QUOTE OF THE DAY
Chicago Sun Times: Property tax hike for pensions? Voters echo Quinn’s ‘No can do.’
Chicago aldermen have been searching under every rock for alternatives to Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan to raise property taxes by $250 million to save two of four city employee pension funds.
They had better dig harder, according to a new poll conducted for Early & Often, the Chicago Sun-Times’ political portal.
Offered four choices on ways Chicago could solve its $20 billion pension crisis, raising property taxes ranked dead-last, chosen by only one percent of the Chicago voters surveyed.
State Journal Register: IDOT hires had political clout
Dozens of state jobs involved in a dispute over whether they should be free of politics were filled by Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration with candidates who were politically connected or gave campaign contributions to the governor’s party, an Associated Press review of state documents shows.
They were hired for posts in a process closed to the public, and without regard to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that lays out strict rules against improperly giving taxpayer-funded jobs to people based on political connections. The Quinn administration says the jobs should be exempt from the ruling because they are sensitive policy-making positions, but one of the jobs was pre-screening the hire of highway maintenance workers.
The AP review, based on emails provided by the Quinn administration, is the first to publicly reveal the identities and connections of some of the people hired by IDOT under Quinn as part of a program that is being challenged in federal court and has drawn scrutiny from the state inspector general and lawmakers. The program also has become an issue in Quinn’s campaign for re-election, as Republican rival Bruce Rauner attempts to undermine the governor’s assertion that he has cleaned up Illinois government after two predecessors were sentenced to prison.
NY Times: Pensions vs. Art in Detroit’s Bankruptcy
The objection deadline has arrived for Detroit’s reorganization plan. And it seems likely that the “art deal” will be the focus of many objections, especially from bondholders.
The art deal involves an $816 million cash infusion into Detroit’s pensions in exchange for transferring title to the works in the Detroit Institute of Arts, using $370 million from a group of foundations, $350 million from the state and the museum’s own money. It’s basically a sale of the art, in exchange for money to help avoid deeper cuts to the pensions, which are underfunded by $3.5 billion.
The sticking point is that Detroit’s bondholders are a bit sore that they won’t receive the same deal. Municipal retirees are facing cuts of 4.5 percent in their pension checks, while retired police officers and firefighters are facing no cuts, though their cost-of-living increases would be diminished. But certain general bondholders face about a one-fourth cut in the value of their bonds. Other bondholders, including those with claims on specific income streams, are coming out even worse.
Chicago Tribune: Taxes, job market causing people to leave Illinois
Megan Ciaburri grew up in the northern suburbs. When she married someone from the area, she expected they would get an apartment in Chicago or buy their own home in the ‘burbs.
Their jobs are here. Their families are here. But come July, the newlyweds will be packing their bags for Texas.
“I thought it was going to be a lifetime thing — living in the Chicago area,” said Ciaburri, 28. “But I just don’t see us getting ahead by staying here.”
CARTOON OF THE DAY
