Illinois’ comeback story starts here.
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by David Nicklaus Illinois’ new pension law quickly found a fan club among Wall Street’s credit-rating agencies. Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s and Fitch Ratings all issued statements praising the pension overhaul that Gov. Pat Quinn signed Dec. 5. It’s their first unanimously positive pronouncement in years about Illinois, and the accolades must have been music to...
by Shawn Shinneman Hunger likes to hide, but Angie Reeks sees it up close. And although the recession is over and the county’s unemployment rate has fallen to 6.8 percent, from Reeks’ perch, the need is as great as ever. Based on food stamps use trends within the county – nearly tripling since the start of...
The fine folks at the Illinois Policy Institute love numbers. They love to add them, subtract them, crunch them and analyze them. They also like to dispel them. The group’s cause of the day is the plan passed by lawmakers to resolve Illinois’ underfunded pension crisis. House Speaker Mike Madigan quickly pinned a medal on...
Illinois Policy Institute CEO John Tillman released the following statement today: “Special interests and lobbyists flooded the state capitol last week as lawmakers rushed a pension bill to the governor’s desk. But as has become the norm in Illinois, an important stakeholder was left out of the conversations: taxpayers. “It has become clear with every...
Illinois Policy Institute Vice President of Policy Ted Dabrowski joined Gerri Willis on Fox Business to discuss the municipal bond market.
by Daniel Kelley Former New Athens Mayor Gary Kearns had a conflict of interest in supporting a tax incentive for property he partially owned and sold to a developer for $150,000, according to a village trustee and nonprofit litigation group. Kearns denies there was any conflict of interest. Kearns was mayor of the village of...
More pension fun from Tuesday morning’s show, this time with John Tillman, CEO of Illinois Policy Institute. We asked him about many of the details of the proposed pension deal, including the fake defined contribution option that’s inside: It’s a fake 401k plan to seduce Republican votes in the legislature. [There’s a] provision that says they can claw all...
Illinois Policy Institute Vice President of Policy Ted Dabrowski joined Mary Kissel on WSJ Live to discuss Illinois’ lackluster pension reform.