SPRINGFIELD
— It could be the week of “I told you so” in Illinois. Lawmakers, as expected,
failed to act on pension reform early in the week, and Illinois’ credit, as
expected, suffered by week’s end… Fitch Rating Service on Friday put Illinois
on its negative watch list after lawmakers failed to even vote on a pension
reform proposal. The statement from Fitch says Illinois has
six months to act before the rating service will review its rating of the
state’s credit. But it is not just Illinois’ $96-billion pension debt that is
troubling Fitch. The statement also specifies Illinois’ nearly $9 billion in
unpaid bills and a dependence on late payments to manage the budget…
Senate
President John Cullerton said the new General Assembly will
have to find a way to balance pension obligations with the needs of 13 million
people in the state of Illinois. “We are on the verge of our state budget being
turned into a financial plan that funds pension benefits, not essential
services,” Cullerton said.
-Benjamin Yount | Illinois Watchdog
Dear
Illinois Representative and Senator Who Supports Pension Reform:
Where is your humanity? Where is your empathy and integrity? Why
would you consider passing a pension reform bill that places an unreasonable
discrimination upon teachers and other public employees for the sake of
benefits for the wealthy and Bond Ratings? Is it because of
your lack of resolve to do what is fair and morally responsible? Is it because
it is easier to deceive the Illinois citizenry and to blame the state’s
financial debts on public employees?
Is it because you are held hostage by a rigged system perpetuated
by the Civic Federation and the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of
Chicago? Is that why you are not outraged by a system of government that
exempts the wealthy from so-called proposed “pension reforms” and eliminates
taxation for major corporations; is that why you are not outraged by a system
where money precludes changes to a corrupt political system, where the rising
inequalities that continue to exist in Illinois are funded by powerful and
wealthy interests’ groups, where the legislators’ self-serving flat-tax rate
that they refuse to transform proffers unequal opportunities and quantifiable
payoffs for the largest corporations' executives and, thus, ensures benefaction
for a legislator's re-election campaign?
Have you forgotten your Oath of Office? Reform the Pension Ramp and not the public employees’
constitutionally-guaranteed earned pension. Pension reform is the wrong
solution for the state's financial predicament. It is the wrong solution
because the State of Illinois has a revenue and pension debt problem. It is
unfair that the wealthy elite are not part of the solution for the
state's budget deficits.
It is noteworthy that the exploitation of governmental policies,
that are often written or subsidized by the Civic Federation and the Civic Committee Commercial Club of Chicago create a financial deprivation for the vast majority of people in the State of
Illinois. Each new tax break for the wealthy means less money to run the
state’s government. It requires policymakers to get money elsewhere and to cut
essential services.
Pension reform will never be enough for all the state's debts
and for profiteers. The Civic Federation and Civic Committee, et al. will
continue to blame the public employees’ pension for the state's lowered
bond ratings and reductions of their corporate earnings. Members of
these organizations are concerned about their profits and not the lives of
public employees and other middle-class citizens. Despotic governmental
policies, like pension reform, will not revive the Illinois economy and produce
jobs. On the contrary, they will have a negative economic impact on the state’s
economy.
Consider that of the nearly 88,000 retired teachers in TRS,
there are approximately 52,000 pensions below $50 thousand; more than 17,000 of
them are less than $20 thousand (TRS). These people do not receive Social
Security and, if they do, it is minimal. To further reduce the COLA, for
instance, for these people would lead to the impoverishment and destruction of
their right to self-preservation. (Reflect upon the fact that a “simple” COLA
of a mere $600. (SB 1) will not be sufficient for keeping pace with inflation
for current teachers when they retire, and that the wealthy members of the
Civic Committee, Civic Federation and the Illinois General Assembly will never
have this concern).
It is incongruous that nothing in pension reform will address
the revenue problem in the State of Illinois. What will be certain if pension
reform is passed are costly lawsuits at the taxpayers’ expense to defend what
is explicitly stated in the Illinois Constitution’s Article XIII – General
Provisions, Section 5. Pension and Retirement Rights: “Membership in any
pension or retirement system of the State, any unit of local government or
school district, or any agency or instrumentality thereof, shall be an
enforceable contractual relationship, the benefits of which shall not be
diminished or impaired,” and what is also unequivocally stated in Article
I – Bill of Rights, Section 16. Ex Post Facto Laws and Impairing Contracts: “No
ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts or making an
irrevocable grant of special privileges or immunities, shall be passed.”
With the enactment of a pension reform bill, legitimate rights
and moral precepts are in jeopardy not only for public employees but for every
citizen in the State of Illinois. Defrauding a person out of his or her
originally-guaranteed rights and earned benefits violates a most important
interest in morality and basic legal principles of both the State and U.S.
Constitutions that protect every citizen. An attempt to break those
constitutional guarantees, through the likes of the Civic Committee of the
Commercial Club of Chicago’s Sidley Austin LLP, will be a costly and dangerous
effrontery and precedent to set in motion.
Sincerely,
Glen Brown
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