Excerpts from recent editorials in newspapers in Illinois

Oct. 28, 2018

The (Champaign) News-Gazette

Public Enemy No. 1 in Illinois

The state's pension mess will be the biggest issue for the winner of the governor's race.

Just a few more days, and this dreary election year will be over. The incessant political noise will, thankfully, cease - at least for a while.

Federal races remain in doubt. The analysts are all over the place in terms of their predictions of the results.

But if the polls are correct, it's all over but the shouting for most of the statewide races in Illinois. It's another Democratic year in a solid Democratic state - the accidental election of a Republican governor in 2014 will be consigned to the ash heap of history.

But even though the politics will be put to bed, policy in our debased state remains up for grabs.

Democrat J.B. Pritzker - governor in waiting - is promising dramatic tax and spending increases. If his campaign rhetoric is to be believed, he's promised new programs that will, if estimates are to be believed, cost anywhere from $10 billion-plus to as much as $18 billion.

That's a load. It will be interesting to watch how Pritzker and legislative Democrats, who will retain their dramatic majorities in the General Assembly, implement those promised changes.

But in terms of the issues facing Illinois, that mammoth spending plan is chump change.

People might have forgotten amid the usual rhetoric that Illinois faces another huge problem that few people in charge have wanted to talk about during this election year.

What is Illinois to do about its dramatically underfunded public pension system?

Springfield's State Journal-Register recently called the $130 billion underfunding problem "Illinois' most intractable problem that also happens to be its most expensive."

It didn't have to be that way, of course. Illinois' pension woes can be traced directly to past legislators and governors who promised too much and then funded too little.

There have been all kinds of proposals about what to do to address the issue, including one that property owners will hate. How about a statewide property tax, the revenues from which will go straight to the pensions? The Chicago Federal Reserve recently proposed a 1 percent statewide residential property tax - that's an additional $2,500 on a house worth $250,000 - for many years to come.

Rauner and the Democratic Legislature have tiptoed around the problem.

Borrowing an idea initially proposed by Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan, Rauner has proposed slowly shifting the state's responsibility for paying teacher pensions to local school districts. That might save the state money, but pushing the cost on local property owners wouldn't address the core problem.

Rauner also has embraced a complicated plan promoted by Democratic Senate President John Cullerton to persuade some state employees to trade some benefits now for future benefits. That, too, has the look of a non-starter.

Pritzker has a more ambitious plan, but it's one that sorely conflicts with his goal of dramatically increasing state spending on social programs. He wants to make outsized payments to the pensions now to cut into the underfunding problem.

But state pension payments, along with Medicaid, already are consuming such a large part of the state budget, it's hard to imagine where Pritzker thinks he's going to get the money.

That's where his tax plans come into play. But he's repeatedly refused to discuss the details of what he has in mind. So that's where Illinois stands on pensions - essentially, nowhere.

The biggest problem Illinois has ever faced is a non-issue until Nov. 6, Election Day.

It will resume its status as Public Enemy No. 1 the day after, too late for voters to factor it into their decision on who will lead the state for the next four years.

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Oct. 26, 2018

(Arlington Heights) Daily Herald

Don't fall for political deception in non-binding referendums

Daily Herald editors conducted an exhaustive review of binding referendums throughout the suburbs as part of our presentation of endorsements for candidates and issues on the Nov. 6 ballot, but there were several questions we ignored altogether. You should ignore them, too.

These are nonbinding referendums added to regional and county ballots under the pretense of seeking voter advice about some issue. In reality, the last thing these referendums want is advice.

Instead, most are perverse attempts to either produce political talking points for the future or get selected voters to the polls by sounding false alarms.

One of the most prominent of these is a question on many local ballots regarding property taxes.

In Kane and DuPage counties, the question asks voters whether their officials should "oppose the Illinois General Assembly instituting a 1 percent annual real estate tax on the fair market value of your property to pay state unfunded liabilities." In Lake County, the phrasing asks whether lawmakers should "amend the State Constitution to ban the creation of a new statewide property tax?" No such question is on the countywide ballot in Cook, but numerous townships have added versions of it to theirs.

Voters should be aware that there is no serious proposal to create "a new statewide property tax," and certainly nothing as specific as a 1 percent tax increase.

Some economists from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago made news last spring with a similar proposal, but no one took the idea seriously, and there is no move for such a thing. From a political perspective, the very notion borders on the ridiculous.

But politicians who want to portray themselves as tax fighters know they can buff their image and get one-issue voters to the polls if they rile them up with ersatz threats of a looming new tax. Hence, a vaguely, in some cases confusingly worded question filled with buzzwords but no teeth.

Cook County ballots are playing a different game.

They include three questions that exist solely to make political points. One relates to penalties and certification related to gun sales. Two are targeted specifically to suburban communities -- asking voters whether "your municipality" should match the minimum wage and earned sick time provisions established by the county -- an apparent effort solely to embarrass the numerous suburban communities whose leaders opted out of those measures.

In other locales, you may see issues related to climate change, a statewide tax on vehicle miles traveled, restoring or rejecting the Cook County sweetened beverage tax, homeowner tax exemptions, government consolidation and more.

Some of these measures may deserve public debate. Almost none of them really aim to solicit your advice and absolutely none of them will have any material impact on what state or local government does. They were not worthy of consideration for our endorsement and they certainly are not worthy of your thought and time.

Suburban ballots include enough proposals requiring serious scrutiny on issues for fire departments, schools, communities and libraries. Don't surrender an instant of your study time on these issues to fall prey to some political interest's cynical gimmick to lure you into advancing its mission.

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Oct. 22, 2018

(Decatur) Herald & Review

Remember, we're more than politics

They have returned - the ominous voiceover people, filling our TVs and social media feeds with how candidate A can't be trusted or candidate B is everything wrong with humanity, didn't you know that?

They are part of the tapestry of election frenzy that's in the backstretch before November. This season seems especially hectic.

Maybe it's the gubernatorial contest featuring two wealthy candidates each so clearly out of touch with regular people. Or the "identity politics" that have enveloped the midterm elections and incumbent GOP Rep. Rodney Davis and Democrat Betsy Dirksen Londrigan.

It's all intertwined with our national division, fueled by so much unease about the "other side," whatever "other side" that is.

Here's what we're telling ourselves to get through all this chaos until Election Day:

(asterisk) Remember, we are all more alike than different, regardless of lawn signs or Facebook likes.

(asterisk) We are more than politics. Remember that teacher you loved when you were a child? What about that boss you adored? Do you know their party affiliation? Life is more about character than politics.

(asterisk) It is possible to disagree without being disagreeable.

(asterisk) It is possible to be exposed to an opinion and not adopt it, something that's good to keep in mind as you read candidate endorsements on this page. Consuming information you disagree with - even find abhorrent - might broaden your perspective.

(asterisk) It might not be worth getting upset about Taylor Swift's political views. We can agree on this, right?

(asterisk) It's probably a good idea to take advice on how to think with a grain of salt. In fact, apply that rule to this editorial.

Tune out the noise. And be sure to vote.