WBEZ reporter Dave McKinney reports on a suit by former State Rep. Michael Fortner (who helped with reapportioning McHenry County Board maps this year and ten years ago).

The goal is to win cost-of-living pay raises legislators voted against to gain political points

And, he reports the Illinois Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability estimates the cost of foregone cost-of-living pay raises for lawmakers between 2010 and 2019 at $14.4 million.

That doesn’t include the higher pensions that the higher salaries would mandate.

More special is how much sitting legislators stand to gain: $2.8 million.

The odds are good the case will be won, because the State Constitution says that an elected official’s salary cannot be diminished during his/her term.

A Cook County judge already ruled that way for two Democratic Party State Senators.

Talk about having one’s cake and eating it, too.