State getting its due on pension debacle
State getting its due on pension debacle
Three strikes - you're out!
That is what the courts are telling the legislative and executive branches of our state government. If the Illinois Supreme Court decides to hear the case, Strike 3 should be on the way.
Strike 1: The Illinois Supreme Court (Kanerva case) ruled that the promised health care without cost to the retirees is a pension right protected by the Illinois Constitution.
Strike 2: Sangamon County Circuit Court Judge John Belz said in his ruling that the pension protection clause of the Illinois Constitution provides a guarantee of pension benefits.
Strike 3: TBA.
Our forefathers believed in checks and balances in government for a reason; to prevent abusive power. I hope the following Illinois Supreme Court judges: Rita B. Garman (Chief Justice), Charles E. Freeman, Robert R. Thomas, Thomas L. Kilbride, Lloyd A. Karmeier, Anne M. Burke and Mary Jane Theis believe it too.
These rulings validating our Constitution should influence current and future politicians in setting the state's budget. No longer can they manipulate and steal from one line item to pay for another line item just because of a political whim.
In the real business world, the politicians, Democrats and Republicans, who approved "pension holidays" and caused this fiasco would have been brought to trial. Oh, I forgot ... the Illinois Attorney General's daddy has been doing this for over three decades.
Richard Niemaszyk
Elgin