Editorial: Pritzker becomes latest governor to take a pension holiday

The News-Gazette in Champaign noted after new Gov. J.B. Pritzker unveiled his $39 billion spending plan that it diverted $838 million that was to be used for public-pension contributions to support other spending.

"That approach," the News-Gazette said, "is foolishly called a pension holiday.

"What a misnomer. It's really a pension nightmare because a pension dollar not contributed today requires many more pension dollars to be paid down the road to make up the spending gap."

In that editorial, the News-Gazette asked, "If Illinois is going to embrace another public-pension-contribution holiday, shouldn't the public be informed of what the financial consequences will be?"

We agree so strongly with what the News-Gazette had to say on the topic - and so strongly believe the message is vitally important - that we're turning today's editorial space over to it.

We encourage you to read the full editorial here.