A must-read post from TRS board member Bob Lyons. (Long)
I returned from a National Council of Teachers Retired Conference in Baltimore Thursday afternoon. As we turned on to the entrance to 90 West there is a large billboard that said, “Welcome Home. Illinois is Still Broke” with a subheading of “reform pensions!” Their campaign continues.Friday, October 14, another meeting of the legislative working group on SB512 was held at noon in Speaker Madigan’s office suite in the Bilandic Building in downtown Chicago. Representative Elaine Nekritz–D presided over the meeting with Representatives Darlene Senger-R and Roger Eddy-R also in attendance. Dea Meyer and two others representing the Civic Committee were there. I have been asked, “Why is the Civic Committee there?” They are “an interested party”, “they wrote the bill”, and Madigan and Cross want them there. I am just the messenger. Also in attendance, Dick Ingram, TRS Executive Director; representatives of the other pension system; and representatives of the unions, such as Nick Yelverton of the IFT and Will Lovett of the IEA .
To me the most important point that came out of the meeting was when Nick Yelverton with the