A Sample of Comments from My Petition that States: Illinois Revenue and Debt Reform, Not Pension Reform!

#3710	Michael J. Corn	Jan 30, 2013
We who are members of the state retirement systems didn't create the horrific debt facing Illinois taxpayers. It was created by our legislators and governors who continued to spend -- and to promise -- more than their income (i.e., taxes) could afford. They had the choice to cut spending or raise taxes. Over and over, they chose to keep spending and promised to find the money later. Now, it's later. And their solution is to blame someone else and steal the money from their employees' retirement funds.

#3659	Cheryl Hawker	Jan 29, 2013
I paid a much higher percentage of my salary into the pension system than those who pay into Social Security ... and now you want me to fund the amount the legislators spent on other things instead of paying their share on top of having met all my obligations over a 42-year commitment to Illinois. Are you kidding me? There is no pension problem. It is a debt problem... caused by the last few governors and legislatures, not caused by the workers!
#3657	Robert Krumwiede	Jan 29, 2013
I was born and raised in Illinois, but it is hard to have much pride in my home state with stories of government corruption and when it so blatantly disregards its obligations to its retired teachers. Please, for goodness sakes honor your promises to those who have dedicated their lives to educating you and your children. Teachers in the State of Illinois should not have to pay for the bad judgment and poor decisions made by the state leaders.

#3569	Sandra Rybka	Jan 29, 2013
We need to stand up to the corruption going on and continue to give ourselves a voice against it. Legislators are voted in to represent us and protect our rights that are written in the State Constitution. If they ignore what is written in black and white, then what will be next? The democratic principles that made this country and the documents written to preserve it are quickly becoming endangered and will soon become extinct. Many of those who have been holding office for a decade or more have been the guiding forces to this fiscal mess. Shame on them! Where is their accountability? There is none, and they continue to get into office (many times using their underhanded devices). Their solution to our sorry state of affairs is to just blame state employees and their pensions. Cut our illustrious leaders' "benefits and perks" and have them tighten their own belts. This is our retirement livelihood that they are messing with, and it must be stopped. Our rights are protected by the Constitution which is the law we must all live and abide by in order to maintain our freedom! We cannot let this fade into extinction!

#3413	Patty Gens	Jan 28, 2013
I worked for 32 years and faithfully paid into my pension. Now you want to take away what I have earned because of your mismanagement of our funds in the past. You took an oath to uphold the constitution when you took office. The constitution is in place to protect the rights of the citizens. You cannot take away those rights to correct a budget problem.

#3229	Rob Wise	Jan 28, 2013
We didn't create this fiasco, so why are we the ones paying for it? Upping the retirement age for educators doesn't seem like a fix to me. How can you change the rules of the game right in the middle of it?

#3228	Georgia Hendrix	Jan 28, 2013
This [petition] is pretty clear cut, and says it all. Fix [the revenue and debt problems] and not on the backs of public servants to whom you entrust your children's welfare and who did what they were supposed to do.

#3167	Patricia Faldani	Jan 28, 2013
Since the business community is so concerned about the state of the Illinois economy and our credit rating, businesses should be willing to close tax loopholes to increase revenue.

#3147	Karla Fillinger	Jan 28, 2013
Legislators, please act as public SERVANTS. Step up and be unique among your peers. Do what is right. Educators are diligent working people who aren't asking for a hand out. Our pension dollars have been taken from our checks without any choice. We trusted our state government would uphold their responsibilities to manage and distribute these funds in OUR best interests, not borrow and rob our pension fund and then ask us to repay the deficit created by the government.

#3126	Peggy Brechon	Jan 28, 2013
I worked 37 years with the physically & mentally disabled to get my pension. That was the agreement, and I did what was agreed upon. Illinois Legislators need to step up and remember what a legal contract is.

#3045	Elizabeth Ebben	Jan 27, 2013
As a state employee for 38 years, I believe that the state legislators STOLE from our retirement system, never repaying back what they stole! This is criminal, and to blame the employees in any way is cowardly and unforgivable. Someone should have gone to jail!

#2906	Brian Waak	Jan 27, 2013
Maybe if you hadn't been giving all those tax breaks to giant corporations that just turn around and leave the state anyway (like Sears), you wouldn't HAVE this revenue problem. Tax breaks for TEACHERS, not corporations! If they want to leave the state, then LET THEM LEAVE. We'll build society without 'em.

#2765	Stephen Herald	Jan 26, 2013
I am so disillusioned that the Democratic Party, which traditionally has been the protector of the underprivileged, has now taken the lead in trying to deprive state workers of their earned benefits in order to cover the legislature's past failures and malfeasance. Have they no shame?

#2526	Colleen Henson	Jan 25, 2013
If you're lucky enough to hold a governmental position in the state of Illinois, thank your teachers. If you want to see those same teachers lose their homes, go hungry, and suffer the burdens of growing old with no means to pay for medical care, continue this ridiculous pursuit to reform the pension. If this system is reformed, you'll soon see the fruits of your success with an additional burden to the welfare system. This is the true definition of "Robbing Peter to Pay Paul."

#2412	Toy R. Glynn	Jan 25, 2013
The legislature has made a constitutional commitment to its retired employees without having the courage to fund those retirements. It is time that you stand up and accept responsibility for your careless borrowing and spending habits. It is not time to make state employees and retirees pay for your lack of foresight.

#2376	Nancy j Paus	Jan 25, 2013
Please correct the problem that IL legislatures have created by underfunding and through misuse... This is NOT a pension problem to be paid for by the teachers, it is a state mismanagement problem… If my pension fails me, I will become homeless.

#2055	Maren Harrison-Gaffney	Jan 24, 2013
I fail to understand how an earned benefit that all participants have paid into for years is now subject to negotiation.

#2000	Marcie Rogers	Jan 24, 2013
How would you feel if someone were trying to freeze your salary for 6 years?

#1965	Joyce Ackerman	Jan 24, 2013
My husband died 4-29-12. I got a one-time check for $250. Social Security death benefit and will receive no other benefit (no monthly Social Security death benefit) because I am a retired Illinois teacher. The company he worked for went bankrupt so I only receive $90 a month from that. Please do not take away from my Illinois teacher retirement. I feel like I am being punished for being a retired Illinois teacher.

#1850	Kim R. Kraft Toole	Jan 24, 2013
My husband and I taught our community's teen-agers for 35 years. We not only accepted many years of miniscule or non-existent raises, but we spent our own money every year on classroom supplies and volunteered hours and hours of our time for no pay. We taught in a rural district that couldn't afford to pay us even the average state teaching salary, so we and our own children sacrificed for the school. We were confident we would at least receive a moderate pension (since it is based on our low income) that would provide us a decent retirement as long as we lived frugally. With the proposed cuts, we are facing a retirement of financial worries and stress. Plus, since both of us are teachers, we are not eligible for Medicare or Social Security benefits.

#1792	Suzanne Ditsler	Jan 24, 2013
When people take money that is not theirs or default on their promise, they cannot make it right by stealing money from the victims. We both signed the agreement. We paid our share. You defaulted on yours. Own up!

#1456	Melanie Muench-Day	Jan 23, 2013
You spent our retirement money and you need to give it back - you pillaged our funds. What you want to do is wrong.

#1416	Richard Palzer	Jan 23, 2013
Increase revenue and re-amortize the "ramp" debt repayment schedule rather than focus on benefit reduction which, in addition to targeting the wrong people, will not solve the problem. You are asking people whose funds have already been raided to bear the cost of others' irresponsibility.

#1371	Virginia Ray	Jan 23, 2013
Murderers and other criminals are granted their legal rights. Why not teachers and other public employees?

#1051	Karen L. Wallerstein	Jan 23, 2013
I am 70-years old. My pension is the only income I have which barely covers my expenses now. Teachers in Illinois DO NOT GET SOCIAL SECURITY! If you cut our pensions, many retired people like me will have to go on Welfare, and the State will just trade one expense for another…

#1014	Sue Konieczny	Jan 23, 2013
When I retired, I did so with the understanding that my benefits would be accessible to me throughout my retirement. I worked hard in a low-paying, downstate district and paid my share to my retirement plan during my career. I had to work longer due to changes in retirement. Please do not alter the state law regarding the cost-of-living adjustment and the pensions.
#1013	Barbara Schmidt	Jan 23, 2013
As someone else has stated, "It was the state that failed the teachers and, in essence, failed all the people of Illinois." There is a debt problem in Illinois, but it has not been caused by teachers. They have NEVER FAILED to make a payment into the pension system. On the other hand, the state has continually borrowed from pensions funds to pay for other items on their agenda for many years.

#965	Douglas Wood	Jan 23, 2013
…You are attacking the rest of the Teachers and State Workers in the State because you have failed in your job to protect the rights of workers and their pensions.
#914	Joan Heintzman	Jan 22, 2013
I think Illinois legislators should use their retirement fund to pay back what they borrowed from TRS and then figure a way to pay themselves back…
#886	Craig Callaghan	Jan 22, 2013
Before we talk reform, let’s talk about paying back what was borrowed with at least 9.4% interest we would have received.

#875	Cathleen Bylina	Jan 22, 2013
Perhaps criminal charges should be brought against those legislators who knowingly abdicated their constitutional responsibility by voting for pension holidays in order to enhance their electability.

#855	Mary Flohr	Jan 22, 2013
We signed a contract and paid our share. How can you do this to downstate teachers who had terrible salaries throughout their careers? Leave our pensions alone and keep the state's part of the bargain!

#828	Kate Sumnler	Jan 22, 2013
I have been teaching for 36 years and know money was taken out of my check for retirement. I also have Leukemia and am counting on my pension and medical insurance that was promised to me and that I have paid for. The government spent OUR (and MY) retirement money. Seems to me, they better take out a loan and pay us back! Our Union told us to vote for you--we did and look what you did to us? I have never been so disgusted in all my life. This makes me sicker than my Leukemia! Reform yourselves!

#755	Susan Hill	Jan 22, 2013
I firmly believe that legislators, of all people, must obey the law. They know full well that earned benefits must be paid to state workers and that the benefits earned under the pension system may not be diminished, including the COLA. It is underhanded and self-serving for any legislator and/or elected official to attempt something illegal because it appears to be acceptable to some taxpayers (no thanks to the media or officials who project a much skewed, inaccurate rationale for what they want to do).

#725	Benita E. Kyros	Jan 22, 2013
Please do not challenge my pension as I do not receive my deceased husband’s social security!

#654	Doug Whitesell	Jan 22, 2013
Putting the fiscal burden for irresponsible criminal use of my pension money that caused this mess is equivalent to punishing the victim of a crime for the crime itself. Stop this insanity.

#625	Carol A. Marasovich	Jan 22, 2013
Big business needs to start paying its fair share of taxes to the State of Illinois instead of trying to rob the state's public employees of their constitutionally-guaranteed pensions.

#359	Eunice Becker	Jan 22, 2013
I am a widow and will never receive Social Security. My pension is my only livelihood, so please protect it.
#260	Ronald Heiman	Jan 21, 2013
I have taught for the past 45 years and have never missed paying into the system in order to secure a retirement pension as promised and guaranteed by the Illinois Constitution. I have planned my retirement based on the benefits that are protected by the Illinois Constitution.

#238	Chris Kennedy	Jan 21, 2013
My thoughts move directly to a quotation by Thomas Jefferson which seems appropriate here: “Where the people fear their government, there is tyranny. Where the government fears the people, there is liberty." People fear what our government may come up with to punish citizens for the government's failure to act in a moral and fair manner, especially in reference to payments due to our pension budget. We have met our side of the contract now meet yours. It may take a law degree to figure out clever ways to do the wrong thing, but it just takes a handshake to do what is right. I'll take the handshake any day.

#69	Roberta Rebb	Jan 21, 2013
Work for a viable solution: Re-amortize the debt for a longer time. Start representing the people of this state rather than the interests of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago.

#47	Jack Tucker	Jan 21, 2013
The only solution that hasn't been tried is funding it. Vilifying public employees hasn't worked, trying to convince the public that our average benefits are excessive hasn't worked, and trying to convince the public that Illinois is vastly different from the other 14 non-Social Security states hasn't worked either. Let's try something that will work. Fourteen other states have done it.

#30	Leonard Lindgren	Jan 21, 2013
Legislators have been given a list of options for raising revenue that will bring in billions of revenue a year! Why is their only option to cut, cut, and cut those who did nothing but thought the state would honor the constitution's guarantees? Where are the honorable legislators with a moral commitment?