Best Team In America™
Tuesday, Sep 19, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* BGA…
In February, Gov. Bruce Rauner proposed a state budget that included creation of a 401k style savings plan for newer teachers and public workers that he said would save $500 million in the 2018 fiscal year that began July 1.
In July, the Democratic controlled legislature enacted its own budget over the objections of Rauner that nonetheless incorporated his pension overhaul. The governor quickly attacked that budget as unbalanced, in part because it counted on the very savings that he earlier had estimated would be reaped from the 401k-style initiative, commonly referred to as Tier 3.
Now, administrators at the state pension systems that must operate Tier 3 are scratching their heads over how exactly the $500 million estimate came to be, while also raising doubts that any savings might materialize for close to two years.
“Right now, my operating thesis is that July 1 of 2019 would be the earliest possible effective date (for Tier 3),” said Richard Ingram, executive director of the Teachers’ Retirement System which administers pension funds for hundreds of thousands of current and retired suburban and downstate teachers. “There is absolutely no way we can do it by July 1 of next year.”
To recap, if Tier 3 does eventually prove a money saver for Illinois – whatever the amount – it’s unlikely to be this year or even next.
* So, how did this happen?…
Jason Schaumburg, a Rauner spokesman, said savings estimates were developed by the governor’s staff in consultation with the big state-run retirement systems for teachers, public university workers and general state employees.
But officials of some of those pension plans say they have yet to develop savings estimates because details of Tier 3 are still in flux. Meanwhile, legislative Democrats say they lifted their savings number straight from Rauner because it was his plan and they presumed he knew what he was talking about. […]
Schaumburg disputed that the Democratic iteration of Tier 3 was ripped whole from the pages of Rauner’s budget plan, contending that there were “some significant changes.” Asked what those changes were, however, the governor’s office did not respond to follow-up queries from the Better Government Association.
They didn’t respond. Lovely.
* Speaking of which…
[Rauner spokesman Hud Englehart] said he is helping head up a restructuring of the office and is still working to recruit and interview new employees.
“When we get the team together and we have it organized, we’re going to return phone calls and all that kind of stuff,” he said. “It’s a matter of trying to put more of a planning focus on the governor’s office than the firehose response,” that was occurring over the last few weeks, he added.
Englehart said he is heading up the communications department to “help develop a comms strategy for the governor’s office that more effectively tells his story of his time here in government.”
A firehose response? There have been almost no responses. It’s been like a badly kinked garden hose.
And they’re back on that “tell the governor’s story” crud again?
The campaign side should tell the “story” of how great Bruce Rauner is. The governing side works for the government, meaning the people. And a huge responsibility of any government comms shop is to give accurate and timely responses to reporters’ questions.
So, how about learning to walk before you run with this pie in the sky “story” silliness? Try to answer some simple questions, like, oh, I don’t know, what those “significant changes” were to the pension bill?
- Centennial - Tuesday, Sep 19, 17 @ 1:29 pm:
Ummm… “we’re going to return phone calls and all that kind of stuff”
Yikes.
- gadfly - Tuesday, Sep 19, 17 @ 1:30 pm:
Well said, Rich. It’s hard to imagine this dumpster fire of an administration ever doing a good job of answering to the people.
- Nearly Normal - Tuesday, Sep 19, 17 @ 1:30 pm:
I heard at an IEA meeting that Tier III has to be approved by the feds before it is implemented. The devil is truly in the details.
- Grand Avenue - Tuesday, Sep 19, 17 @ 1:32 pm:
Please tell me Jason Schaumburg lives in Schaumburg
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Sep 19, 17 @ 1:34 pm:
It’s been how longs since the Comms purge (part deux), and they’re still trying to fill the spots? Translation: nobody wants the job
- 47th Ward - Tuesday, Sep 19, 17 @ 1:35 pm:
===Asked what those changes were, however, the governor’s office did not respond to follow-up queries===
“Yeah, um, the guy who put together the budget books no longer works here. Nor does the guy that wrote up the synopsis explaining how the savings would work. So uh, while the Governor’s staff tries to understand exactly what our jobs entail, we’re going to reserve comment until we know what the heck we’re supposed to do.”
- Roman - Tuesday, Sep 19, 17 @ 1:35 pm:
This is the third blog post today that could use “The governor probably needs to get his stories straight” as a headline.
- PublicServant - Tuesday, Sep 19, 17 @ 1:36 pm:
===They didn’t respond. Lovely.===
Well, when you’re caught in a lie, as the Governor was, being quiet is probably best…
- Anon221 - Tuesday, Sep 19, 17 @ 1:38 pm:
Hud is showcasing his fidget spinner qualities. Keep the target moving and the press can’t “hit” it.
- Grand Avenue - Tuesday, Sep 19, 17 @ 1:39 pm:
Someone ask Hud if his wife is running for AG
- Chris Widger - Tuesday, Sep 19, 17 @ 1:44 pm:
==And a huge responsibility of any government comms shop is to give accurate and timely responses to reporters’ questions.==
Is this a commonly held belief? I can’t hide my skepticism, but my question is sincere. Do other people on these boards think this statement is true on its face? Put FOIA to the side, I suppose, since the requirements there are derived from statute and case law.
- Ducky LaMoore - Tuesday, Sep 19, 17 @ 1:45 pm:
===what those “significant changes” were to the pension bill?===
All the savings was lost when Madigan switched the Governor’s proposal to comic sans font.
- Macbeth - Tuesday, Sep 19, 17 @ 1:51 pm:
The obvious question — or, at least it was to me when I read this piece — is: 2+ years on the job, and you’re just now getting into the swing of governing “and all that stuff”. What were you doing before?
Wait. I know what you were doing, yeah. But does Rauner understand that that’s what he was doing?
- walker - Tuesday, Sep 19, 17 @ 1:54 pm:
No one moderately-informed, believed Tier 3 would work as well, as quickly, or save as much as the Rauner campaign claimed. So, in the spirit of a “compromise” deal, they just took it as Rauner proposed and let him live with his own numbers. It was always more spitball than silver bullet.
- RNUG - Tuesday, Sep 19, 17 @ 1:54 pm:
The blunt truth is that a 401K style pension plan, aka Tier 3, will cost the taxpayers more money than Tier 2 does today if there is percentage of employer match.
Not to say there won’t be winners and losers between the State and the local school districts. There may be some savings to eventually be found at the State level IF it is the local school district that has to pay the employer match. I’m assuming the State won’t give the school districts extra money for that expense and will, instead, expect the school district to absorb it. This is where the moving pieces get tricky. The school districts can just cut elsewhere to pay it, they can raise taxes, or if they are currently paying the employer portion, try to claw back that item in the next contract and divert hat money to paying it.
Here’s a hint to Rauner budget boys and girls: the previous staff probably assumed the local districts would be paying the pensions for new hires going forward, probably looked at turnover rates, and probably prorated current (aka Tier 1) costs to get the Tier 3 savings … but that was, most likely, a false model. New hires would be replacing the zero cost Tier 2 system, so there would be no overall savings … just added expense for any 401K match … but at least any new cost would not be at the State level.
My prediction is the State won’t ever see a single dollar of savings from Tier 3 so quit claiming savings in the annual budget. And if I’m wrong on this one, then State might have a slight surplus some day.
- Sir Reel - Tuesday, Sep 19, 17 @ 1:55 pm:
$500 million is a nice round number which suggests to me that it was pulled out of thin air. And now it’s not even clear who pulled it.
- illini - Tuesday, Sep 19, 17 @ 2:02 pm:
To the comment that Rich made “The campaign side should tell the “story” of how great Bruce Rauner is. The governing side works for the government,…”
A rhetorical question - does our Governor have two separate separate communications staffs? Or do the taxpayer funded BTIA staff function in both capacities?
Perhaps they work in a dual capacity and they change hats depending on the nature of the question.
Yet how do we know if they are responding as a government employee or as a campaign mouthpiece?
- Molly Maguire - Tuesday, Sep 19, 17 @ 2:07 pm:
Great takes, Rich. Maybe they can use the fire hose to put out the dumpster fire.
- Pyrat 1623 - Tuesday, Sep 19, 17 @ 2:11 pm:
“And now it’s not even clear who pulled it.”
Or from whence they pulled it.
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Sep 19, 17 @ 2:15 pm:
They just made up the number. And now they’re making up stories of having consulted with the pension funds.
It’s SOP from the boss on down to just make up stories. Look at the number of instances just today on this blog.
- @MisterJayEm - Tuesday, Sep 19, 17 @ 2:16 pm:
I’m kind of disappointed that the Rauner champions aren’t posting assertions that ‘the people at the doors’ don’t care whether or not the governor’s team is competent enough to return telephone calls.
– MrJM
- Michelle Flaherty - Tuesday, Sep 19, 17 @ 2:16 pm:
– “When we get the team together and we have it organized, we’re going to return phone calls and all that kind of stuff,” he said.–
Yeah, so’s Pat Quinn
- Whatever - Tuesday, Sep 19, 17 @ 2:37 pm:
==“And now it’s not even clear who pulled it.”
Or from whence they pulled it.==
But when the guy at the top is a grass bowl, the choices for “whence” are pretty limited.
- justpeachy - Tuesday, Sep 19, 17 @ 2:43 pm:
“When we get the team together and we have it organized, we’re going to return phone calls and all that kind of stuff,” he said.
This from the communication staff…BTIA, what a joke!
- 47th Ward - Tuesday, Sep 19, 17 @ 2:46 pm:
===Asked what those changes were, however, the governor’s office did not respond to follow-up queries===
Well sir, we were going to this bingo parlor at the YMCA, well one thing led to another, and the instructions got all fouled up…
- Norseman - Tuesday, Sep 19, 17 @ 2:51 pm:
With this team, I’m feeling better about the odds of Rauner losing.
- cimry90 - Tuesday, Sep 19, 17 @ 3:22 pm:
RNUG,
Does a teacher change their tier if he or she is hired by a new district? Or like for state employees it goes back to original hire day?
- DuPage Bard - Tuesday, Sep 19, 17 @ 3:23 pm:
The BTIA Reboot part 2. I wonder if this will be like the Friday the 13th movies once they got through the first three…..coming soon BTIA meets Freddy Krueger….BTIA in Space…..actually now it’s BTIA in Seattle
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Sep 19, 17 @ 3:31 pm:
There is a reason that governing and politics are two different animals in the policy and working in the functions of an office.
This Post is a clear example where both fail when both are not seperate as they should be.
- illini - Tuesday, Sep 19, 17 @ 3:37 pm:
Thanks @Willy - I should have posted my comment/query more succinctly. But we were both commenting on the same situation.
- pawn - Tuesday, Sep 19, 17 @ 4:21 pm:
What a sign of privilege — that you think that the world can wait while you get your act together. Sorry, Hud, your credentials notwithstanding, returning phone calls is a key element of the job and the rest of the world won’t just twiddle its thumbs waiting for you to find non-homophobic staffers who understand why we don’t compare other events to the Holocaust. Answer the calls yourself.
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Sep 19, 17 @ 4:38 pm:
It’s quite a commentary on BTIA(TM) when the comms boss says they don’t have the skills yet to return phone calls and answer simple questions.
What about the Chief of Staff, or the
Deputy Governors, or the Deputy Chiefs of Staff — do they have the skills to use the telephone and the ability to find the answers to simple questions? You’d think so — they all make lots of money.
How’s the walking and chewing gum training going? No serious injuries, I hope.
- Jocko - Tuesday, Sep 19, 17 @ 4:48 pm:
Jason should’ve checked with Rauner and the little old lady who keeps telling him to “hang in there”. Maybe she’s the one who ran the numbers. /s
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Sep 19, 17 @ 7:17 pm:
Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t the martyred former BTIA first provide the BS number?
- DuPage Dave - Tuesday, Sep 19, 17 @ 8:03 pm:
Rauner remains a complete and utter disappointment.
- PublicServant - Wednesday, Sep 20, 17 @ 6:05 am:
===A firehose response? There have been almost no responses. It’s been like a badly kinked garden hose.===
Hey, one man’s firehose is another man’s tinkle.
- Rabid - Wednesday, Sep 20, 17 @ 7:59 am:
hud crud, crises manager is detoxing and rehabbing his drinking buddys