It's time to limit union contributions

The Illinois ethics bill is a good first step. However, it ignores the most important reason for the state's dire financial situation: the $90 billion shortfall for pensions and pension benefits. These have frequently been reported as the highest in the nation.

By being able to donate as much as possible to candidates, the unions have been able to get the legislators to look the other way for many years while the shortfalls have gone through the roof. Perhaps the governor should comment on why he has not included addressing this in his suggestions for improving this legislation.

At the rate these pension obligations are increasing every year, it will not be long before they will pass the magic $100 billion milestone. Perhaps the state legislators and the governor should see if the state can be included in the federal government financial institution bailouts.

Without something being done about limiting these donations, it would not be surprising to eventually even read about creative contributions by state contractors who would launder donations to candidates by funneling the donations via unions. In fact, new unions could be created just for this reason.

Meanwhile the governor and the legislators continue to sit on their hands regarding all of this. Maybe they secretly have some sort of plan to enable the state to declare some form of bankruptcy that can enable them to reduce this ridiculous debt to a manageable level and be fair to taxpayers.

Robert Kellstrom

Schaumburg