20 Comments - AFSCME Steward - Wednesday, Apr 2, 14 @ 2:27 pm: “Christine Radogno of Lemont told a Senate committee Wednesday that the state is in “continual crisis mode” with spending and revenue. She says she wants to see a long-term plan from the city dealing with its other troubled pension funds”. This is actually very intelligent. Now all that needs to happen is to get all of the vested parties to hammer out an agreement. I do mean all of the parties, not the devide & hopefully conquer strategy the Mayor is cfurrently attempting. - AFSCME Steward - Wednesday, Apr 2, 14 @ 2:28 pm: That should read I do mean all of the parties, not the devide & hopefully conquer strategy the Mayor is currently attempting. If I ever succeed in posting without 1 typo it will be a miracle. - PMcP - Wednesday, Apr 2, 14 @ 2:32 pm: @AFSCME Steward … Divide… - cicero - Wednesday, Apr 2, 14 @ 2:34 pm: In other words, most Republicans will sit out this round of pension reform, just like they did the last round. Of course that won’t stop the GOP from blaming Democrats for the pension crisis. - Michelle Flaherty - Wednesday, Apr 2, 14 @ 2:36 pm: So sayeth the 19. - anon - Wednesday, Apr 2, 14 @ 2:36 pm: Maybe the Republicans counted up the extra votes they picked up by the Dillard cross-over and want to stop those votes from crossing back. - Formerly Known As... - Wednesday, Apr 2, 14 @ 2:36 pm: That actually… makes a lot of sense. When the IMF “helps” a country in financial peril or an investor “helps” a struggling business, they typically require a concrete turnaround plan tied to that help. Now all we need is a Chicago version of Andy Manar on this one. Does such a person exist? - john - Wednesday, Apr 2, 14 @ 2:42 pm: The police and fire unions are more powerful than the other two so this may benefit workers - fed up - Wednesday, Apr 2, 14 @ 2:44 pm: Hmm a comprehensive plan from rahm, good luck with that. - A guy... - Wednesday, Apr 2, 14 @ 2:51 pm: If they’re going to run head first into the head wind of their own supporters, why in the world would anyone try to stop them? Good position from Radogno. - Jim'e' - Wednesday, Apr 2, 14 @ 2:57 pm: For a solution to occur compromise needs to take place; that won’t happen. This is good alternative considering all the past mismanagement, miscalculation and greed of a few. BTW, AFSCME Steward, I can only guess that one solution for Sen. Radogno is freeze on pensions and implementation of 401(k)’s instead. - The Doc - Wednesday, Apr 2, 14 @ 3:33 pm: ==When the IMF “helps” a country in financial peril or an investor “helps” a struggling business== I’ll be charitable and call your comparison a poor one. The IMF and investors provide monetary support - some may go so far as to call it a bailout - in an effort to rescue said country or struggling business. The parallels you draw between those entities and the SGOP is nonexistent. There may be legitimate reasons for the SGOP to sit this one out, although I suspect that political calculus trumps all. - Rod - Wednesday, Apr 2, 14 @ 3:38 pm: It would help a lot if the Republicans defined what they mean by a long term plan. How many years out are they talking here? Moreover, since all pension funds are dependent to one degree or another on their rate of return on funds, what sort of assumptions is Senator Radogno talking about here and over how many years. - Midstate Indy - Wednesday, Apr 2, 14 @ 4:49 pm: Republican Senate Leader Christine Radogno today announced her plan to lead the Illinois Senate GOP further into the land of obscurity, via the path of least resistance. - Mokenavince - Wednesday, Apr 2, 14 @ 5:33 pm: Radogno sits this on out. I would bet she still cash’s her check. Another example of Republican leadership. - Walker - Wednesday, Apr 2, 14 @ 6:41 pm: The shame is that Radogno is one of the few Senators fully capable of creating/negotiating such a responsible plan. For the state-level GOP: when dealing with an issue which will anger just about everybody involved — let the Dems do it, and then commiserate with all the aggrieved. For Rauner: just criticize whatever they come up with, and secretly hope it works, so you never have to deal with it yourself. - PublicServant - Thursday, Apr 3, 14 @ 7:32 am: Newsflash! The party of No, says No. - I B Strapped - Thursday, Apr 3, 14 @ 7:45 am: Dear Rahm: You have a CRISIS, Improvise, Adapt, Overcome….then find someone to Bail U Out! - Toure's Latte - Thursday, Apr 3, 14 @ 9:11 am: ==Radogno is one of the few Senators fully capable of creating/negotiating such a responsible plan.== Coffee spitter of the day. - Jim Palermo - Thursday, Apr 3, 14 @ 9:47 pm: The current pension system in place, developed decades ago and kept on life support with faux reform over the years, is unsustainable. Illinois is experiencing a worse economic reform than almost any other state due to high and increasing property taxes and personal and corporate income taxes that make the state an unattractive place to do business. As result, Illinois is 49th in population growth and has one of the highest unemployment rates and non-farm payroll levels are nearly 200,000 below levels five years ago. In order to fix our pension problems, retirement ages must be increased for surrender workers do increased longevity, employee contribution rates must increase, state government services need to made more efficient and scaled back. Because Illinoisans can vote with their feet and move to neighboring states that have better navigated the downturn, like Indiana and Wisconsin as well as sunbelt states like Texas and Tennessee (neither of which have income taxes), expecting the already over burdened taxpayer to continue to pay more and more for less and less is not a path to success. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.