Michael Madigan

Taxpayers to foot big bill for pointless legislator pay stunt

01/13/2014
In July, Gov. Pat Quinn used his line-item veto power to suspend Illinois legislators’ salaries, pledging to withhold their paychecks until they solved the state’s pension crisis. This predictably provoked a lawsuit by House Speaker Mike Madigan, Senate President John Cullerton and other legislators. A Cook County Circuit Court judge then ruled in September that...

TAGS: lawmaker pay, Pat Quinn

Bipartisan success 2013

By Matt Paprocki, Jane McEnaney
12/19/2013
The Illinois Policy Institute introduced the only comprehensive pension reform plan during the 2013 legislative session. The Institute’s pension solution is the first plan that shifts Illinois workers out of the state’s broke defined benefit system and into a 401(k)-style plan, giving workers control and the pension system solvency. The introduction of this legislation has...

ADM relocates to Chicago – without state tax incentives

By Michael Lucci
12/19/2013
Archer Daniels Midland, an Illinois-based agribusiness giant, announced today that it will move the company’s global headquarters from Decatur, Ill., to Chicago, despite a tax incentive bill worth $30 million to ADM being stalled in the Illinois General Assembly. The decision keeps 60 to 75 executive-level jobs in Illinois, and comes a week after Office...

TAGS: Archer Daniels Midland, Chicago, cronyism, taxes

Pension bill’s accounting gimmicks ignore $6-$8B in debt

By Jonathan Ingram
12/10/2013
House Speaker Mike Madigan and proponents of the temporary pension “fix” enacted last week promised taxpayers that it would immediately reduce the state’s unfunded pension liability by about $20 billion. But despite these promises, the credit rating agencies have indicated that they would be waiting for actuarial analyses before making any decisions on how the new law...

TAGS: pensions

Pension proposal a move in the wrong direction

By Paul Kersey
12/03/2013
House Speaker Mike Madigan’s latest pension proposal is a giant step backward. The overall effect of this plan would be to leave Illinois pensions worse off than they are today – and that’s saying something, considering the state has $100 billion in official pension debt. If this plan passes, both taxpayers and government employees will...

TAGS: pensions

Savings from Illinois pension “fix” only $14 billion

By Ted Dabrowski
12/03/2013
Though House Speaker Mike Madigan claims his new pension proposal will save $160 billion over 30 years, much of what the Speaker calls “pension reform” is little more than a mix of accounting changes and a plan to commandeer more taxpayer funds. Madigan needed to find more savings since this version of his bill allows...

TAGS: Mike Madigan, pensions

Madigan pension plan makes guarantee taxpayers can’t afford

12/03/2013
One of the biggest flaws in the pension “reform” proposals that have come out of Springfield has been “pension-funding guarantees” – provisions that would contractually obligate the state to fund public pension systems. The problem with any pension funding guarantee is that it commits taxpayers to spending that could lead to higher taxes, render the...

TAGS: Mike Madigan, pensions

401(k) fraud: Pension bill floats fake defined contribution option

By Benjamin VanMetre
12/03/2013
Lawmakers are touting the 401(k) element in House Speaker Mike Madigan’s proposed pension reform bill. But a close look at the bill shows this 401(k) option is a disaster waiting to happen. Participation in the 401(k) plan is limited to 5 percent of Tier 1 membership (meaning workers hired before 2011) on a first-come, first-serve...

TAGS: 401(k), pensions, Senate Bill 1

Load More

Chicago Forward 2026: A pro-growth plan to end city budget deficits

Chicago’s $1.15 billion projected budget gap is the latest in a decades-long string of structural deficits. Making Chicago’s high taxes worse is not the solution.

View Report

Report Archive

Diana Graham

Process for unionizing non-state workers raises red flags

By Paul Kersey
06/19/2014

CBS Chicago: Illinois’ highest-paid superintendent receives $400K per year to oversee 1,200 students

By Ted Dabrowski
05/02/2016