Big money ready to buy legislative votes on pensions. Unless we fight our pensions can vanish in a day.
Jim Broadway in his authoritative Illinois School Policy Update reports that big corporate money is ready to buy whatever votes are needed to make another pass at SB 512.
SB 512 would create a three-tier pension system as a prelude to doing away with state employee pensions altogether.
A massive campaign by unions and rank-and-file activists stopped SB 512 last session. Democratic Party Chair and House Speaker Mike Madigan, GOP House Leader Tom Cross and Civic Committee President Ty Fahner could not round up enough votes in the House to pass the bill. It never got to the Senate.
The Civic Committee and the Civic Federation, another corporate lobby group, have doubled down for the upcoming session. They have raised a ton of money to get House and Senate votes. They apparently have the backing of Governor Quinn.
The bill is now in the House Rules Committee but could be restored to third
