62 former state lawmakers receiving more than $100K pensions

06/05/2020

Illinois’ broken pension system puts $100,000 a year or more into the hands of 62 former state lawmakers. It has paid more than $1 million to 94 of them.

TAGS: Arthur L. Berman, Barbara Flynn Currie, GARS: General Assembly Retirement System, Jim Edgar, lawmaker pay, Lou Lang, Pat Quinn, pensions

Madigan confidant used state worker’s silence on rape to prove political loyalty

By Brad Weisenstein

01/08/2020

Silence on a rape and about ghost workers were evidence of political loyalty that should save a state worker facing discipline, according to an email uncovered in an open records request.

TAGS: conflict of interest, ethics, FBI: Federal Bureau of Investigation, federal investigation, house rules, ILGA: Illinois General Assembly, Illinois, JB Pritzker, lawmakers, Legislative Inspector General, lobbying, Michael McClain, Mike Madigan, Mike McClain, Pat Quinn, redistricting, revolving door, Rod Blagojevich, sexual harrassment, Smart Scale, Springfield, Virginia, watchdog

A decade after recession, Illinois’ construction industry is ice cold

By Austin Berg

12/05/2019

Why is Illinois construction so weak? As it turns out, big government programs can’t paper over weak fundamentals.

TAGS: Bureau of Economic Analysis, construction, Erin Guthrie, gas tax, Great Recession, ILGA: Illinois General Assembly, JB Pritzker, Luis Arroyo, Martin Sandoval, minimum wage, outmigration, Pat Quinn, progressive income tax, property taxes, Springfield, U.S. Census Bureau

Happy birthday: The solution that never was to Illinois’ pension crisis

By Austin Berg

12/06/2018

Illinoisans should know lawmakers in the past made big moves to fix the state's worst-in-the-nation pension crisis. It’s politically possible. They just need a little reminder of our history.

TAGS: Mike Madigan, municipal pensions, Pat Quinn, pension guarantee, pensions

Chicago mayoral term limits small step closer to reality

09/05/2018

A group led by former Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn is one step closer to getting a binding referendum question on the November ballot that would place term limits on the mayor of Chicago.

TAGS: Chicago, mayor, Pat Quinn, Rahm Emanuel, term limits

Illinois lawmaker files legislation allowing delay of legislator pay after court ruling says politicians must be paid

03/23/2017

State Sen. Dan McConchie, R-Hawthorne Woods, filed legislation March 23 that would give the Illinois Comptroller’s office discretion to delay payments to lawmakers if insufficient funding exists to do so. This came just hours after a Cook County judge said lawmakers must be paid.

TAGS: budget, Chris Welch, Dan McConchie, Illinois Comptroller, John Cullerton, Kate Cloonen, lawmaker pay, Lisa Hernandez, Mary Flowers, Mike Madigan, Pat Quinn, Silvana Tabares, Susana Mendoza