Even Senator Dan Biss says Governor Private Equity’s pension plan is unconstitutional. A low bar, indeed.

IEA Retired member Jack Tucker explains pension law to Senator Dan Biss. 

I had to laugh this morning reading Greg Hinz.

It wasn’t funny – “ha ha.” It was one of those other kind of laughs. I don’t know what to call it. Like when you read something obvious yet stupid and you turn to your partner and make a sound somewhere between “humph” and “hrgh.”

The Hinz news flash is that Governor Private Equity’s pension math doesn’t work.

And that even Skokie Democratic Sentor Dan Biss, a key legislative backer of Senate Bill 1, thinks the plan is unconstitutional.

This is the same Senator Biss who told me, “I don’t know much about the constitution, but I know about math.”

Even that Senator Dan Biss knows this turkey won’t fly.

Governor Private Equity doesn’t know much about either math or the constitution. There’s a businessman for you.

The core of the constitutional issue is that you can’t change a constitutionally protected contractual arrangement mid-course.

You would think a businessman would at least understand contracts.

If teachers and other state employees signed a contract with the state, can the state then turn around and say that from this date forward the contract is null and void?

Can a contract be unilaterally changed?

It doesn’t matter if Governor Private Equity does or doesn’t think so. If such a bill were to pass the Democratic Party controlled legislature it would be challenged in court.

It will keep going like that until the state addresses the revenue issue.

And meanwhile…tick-tock.

The pension liability grows. Now it is estimated at $111 billion.

The crazy thing is that if you talk to a Springfield insider they will tell you that there is no legislative Plan B for when the court likely rules that SB 1 is unconstitutional.

Walk up to a legislator and mention the word public employee pension and they will turn ashen and walk away.

These goofs are expecting that when the court rules against SB1 they will – at the same time – tell the legislators what to do next.

They are hoping the Court will say, “What you did is unconstitutional. Here is what you should do to write a constitutional pension theft law.”

Like asking someone to do your homework for you.

Speaking of legislators, ten have signed on to Representative Will Guzzardi’s high stakes testing opt out bill, HB306: Andrade, Dunkin, Williams, Cassidy, Fine, Martwick, Gabel, Lilly, Welch and T. Morrison.

They are holding a press conference at 10 AM at the Thompson Center.

Call them. Thank them. And if one of them is not yours, give yours a call to sign on too.