Blame for pension system is misplaced

I’m responding, albeit a little late, to a Fence Post contributor who on March 3 said that state workers should not be scapegoated. I worked as a social worker in the state school system. One of the major reasons why the pension system is in such bad shape is that Blagojevich convinced the Teachers Retirement System to give the state millions of dollars to use for other things.

Other governors have also used the pension system to take out millions of dollars to use to make up for deficits in other areas. When I first started working for the schools, our pension system was in excellent shape. We teachers, social workers, etc. were paying large amounts out of our salaries on each pay period, and the investments were going well. When the governors started to use our pension funds as their piggy banks, our pension coffers became underfunded, which led to this pension mess.

So, please put the responsibility for the teachers’ pension system where it belongs.

Gail Tanzer

Lombard