-By Warner Todd Huston
The Illinois Policy Institute recently released its recommendations for how Illinois could fix its pension mess. Titled the Pension Funding and Fairness Act, the IPI assures the state that this is the answer to its pension problems. Despite that assurance, another Illinois policy group begs to differ. In an Illinois policy group head-to-head smack-down the Illinois Alliance for Growth* has published a critique of the IPI proposal resulting.
One of the proposals in the IPI plan is for Illinois to borrow $20 billion to tide the pensions over while the state legislature makes the needed adjustments to the pension laws. IPI Director Jim Tillman is saying that his plan is a case of “responsible borrowing” a claim that the IAFG finds risible.
IAFG chief Greg Blankenship feels that the IPI doesn’t understand the situation and scoffs at the IPI’s prescriptions. Says Blankenship:
The Act is fatally flawed both constitutionally and politically. The proposal can be legislatively undermined, it absolves politicians of their responsibilities and it’s goals are misguided.
The IAG website has a long breakdown on all the things it feels it wrong with the IPI plan. Blankenship sums up his critique saying, “clearly they aren’t getting it.”
What’s clear is that the Institute is failing to understand the political history of pension reform in Illinois, the 1970 Illinois State Constitution as well as incentives of political actors. The balloon payments coming due as a result of the mid-1990’s reforms coupled with the abandonment of those reforms under the Blagojevich-Quinn administrations are all ready beginning to force some tough choices in Springfield. Policymakers are beginning to take steps to understand the challenges ahead. The stark choices of reforming or reducing state spending versus higher taxes will give voters ample opportunity to hold Springfield’s political class accountable. Why undo that?
Jim Tillman, CEO of the Illinois Policy Institute has sent out a long reply to Mr. Blakenship.
It all makes for an interest difference between the two groups whose charge is to advise Illinois politicians on how to craft state policies. This dispute shows a clear difference between the two groups.
*The Illinois Alliance for Growth is a new Illinois policy think tank founded only a year ago by former IPIer Greg Blankenship. Blankenship was the founder of the Illinois Policy Institute but left in January of 2009 to head up the new IAFG. It’s so new, in fact, that all of the features and pages on its website are not yet finished.
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer, has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and is featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, RightWingNews.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, TheRealityCheck.org, RedState.com, Human Events Magazine, AmericanDailyReview.com, and the New Media Journal, among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a frequent guest on talk-radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events and is currently the co-host of “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Conservatism” heard on BlogTalkRadio. Warner is also the editor of the Cook County Page for RedCounty.com.
He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book “Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture” which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of PubliusForum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston
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