“So what has been the history of the Daley family when it comes to their own public pensions?”
Good question Earl.
When Bill Daley’s brother, Richie Daley, left office he ended up with quite a little pension.
As the Tribune has reported:
Two years into his reign as Chicago’s longest-serving mayor, Richard M. Daley took advantage of the state’s convoluted pension system to significantly increase his potential payout while saving $400,000 in contributions, a Tribune/WGN-TV investigation has found.
Daley, a former state senator, made it happen by briefly rejoining the legislative pension plan in 1991. He stayed there just one month before returning to Chicago’s municipalpension fund, but the switches made him eligible for benefits worth 85 percent of his mayoral salary — a better rate than all other city employees receive.
He was just 49 years old at the time. Even if Daley had never won another election, he could have started collecting a public pension at age 55 of $97,750 a year. Without the steps he took, his public pension benefits at that age would have been worth just $20,686.
Of course, Daley went on to win five more elections, remaining ensconced on the fifth floor of City Hall for the next two decades. When he retired last May, his pension benefits had grown to $183,778 a year — about $50,000 more than he would have otherwise received.
Daley declined to be interviewed for this story. His spokeswoman, Jacquelyn Heard, wrote in an email: “I can only assume that his pension was handled in the same manner that anyone’s would be, given the length of service — nearly 40 years — in government.”
The Tribune and WGN-TV already have detailed how Daley used the city’s pension fund for political purposes. In 1991, the same year he secured his much larger pension, Daley’s administration helped aldermen land a dramatic pension increase, providing them with benefits far exceeding those of the average city worker.
The same legislation, rushed through the General Assembly on the last day of the session, also gave private labor leaders public pensions based on their much higher union salaries. Under Daley’s watch, former Chicago Federation of Labor President Dennis Gannon was given a one-day city job that allowed him to collect a public pension based on his $200,000 private union salary.
In 1995, when Daley wanted to fund his school reform package, his administration pushed legislation that allowed it to divert $1.5 billion from the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund over a 15-year period.
Bill Daley, by the way, also has done rather well with pensions, although not public ones.
New White House chief of staff Bill Daley received more than $15 million in salary, bonuses and pension distributions from banking giant JP Morgan Chase since the beginning of last year, according to records released Friday.
Fred Klonsky 
Pension fund fiasco? Well, you haven’t seen anything yet unless you read this baby: http://www.scribd.com/doc/106337306/THE-CHICAGO-PUBLIC-SCHOOLS-ALLERGIC-TO-ACTIVISM
My professional length of service in government, well actually in public education in service to the public: almost 40 years. My pension take: lots less. Lots, lots less.
Twenty two years ago while working for the State of Illinois we were given the opportunity to retire if we had reached a certain age and/or worked a certain number of years. If we lacked a few years for either we could “buy” them by paying into Social Security. They wanted to be rid of us who were at the top of the pay scale at the time, so they could hire new people at lower salaries. At the time I was only making about $35,000 a year. It was around September that we received the letter, and we had until December 31st to make our exit, if we chose to do so. Since I was only 53 and had two kids in college, as well as divorced, I didn’t know if it was feasible to retire. Decided to look for another job first and found one immediately. Notified the powers-that-be that I would retire on December 31st. Luckily, I added the sentence “or earlier if I can’t stand it.” Two weeks later I couldn’t stand it and retired three days after telling them. Retired on Friday and started a new job on Monday.
My pension was larger than my salary on the new job and I was a full-time employee. They were not unionized and three full-time employees who had been there for several years and had families, were also on public aid because their salaries were so low. We finally unionized and were still making next to nothing – around $15,000 with an MA.
Now I live in fear of what will happen to my State pension. I only paid $25,000 and something into the retirment fund, but have drawn over $500,000 since retiring. No wonder they are going broke. How much did they save by asking us to retire early? Received a letter recently that I have to start paying for part of my health insurance that has been free since retirement. My medical for the last six years have been over $560,000 for me alone. What is next? I feel guilty enough in view of the pension mess and my contributing to the problem, but have this unshakable desire to eat, have a place to live and be healthy.