{"id":523211,"date":"2010-04-11T10:48:46","date_gmt":"2010-04-11T14:48:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/illinoiseducationassociation.org\/?p=7064"},"modified":"2010-04-11T10:48:46","modified_gmt":"2010-04-11T14:48:46","slug":"same-old-song-at-trib","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/523211","title":{"rendered":"Same old song at TRIB"},"content":{"rendered":"

In case you were wondering whether sane people have wrested control of the editorial board from the public employee-haters who have been in charge at the once-great, now bankrupt, Chicago Tribune for the last couple of years, the answer is \u201cno.\u201d\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The paper\u2019s obsession with public employee pensions remains intense, based on Sunday\u2019s editorial.<\/a><\/p>\n

The good news: the TRIB recently took a couple of solid shots from respected public servants over its pension obsession, particularly the insistence that Gov. Quinn and the General Assembly must cut pension benefits for active members of the state pension systems<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

First, the TRIB was taken to task by the Honorable Abner J. Mikva, whose long, sterling career as a legislator and as a federal judge (I think he was once an advance man for Abraham Lincoln) makes him supremely qualified to comment <\/a>on the constitutionality of the TRIB\u2019s proposal.<\/p>\n

Article 13 of the constitution says “membership in any retirement or pension system” of any governmental entity “shall be an enforceable contractual relationship, the benefits of which shall not be diminished or impaired.” Under the “plain meaning” rule that almost every judicial authority recognizes, the words speak for themselves. Every existing employee is protected against changes in benefits. That is what Illinois courts have said the words mean.<\/em><\/p>\n

And<\/p>\n

Even if my opinion is erroneous (I have to acknowledge that the U.S. Supreme Court told me so on a few occasions when I was a judge), there is no question that a pension reform that affected existing employees would be challenged and tied up in the courts for many years. During that period, there would be no “immediate” savings to the state. Judges, whose pension rights would be impaired if it applied to existing employees, would be making the decision. If the whole proposal were thrown out (as I think would happen) there would not be any savings any time.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

In other words, \u201cGive it up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also on the attack is Illinois Senate President John Cullerton who is clearly PO\u2019d over the TRIB hits he\u2019s been taking after helping move the bill that reduced benefits for future state employees.<\/p>\n

Cullerton favored negotiating an agreement with the unions, one that would not have gone nearly as far as SB 1946.\u00a0 But Speaker Madigan, working with the Republican leadership, forced the issue and the Senate President went along.\u00a0 Now that he\u2019s being deservedly blasted by IEA and other employee groups for the pension attack, he doesn\u2019t want to hear from the TRIB that his action was inadequate.<\/p>\n

Cullerton insisted that the paper print his entire response, including his calling the TRIB editorial \u201criddled with inaccuracies.\u201d\u00a0 Since they wouldn\u2019t print that, Cullerton posted his response on his website<\/a> .\u00a0 Among the highlights:<\/p>\n

The Chicago Tribune\u2019s March 20 editorial, \u201cLast Chance,\u201d purports to offer sound advice on the state\u2019s current fiscal catastrophe. Instead, the editorial board\u2019s criticisms are riddled with inaccuracies that ignore the complete set of facts that have led to our budget crisis. It makes one wonder if the Tribune\u2019s editorial production line has either a total lack of understanding of state government, or an unfortunate agenda that disguises partisanship as journalism.<\/em><\/p>\n

Ouch.<\/p>\n

But rather than acknowledge that we\u2019ve made budget cuts at all, the Chicago Tribune instead fawns over an amateur Illinois Policy Institute proposal that \u201cwould cause some heartburn.\u201d While they play policymakers, both the Tribune and the Illinois Policy Institute fail to realize that the cuts we\u2019ve already made are as serious as a heart attack.<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a dangerous game. In one breath the Chicago Tribune decries the lack of leaders willing \u201cto make unfamiliar, uncomfortable, unpopular decisions,\u201d but then drums up public outrage to remove from office those who\u2019ve made the unpopular decisions.<\/em><\/p>\n

Case in point? Senate Democrats last year passed legislation that would have generated more than $2 billion a year for public education, and provided $1.2 billion in tax breaks, including $700 million in property tax relief and more than $230 million in tax credits for Illinois\u2019 working families.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Tribune editorial board dismissed our plan out of hand \u2013 much like they now ignore the conservative, pro-business Civic Federation\u2019s claim that, in addition to billions of dollars in budget cuts, the General Assembly must pass a permanent, $7.6 billion tax increase in order to become financially solvent. <\/em><\/p>\n

The Tribune editorial writers might honestly believe they understand the budget better than the Civic Federation or the members of the General Assembly. But to characterize our response to the state\u2019s fiscal crisis as \u201cpetrified inaction\u201d is both delirious, and does a grave disservice to the Tribune\u2019s readership and to those affected by the state\u2019s fiscal failures.<\/em><\/p>\n

So what else do the Tribune editorial writers propose? What other plans have they concocted to absolve the state of its $13 billion scarlet number?<\/em><\/p>\n

First, they say we should violate the Illinois Constitution. The Tribune proposes we freeze previously earned pension benefits for current state employees, and reduce them going forward. Those retirement plans are constitutionally guaranteed, but that doesn\u2019t stop the Tribune from proudly boasting the plan would save the state $2.1 billion a year.\u00a0 Bravo for finding savings that will never be realized because it is unconstitutional.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard for those of us who grew up in homes where the Chicago Tribune was read faithfully to deal with the current incarnation of the paper.\u00a0 Even when one disagreed with the editorial policy (which was, frankly, most of the time), there was always a belief that, at heart, the paper wanted what was best for Illinois.<\/p>\n

Anyone still have that feeling?\u00a0 Anyone?\u00a0 Bueller?<\/p>\n

Have you made your SOS Rally Day plans?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

# # #<\/p>\n

Follow IEA on Twitter http:\/\/twitter.com\/ieanea\/<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In case you were wondering whether sane people have wrested control of the editorial board from the public employee-haters who have been in charge at the once-great, now bankrupt, Chicago Tribune for the last couple of years, the answer is \u201cno.\u201d The paper\u2019s obsession with public employee pensions remains intense, based on Sunday\u2019s editorial. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5336,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-523211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5336"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=523211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523211\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}