and head north.

I’d keep wondering if I was going to make it home without having an accident.

I remember during what I called the “Death March,” when Lee Daniels was House Speaker, he would keep us in session well after midnight and, then, expect us to return for a 9 AM session.

For some reason, Daniels allowed the Democrats to talk and talk and talk. And it wasn’t just for five minutes. Inexplicably, he allowed (usually) Lou Lang to use other people’s time.

Give me about 9½ hours sleep and I resemble a human being the next day.

After getting less than 8 hours sleep a couple of nights in a row, I went into Chief of Staff Mike Tristano’s office and told him I was leaving at Midnight, that I was going to get 8 hours of sleep a night.

“You can’t do that,” Tristano said. “We need your vote.”

“Watch me,” I replied.

That was certainly a miserable session.

There is so little in the plea agreement of Michael Tristano.

Tristano’s 13-page plea agreement reveals almost nothing, except the promise of things to come. Tristano agreed to cooperate fully with federal authorities.

What doors will Tristano unlock? What does he know? Could he lead the authorities all the way to Speaker Michael Madigan?

As the former chief of staff for long-time House Republican leader and one-time Speaker Lee Daniels, most expect it is the retiring state representative who has the most to fear.

In the summer of 2002, attorney Richard Means turned over evidence to Attorney General Jim Ryan–then the GOP gubernatorial candidate–that Daniels’ House staff had been for campaign work in the 2000 election cycle.

Ryan passed the package onto U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.

After than, Daniels’ political world came tumbling down.

First, he resigned under pressure from the State Republican Party Chairmanship, a post he had long sought in order to “be like Mike” Madigan. (State parties get the cheapest postage rates. Madigan is chairman of the Democratic Party.)

Then, he “decided” not to run for re-election as House Republican leader. Tom Cross, Daniels’s former jogging “buddy” led the overthrowing of his long-time leader.

With Tristano pleading guilty, it is reasonable to think that the U.S. Attorney’s Office is still looking for Daniels’ scalp.

Now, federal authorities have not only the man Tristano described as “Lee’s filing cabinet,” that is, former State Rep. and direct mail expert Roger Stanley (now out of prison), but also the man who decided what was sent to that “filing cabinet.”

And, indeed, Roger Stanley’s name figures prominently in the plea agreement. Tristano stipulated to helping a Willow Springs real estate development firm, in which Stanley was a partner, obtain $1.3 million in public improvement money for Willow Springs from state government. In return, Stanley’s firm gave a Southern Illinois GOP challenger a little-work job.

While Tristano does not plead guilty to this, he did stipulate to it for purposes of sentencing.

Tristano also admitted to dummying a expense voucher for which a check was mailed “on or about June 8, 2000.” Subsidies to House Republican campaigns through this and similar activity amounted to a somewhere between $120,000 and $200,000.

The assistance included “preparation of campaign strategy documents, weekly reports summarizing campaign activity, management of campaigns, design of campaign literature, solicitation of voters, and analysis of polling data,” according to the plea agreement, which was “supervised” by the defendant. The activity took place between 1998 and 2001.

“Defendant knew and it was reasonably foreseeable to him that the State was paying employees to do campaign work. Defendant also knew and it was reasonably foreseeable to him that State facilities, such as the Minority Leader’s Offices in Springfield and Chicago, were used to store campaign documents and that State property including computers were used to conduct campaign work.”

Sentencing is set for June 14th.

There is so much more to this story, but this is what the plea agreement adds. In future days, perhaps McHenry County Blog will add some details.