Illinois scheduled to be set on fire next year.

Oh, wait, that’s just going to be the reaction to this tacit admission that Illinois is running out of other people’s money:

Illinois legislators may try to limit the amount of raises granted to unionized state workers in their next contracts.

The House Revenue and Finance Committee began hearings Thursday on House Joint Resolution 45, which says the state will budget no more than a certain amount to pay wage increases connected to union contracts. The amount has not been determined.

The resolution also states that the size of the state workforce or a reduction in it shall not be part of collective bargaining.

Yeah, that should fly through the legislature without opposition. Or labor riots. Or widespread property damage.  And I am Marie of Roumania.
Not much else to say, except for my slightly pawky observation that I don’t think that the line below came out the way that the union spokesman intended for it to come out:

Bayer said the average pay for a state worker in Illinois is $60,292, less than that in Iowa or Minnesota.

…That is more money per year than I’ve actually ever made in my life, and I was a white-collar worker.  And I’m betting a better pension system, too.

Moe Lane

Via

14 thoughts on “Illinois scheduled to be set on fire next year.”

  1. Personally, I love the idea of seeing Chicago in flames and the Teachers Union fanning the flames.

      1. One more detail… in depth…
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        Quinn the Democrat* is up for re-election in 2014. Blagojevich won re-election during the 2006 Dem wave year, a year that featured a nasty GOP primary, pitting perennial ego-boosting businessman Jim Oberweis against the leader of the Illinois squishy-moderates, Judy Baar-Topinka.
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        Blagojevich began paying his debt to society prior to the 2010 race, and while many thought Quinn, a long-time Springfield political gadfly, would lose, the GOP put up .. Bill Brady, who had come in behind Oberweis and Baar-Topinka in 2006.
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        You’d think that, after four years of prep, Brady would know how to win Illinois, but .. not so much. He crashed and burned by not competing effectively in the suburbs, ensuring Quinn the Democrat* won in a Tea Party year.
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        So.
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        If we’re looking for a little good news, Quinn the Democrat* will be 65 in 2014, and he will have presided over significant tax and fee increases and now a collapsing pension system.
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        I would hope that we can find a decent compromise-GOP candidate, but .. it’s getting increasingly depressing to live here.
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        Mew
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        * with apologies to Manfred Mann … http://youtu.be/K13hH0pJx5s

  2. I will note, Moe, that the Dem-dominated legislature tried to slip through an amendment to the State constitution that would have – on the face of it – reduced the number of legislators needed to kill pension payout increases.
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    http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-elect-statewide-pension-referendum-1107-20121107,0,971356.story
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    However, buried deep in the wording of this bill was a vague statement that it *might* have gotten around another clause in the State constitution, one that mandates benefits (including pension) cannot be altered.
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    I am not a lawyer, nor am I a Springfield insider, but .. two things jump out at me.
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    First, the timing stinks on ice. This is Illinois; when the legislature wants to pass something crooked, it shows up on a primary or special election ballot, not in the general. That this was put up in an election that was *guaranteed* to be pro-Dem tells me it wasn’t ever intended to pass.
    .
    Second, the language wasn’t sufficient (according to both me and the Chicago Tribune editorial board) to actually *do* much to fix the State’s finances… so even if it *had* passed, all it would have achieved is hanging a target on any GOP statehouse type who dares vote against sweetening compensation, eh?
    .
    So. What’s the real point of the bill? Simple – the statehouse drones will now claim that there’s no support among the electorate to reduce pensions .. and will use this as a justification for looking for other budget cuts (look for Metra fare hikes, but not CTA hikes, for instance…) and other revenue increases (fee increases on business licenses, probably jack up the price of renewing car registration and getting a fishing license)
    .
    In short, this is a signal that the legislature intends to fiddle while Springfield burns.
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    I say bring on the popcorn!
    .
    Mew

    1. I volunteered on gov Ryan’s election in 94. Realized at that point, the decay that was beginning to rot the party, more squishing, dem lite. Glad that my mom is finally leaving that state while she still can

      1. Good for her, Spegen. I’m hoping to be *from* Illinois one of these days.
        .
        That’s one thing I didn’t point out, by the way…. many of the income producers, the *job* producers in Illinois have changed their “legal addresses” to their vacation homes… places in Indiana, or Iowa, or even Wisconsin (with the right tax breaks..)
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        Mew
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        no, cat can’t afford a vacation house either.

          1. Let’s say that I live in the shadow of Chicago.
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            It’s a little like living in the shadow of Mordor ..
            .
            Mew

  3. Pingback: Pension crisis hits Oregon, collapse of progressive model continues « Public Secrets

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