How fair is it that some of the highest-paid state employees in the nation are getting a raise that must be funded by an economically wounded bunch of taxpayers?
Illinois’ broken pension system puts $100,000 a year or more into the hands of 62 former state lawmakers. It has paid more than $1 million to 94 of them.
Illinois lawmakers are still likely to receive a $1,800 pay raise. But some have tried their best to make no waves by giving themselves cover from backlash.
With more than 1.1 million Illinoisans out of work, some of the highest-paid state lawmakers in the nation are in line for a raise – though some are fighting back.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has used his private fortune to pay $3 million in state expenses, including boosting salaries of 16 top staffers. Some lawmakers want the ‘unethical’ practice to stop.
The budget signed into law by Gov. J.B. Pritzker included a $1,600 pay raise for the Illinois General Assembly – which already collects the nation’s 4th-highest base salary for state lawmakers.