Don't blame public employees for mess

The Daily Herald editorial of Jan. 2 was startling, completely unexpected and very disappointing. It proposed to solve the current Illinois public pension debacle by extracting a remedy for it out of the hides of current and retired Illinois public employees.

Does not the Herald editorial staff remember that in previous articles and editorials it correctly put the blame for the current pension mess solely on past legislatures and governors for grossly underfunding their pension obligations the past several decades?

The current editorial position of the Herald is to follow the lead of Rhode Island in curtailing pension benefits. Possibly the Herald staff does not realize that Illinois public employees have constitutional protection against such happenings, where no such protection exists in Rhode Island.

Obviously, the mess must be solved. Surely there must be a more equitable solution than punishing public employees for a situation they had no part in causing.

Joe Purpura

Wheaton