On Tuesday, November 6th, Illinois will be having an important gubernatorial election. There is only one choice for governor, and that is J. B. Pritzker. I am unapologetically, you can’t say nothing to change my mind, absolute nothing, to change the fact that, on Election Day, I will be voting for J. B. Pritzker. Under no circumstance, is there any reason for a Democrat, or otherwise thoughtful person, to vote for Rauner!
Rauner has to goooooo!
J.B. Pritzker needs to be the new governor. However, I am not denying the obvious:
- Yes, Pritzker said racist statements to Blagojevich.
- Yes, Pritzker is probably racist to the POC to the campaign staff that is suing him for being racist.
- Yes, Pritzker is flawed.
But, no matter how flawed Pritzker is, Bruce Rauner still has to go. He has to goooooo! He has to get out like Martin kicked Pam out every episode!
Rauner reckless actions of not passing a budget. held our state budget hostage, and almost destroyed our social safety net of NPOs that rely on state money.
Rauner. Has. To. Go.
Rauner doesn't have to go home,but he has to get the hell out of Springfield.
ABOUT OUR PENSION PROBLEM:
What’s the main problem destroying the state of Illinois? Well, if you read the Chicago Tribune, you would believe it was our pension system. And, although we do have a pension problem in Illinois; there is NO PART of our current pension problems that is the fault of unions or the members of the unions. Unions and the Elected Officials of the State of Illinois, Cook County, and the City of Chicago, came together, and collectively agreed and signed contracts that clearly stated; a)how much money the union members would contribute and b) how much money the state of Illinois would contribute.
Every year, the unions and union members, kept their part of the contract by making full contributions. Yet, year after year, not only did the elected officials NOT fulfill their portion of the pension contract; they also used/borrowed/stole money, that the union member contributed for other state projects!
There is a lot of (valid) arguments against our pension contracts in Illinois and how they fare compared to other states. I believe allowing anyone to retire with a full pension after 20 years of work is outdated, unfair to workers who are not in public service, and fiscally negligent. However, that is the contractual agreement made by Unions and the State of Illinois elected officials.
The particulars of the union contracts are not the main problem with Illinois pensions.
The problem we have,in Illinois,a government that not only failed to keep up their end of the pension agreement BUT also robbed the union members of their contributions!
Do we need pension reform? Absolutely.
How do we do ethically and fairly create a new pension contract? I believe that we start by honoring the past contract. Then, after we give what we promised to union members, we start creating a new contract.
The ONLY people to blame for our pension crisis is the elected officials who, for years, did not contribute the money they agreed to add to the pension funds; they also borrowed money from the union members contributions. Okay, this is so important, I need to say it again, so we can’t get fooled by Republican “anti-union” rhetoric.
- The Unions and the State Government negotiate a contract. In that contract, both parties agree to contribute a percentage of money, and the combined amount will be paid to union members when they retire. (Like Social Security or an IRA)
- The Union members faithfully and fully contributed their percentage of the money to the pension fund for years.
- The State of Illinois did NOT contribute their percentage of funds.
- Then, the State of Illinois needed some money for another program in the state, and they “borrowed” money from the pension fund that is primarily the contributions of the Union Members.
- This goes on for years. Union members contribute. The State does not contribute. The State also takes the Union members contributions and uses them for other projects.
- 2006, BAM! Financial Crisis and we are almost another national economic depression.
- The state realizes it doesn’t have the money to pay pensions to union members, (because of my points 2-5 above) so they decide they want to create new unions contracts, and that the original one they created, that is/was/and will always be legally binding, was bad.
Let’s all be clear, when we discuss the cost of pensions to the State of Illinois, the singular cause of our high cost of pensions: government mismanagement and theft. In this shady time of American government malice and dysfunction, it is important to remember that we are a nation that, ideally, where legally binding contracts with the government are honored. The State of Illinois took the money from the pension fund and spent it on something else. That is not the fault of union members; that is the fault of the State.
As citizens of Illinois, home state to Honest Abe (Abraham Lincoln), we should aim to respect the sanctity of our legal system and that includes honoring contracts for union workers.
DON’T FORGET TO VOTE ON TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6TH, FOR J.B. PRITZKER FOR GOVERNOR OF ILLINOIS!