Regular readers may remember my extreme disappointment with liberal Democrat Jack Franks’ vote to sentence poorly-educated Chicago children to more of the same. Chicago Pastor and State Senator James Meeks got a bill through the State Senate that would have … Continue reading
A press release from State Rep. Kent Gaffney: Gaffney backs legislation to end pension abuses Springfield, IL… In response to numerous WGN and Chicago Tribune probes into fraud and abuse of Illinois’ public pension systems, State Representative Kent Gaffney (R-Lake … Continue reading
A press release from Jim Tobin, President of Taxpayers United of America: PROPOSED CHICAGO TRAFFIC SPEED CAMERAS TO PROTECT GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE PENSIONS, NOT CHILDREN Chicago–The plan by the City of Chicago to install automated speed cameras in locations covering nearly … Continue reading
The Better Government Association, following in Jim Tobin’s footsteps, has revealed large pension payouts to those who have retired from community colleges in the Chicago area. Mercifully, McHenry County College is not mentioned in the expose. Lake County College comes … Continue reading
The Daily Herald’s Jack Griffin continues its look at how much locally elected officials get paid. The latest comparison is for pensions for collar county board members. You may remember my previous praise for a previous McHenry County Board whose … Continue reading
With both House Speaker Mike Madigan and House Minority Leader Tom Cross supporting Cross’ pension reform bill, the Illinois Education is contacting members urging them to contact their state legislators. No mention is made by the IEA of how their … Continue reading
There is a gentleman named Mike Laird who often comments on teacher pension issues. He got me thinking about compensation. His basic argument is that when the majority of teachers in Illinois pay nothing or under 2% of the 9.4% … Continue reading
We are in this mess because over the years Governors have proposed X amount of dollars for education. Usually a couple of hundred million dollars. When the discussions of how to cut up that amount took place, current salaries … Continue reading
“While Democrats say Teachers ‘Have Kept Their Part of the Deal?’“ is the title of an April 5, 2011, article by former Huntley School District 158 Board member Larry Snow. (The quote was in the Chicago Tribune Marcy 31, 2011. … Continue reading
Last month I gave the background about a law that gave county board members pension packages pretty much as good as state legislators. (Most will remember that I have one of those pensions, which I described here.) Outrageous as it … Continue reading
The weekend Wall Street Journal wrote about a private sector case concerning retirement benefits that is before the United States Supreme Court. It starts, “The Supreme Court is set to answer a question with huge implications for workers: Are employers’ … Continue reading
The Chicago Tribune today discusses Democrats (and Republicans, although the GOP has almost no say in the legislative process) are doing to fulfill the legislative pledge of rolling back the 67% income tax hike according to the schedule in the … Continue reading
Yesterday I wrote about how Winnebago County’s board had decided they, as part-time employees didn’t deserve to have pensions. Today, the Sunday Chicago Tribune has a front page article by Christy Gutowski, Joe Mahr and Joseph Ryan entitled, Quite a … Continue reading
The two United States Reps. from McHenry County have lobbed a letter about Federal pension funding guarantees into Democratic Party Governor Pat Quinn’s lap. With Republicans controlling the House of Representatives, the following statement on Quinn’s suggestion that “Illinois may … Continue reading
In his Champion News.net column today former Huntley School Board member Larry Snow throws a spotlight on how public pensions can have million dollar payouts. “It takes little math skills to figure out it takes more than a million … Continue reading
Former Huntley School Board member Larry Snow has done a prodigious amount of research about school districts where teachers pay nothing for their pensions. Those employed in the private sector pay into Social Security. But they also pay the entire … Continue reading
Every year or so I ask for what McHenry County Board members earn for their part-time jobs. Besides a flat salary (changed from a per diem or payment for every meeting attended some years back), the members can obtain pension … Continue reading
Yesterday, National Taxpayers United of Illinois President Jim Tobin revealed the top 50 judicial pensions in the state. I recognized some past Illinois Supreme Court judges and some Lake County judges from times past. Today, in the second top highest … Continue reading
National Taxpayers United of Illinois is an equal opportunity offender. For the past several years he has been blowing the warning whistle about the generosity of public employee pensions. He has gone county-by-county revealing local government, including school government, pensions … Continue reading
Through the years I was state representative I was often asked about the underfunding of the Teachers Retirement System. Most, but not all the time, it came from retired teacher. I had two answers. The first was that the Illinois … Continue reading
