By Brian Costin
12/07/2014
In November, 13 of 53 Corruption Watch stories were related to policies and actions of criminal-justice authorities in Illinois.
TAGS: Chicago
Illinois taxpayers and government workers got proof in 2013 that politicians can’t be trusted to manage public-worker retirements. That’s when the Securities Exchange Commission charged Illinois with securities fraud. Now, Kansas joins Illinois and New Jersey as one of three states to face SEC civil charges for misleading investors about the health of their pension...
Unfortunately for taxpayers, June was a groundbreaking month for corruption in Illinois. In June alone, there were reports of 85 corruption-related stories in the state. Some of the record-breaking highlights include the following: For the first time in 33 years, the Illinois Legislative Audit Commission exercised its subpoena powers in the issuance of a subpoena...
By Hilary Gowins
07/10/2013
At a time when the state of Illinois has more than $100 billion in unfunded pension liabilities, more than $6 billion in unpaid bills and is coming off of its 13th credit downgrade since 2009, it might shock Illinoisans to hear that Gov. Quinn is one of the highest-paid governors in the country. Gov. Pat Quinn’s salary is $177,412. According...
By Ted Dabrowski
04/23/2013
Flaws of the defined benefit system are really at the core of the state’s pension problems.
By John Klingner
03/31/2013
By Jane McEnaney
03/20/2013
At 3 p.m. Thursday, March 21, the House Personnel and Pensions Committee will hear House Bill 3303, sponsored by state Reps. Tom Morrison, R-Palatine, and Jeanne Ives, R-Wheaton. HB 3303 is the Illinois Policy Institute-backed pension reform plan that actually fixes the problem. Real pension reform means: Implementing a stable, predictable and manageable defined contribution system. Eliminating...
By Ted Dabrowski
03/18/2013
On March 11, 2013, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Illinois with securities fraud. The SEC accused the state of misleading investors by understating the depth of the pension crisis. The most revealing statement from the SEC: “The statutory plan structurally underfunded the state’s pension obligations and backloaded the majority of pension contributions far into...
By Ted Dabrowski
03/15/2013
[updated 3.15.13] Illinois politicians are not honest about the depth of the state’s pension crisis. They chronically understate the scale of the problem to taxpayers and state workers. According to the federal Securities and Exchange Commission, the state has misled investors as well. Today the SEC announced it was charging Illinois with securities fraud. From a...
by Kristina Rasmussen This bit of news is creating quite a stir in certain circles: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged the state of New Jersey Wednesday with lying and withholding information to investors in billions of dollars worth of municipal bond deals. The allegations involve $26 billion of bond offerings from 2001 to 2007 in...
