Keeping retirement weird. Springfield memories.

Amtrak to Springfield.

Early Monday morning I will board the Amtrak at Union Station for the three hour trip to Springfield. It is the biennial convention of the 40,000 member Illinois Retired Teachers Association.

I’m looking forward to hearing from our attorney, John Fitzgerald. John is with the firm of Tabet DiVito & Rothstein. It was Gino DiVito who gave the main oral argument before the Illinois Supreme Court in the historic case that preserved pensions for current retirees and those in the public pension systems.

John will bring us up to day on the legal shenanigans that continue around our public pensions.

I will be taking copious notes.

However, it does mean that I will be in the state capital for Halloween. Scary enough. I’ll try getting out early enough to get home in time for trick or treating.

Plus the legislature will not be in session, so there is safety in that.

There was the time I was in Springfield and had dinner at Saputo’s and watched as a stream of very large lobbyists with big pinky rings approached Mike Madigan at his regular corner table, bending over to whisper in his ear.

The time the IEA cancelled Lobby Day because of imaginary construction in the Capitol. Our local went anyway and got thrown out of Governor Quinn’s office.

That weird moment when I found myself  lobbying my chief lobbyist to have the union support a testing opt-out bill. They never did support it.

Searching South Springfield for the birth place of the corn dog with shop teacher Steve Senf and finding it. Surprisingly, it did not come on a stick.

Senator Dick Durbin speaking to a group of us,  union members, supporting the Iraq War.

Marching with ten thousand people ten years ago for a fair income tax. We’re still waiting for that one.

The IRTA convention is held at a hotel close to the interstate. It is not in downtown Springfield, which doesn’t really matter to me.

There is not much that is charming about Springfield.

But once every couple of trips I head over to Lincoln’s grave in a cemetery on the north side of town.

I like paying my respects to the great man.

There’s one in town, anyway.

Download this week’s podcast of Hitting Left with the Klonsky Brothers with film makers Petter Kuttner and Floyd Webb.

Why won’t Alderman Pawar attend a retired teachers’ candidate forum? It seems odd to me.

First of all, I have been hit with some weird WordPress bug this morning which dropped this post earlier today.

For a while it seemed I had lost my entire library of WordPress images.

Argh!

I have worked it out.

So, let’s try this post again.

I am a five-year member of a north suburban chapter of the Illinois Retired Teachers Association. For years, and way before I joined, the chapter held candidate forums at our luncheon during our frequent election cycles. We invite all candidates, Republicans and Democrats.

Our chapter holds luncheons four or five times a year with speakers on various topics of concern to retired teachers. Retirees are very active and politically aware. The candidates forum usually has the largest attendance.

With the Illinois Governor’s race coming up, we scheduled a luncheon for September and invited all the candidates. They accepted our invite, including Alderman Ameya Pawar. He posted his appearance on Eventbrite.

 

In fact, the Eventbrite post is a little confusing. It only mentions the Alderman. It doesn’t mention that it is a luncheon in which those attending pay for the food they eat. It seemed to some as if our chapter of IRTA had endorsed the Alderman. Which is not even remotely true.

Shortly after the notice on Eventbrite the Alderman contacted the retirees who have been working hard to organize the event and told them that he was not going to appear.

Although I am an officer in the chapter, I don’t speak for the chapter. But I was asked to contact the Alderman’s people to see what was up. We had Alderman Pawar on our Hitting Left radio show and podcast. I thought he said some good things. I have no other personal history with Alderman Pawar. But I offered to contact his people.

I contacted his schedule guy, Will Pierce.

Will,

This is Fred Klonsky. Ald. Pawar apppeared on our radio show, Hitting Left with the Klonsky Brothers and I blog at Fredklonsky.com. I’m also vp of the North Lakeshore Illinois Retired Teachers Association. I understand there is a problem with scheduling the Alderman for our gubernatorial candidates forum and wonder if you can give me a call?

Will wrote back.

Thanks Fred, the Alderman would love to attend but due to the conflicting scheduling request along with a number of outstanding concerns which I have asked and still have not addressed:

-Not receiving a formal invite outlining the format and rules which was promised a while ago.

-Receiving confirmation regarding all other campaigns receiving notice they can not invite guests as it is a closed door event

-Information regarding media credentialing and if media will be invited

Should you have any further questions or concerns, please let me know.

Thanks!

Will Pierce

We organize our luncheons to promote civic engagement. We charge for lunch to cover our costs. It is held in the basement of the Elks Club in Des Plaines.

Many of us take half of our lunch home for dinner.

It is by no means a profitable enterprise.

I am not aware of any other candidate sending us a list of concerns like this for this event or ever before. But,  I’m sure we could have worked it out. We don’t have a policy regarding “media credentialing.” If candidates bring friends, we ask them to pay for their food. We cover the cost of the candidate’s meal. The format changes each time depending on the feedback we get from our members. But it is not complicated. Usually the candidate speaks for a few minutes and then we take questions.

I mean its a retiree luncheon, not a nationally televised debate.

I just don’t get it.

Aderman Pawar is not exactly surging in the polls.

I would have thought that having a chance to speak to a room full of retired teachers would be seen by the Alderman as an opportunity.

But I wish him good luck.

Illinois Retired Teachers Association: $500 million less to TRS this year.

As I reported in the previous post, the Illinois legislature reversed a TRS decision to reduce the assumed return on investments.

The impact of this decision is to reduce the amount the state will contribute to the state teacher retirement system and increase the debt and liability.

From the Illinois Retired Teachers Association:

For the first time in over two years, the state of Illinois has a full year budget. Up until this point, the state had gotten by on court ordered payment and continuing appropriations and stop gap budgets. 

 Senate Bill 6, which included the partial year for 2017 and full year budget for 2018, passed the General Assembly last week. Although promptly vetoed by Governor Rauner, it was over ridden by both the House and the Senate so it takes effect immediately. This includes full funding for the Teacher Retirement Insurance Program. Unfortunately, the General Assembly changed the funding formula for retirement systems, which allows for smoothing.  Because of this smoothing, TRS will receive approximately $500 million less than the actuarial amount certified by the board earlier this year

 Senate Bill 9 is also now law because both chambers overrode the governor’s veto. This is the revenue portion of the budget package. This implements a 4.95 percent personal income tax, up from 3.75 percent, and increases the corporate rate to 7 percent.

 Senate Bill 42, the third component of the package, is the implementation arm of the budget. This piece of legislation provides the spending authority to the comptroller to spend the funds allocated in the budget. You might remember earlier in the year this bill contained language that would have removed the continuing appropriation for TRIP.  This version of the legislation does not contain that language.

 Where does the state stand now: 

 Education funding is the final sticking point with the budget. 

 Senate Bill 1, the education funding reform legislation passed both the House and the Senate, and is currently waiting to be signed into law. The problem is the governor has said he would veto it, but he has not thus far. 

 This legislation is tied to the budget because as the budget is written, funding to local school districts can only be distributed based on the new funding formula in the bill, so unless the governor signs Senate Bill 1 schools may not open on time. 

 Both chambers of the General assembly are prepared to return to Springfield before the end of July to override the governor’s veto if and when he decides to do that. If he decides to sign it into law then schools will receive their funding as laid out in the budget bill.

 As we continue through the summer, the General Assembly working groups are also continuing to work on other issues the governor has insisted he wants passed such as a property tax freeze, workers compensation reform and local government consolidation just to name a few.

IRTA political action fund.

If you are a retired teacher in Illinois and have not signed up for the one dollar a month automatic pension deduction, here is the form:

Senior moments. Lunch with retired teachers.

Me and Fred Schroeder, my former Superintendent.

I had lunch with the my folks yesterday, members of the North Lakeshore Illinois Retired Teachers Association.

TRS trustee Bob Lyons came to make a report. He admitted that there was not much to report from Springfield. Bob could not predict any compromises anytime soon.

He said that with 90% of the state’s obligations being met, it is only the most vulnerable who are getting hurt. Springfield doesn’t have much of a history of caring about the most vulnerable of the state’s citizens.

I asked about the report that TRS investments got a tiny 1% return. Bob smiled and told me that the 1% return put us in the top 10% of large state pension systems.

That’s how bad the market has been this year.

The major problem remains the failure of the state to make their pension payments over decades. Now the Governor is floating the idea of taking another pension holiday.

Crazy.

A few of us got into a conversation about Speaker Madigan and whether he would survive the challenge he is facing in the primary.

I said I didn’t think there was much of a chance that Madigan would be defeated. As much as I dislike (to say the least) the Speaker, the Governor has done a masterful job of handing Madigan a wide range of supporters, now including Chuy Garcia and the CTU.

I also ran into my old friend Fred Schroeder.

During the many years I was President of the Park Ridge Education Association, Fred was the Superintendent for most of that time.

He was a good one.

I joked when I told him that being a good superintendent was a pretty low bar compared to the ones who came before him and the ones that followed him.

We had our battles, Fred and I.  It is what you would expect from a union president and a school superintendent.

But there was mutual respect. He respected the union and teachers. He not only listened, but together we created structures that actually encouraged teacher leadership in our building which improved teaching and learning. 

Those things are hard to sustain when administrative leadership and the board turn adversarial.

 

Illinois retired teachers active in Florida.

-By Ken Previti. Ken’s blog can be found here.

The Little Giant that began the legal suit to the Illinois Supreme Court that successfully defended the constitutional rights of retired Illinois teachers’ pensions met with those retirees who presently live in Florida. I attended the Sarasota meeting in mid-February, and was pleased to hear their repeated promise. “We will go back to court in the event that any of our benefits are threatened,” stated IRTA President David Davison.

While the Illinois Education Association, NEA/IEA, had pushed hard to support SB2404, which would have surrendered some of our constitutionally protected rights and benefits, our little non-union affiliated IRTA hired lawyers to take the case to the Illinois Supreme Court rather than agreeing to diminish our incomes without a challenge. At the time, Illinois had a Democratic governor and a super-majority Democratic House and Senate. Corruption and attacks on teacher pensions have no political party affiliations.

The NEA/IEA then joined with the other We Are One Illinois (WAOI) coalition of unions to support the challenge to active and retired teachers’ income. Together we won.

IRTA Executive Director Jim Bachman elucidated the ongoing plans to actively support political candidates who support teachers and their earned compensation, our pensions. Included in his comments are the next General Election facts of life.

“Of the nine members facing a General Election [for Illinois Senate seats], six of them have stood by the IRTA and defended our members when necessary.  (Tom Cullerton, Laura Murphy, Melinda Bush, Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant, Scott Bennett and Gary Forby).

We are asking to provide financial support to the nine members listed above with Primary and General Elections.”

David Davison was surprised, as was I, to see how few retirees in the room had ever visited the superb IRTA Site or the Illinois Retired Teachers Association Facebook page. In the second half of the second decade of the 21st Century, retirees must learn to help themselves defend their own incomes by using sources beyond corporate controlled TV news and newspapers. Davison encouraged members to visit the IRTA site for their own good.

I was glad to see the presentations that were given a thousand miles away from the Illinois home I once lived in.  The IRTA has a list of the various state visits on its site.

Hear Ralph Martire at our North Lakeshore IRTA luncheon.

CBTA Executive Director, Ralph Martire

I just got a call that we still have room for folks to join us to hear Ralph Martire, Executive Director of the Center for Budget and Tax Accountability, at our IRTA chapter luncheon next week.

Ralph is a not-to-be-missed speaker on the state’s budget crisis and pension solutions.

Please try and join us on Thursday, November 19th at 11:30 at the Elks Club in Des Plaines, 495 Lee Street.

You don’t need to print out the form. Just send an email with the info to Chaya Rubenstein by Thursday, November 12th: chrubenstein@gmail.com

Springfield. I’m outta here.

Springfield doesn’t belong to Rauner. These signs are all over town.

I’m here for the state convention of the Illinois Retired Teachers Association. I would have come by Amtrak. There’s a train from Chicago’s Union Station to downtown Springfield. But the train that then goes on to St. Louis is not running this month while they do track repairs.

If I was going to spend any time lobbying at the state Capitol while I was here that isn’t going to happen. Like the train to St. Louis, nobody in state government is working in Springfield, except state workers. Legislators are gone and won’t be back until November 10th.

If you thought there was a sense of urgency to pass a budget and have money flowing back to early child care centers for low-income families, or checks to doctors so their chemo patients can get treatment, you’re mistaken.

There is real pain because of the governor’s demand that any budget passed by the legislature include his union-busting agenda.

There is this odd sense of mixed feelings about the budget. Even if one is passed, it won’t be enough to pay the bill to care for the most needy. Not without increased revenue.

Revenue that should come from a fair tax that makes the rich pay their share.

Note to the coven of commenters that write to me about the rich leaving town if we make them pay more. Forget it. I’m not posting them.

I heard you. We all heard you.

There should be no budget agreement if it means ending collective bargaining. That would be a real hurt for the working families of the state.

The other news from Springpatch is that Charlie Parker’s restaurant won $25,000 in a contest for a famously local breakfast called a horseshoe.

The horseshoe is made of eggs, bacon, fries, cheese sauce, sausage gravy and hash browns on a toasted English muffin.

And a new Krispy Kreme opens in town this morning. The first 100 customers get a year’s worth of donuts.

I’m  getting out of here as soon as the meeting is over.

Illinois Retired Teachers Association. The little train that could.

Illinois Retired Teachers Association Bob Pinkerton making his final report as President to the state convention in Springfield.

About 360 delegates representing just short of 40,000 retired teachers are gathered today and tomorrow at a hotel in Springfield. The Illinois Retired Teachers Association meets every two years.

This is my fourth year as a retired teacher. The math is easy. This is my second state meeting.

I love this group.

The session started with a video tape of Gino DiVito, the lawyer who represented all the parties when he made the oral argument before the Illinois Supreme Court on the constitutionality of the Senate Bill 1, the pension theft.

But he and his firm were hired by IRTA with a defense fund of just over a half million dollars, donated in denominations of fives and tens.

DiVito crushed the arguments of the state’s attorney.

Bob Pinkerton, who has been president of IRTA during this crucial period, in a tone that is typical of the way things are understated by this group, reaffirmed the Associations commitment never to compromise on our pension benefits.

When the state coalition of public employee unions, including the IEA, worked out a compromise with Senate President Cullerton to give up retiree COLA benefits, it was the threat of a law suit by IRTA that threw a monkey wrench into those plans.

Many IEA retirees seem to be getting fed up with IEA leadership.

It turns out I’m not the only one not running as a retired delegate to the IEA RA this year.

The ballot will barely have enough candidates to fill all the delegate slots. In past years there have been nearly double the number of candidates as delegate slots.

With the IEA’s first-time use of electronic voting rather than mail-in ballots it will be interesting to see how many IEA retirees vote.

In the past the top vote getter would get just under 2000 votes out of 12,000 members.