WAS PAT QUINN “PUT ON THIS EARTH” TO SOLVE ILLINOIS’ PENSION PROBLEMS?

6/15/13

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn (no relation), in his never ending attempts to “do something” about the $100 billion unfunded pension liability in this state, has called a special legislative session for next Wednesday.   As of this writing, the idea is to have the special session vote on Speaker Mike Madigan’s pension reform plan  (See my 5/2/13 post MIKE MADIGAN’S PENSION REFORM PLAN:  “THE BEST THAT (WE) CAN HOPE FOR IS TO DIE IN (OUR) SLEEP.”)   The Senate will vote the plan down, as it did in the regular session.  Then a special, and just about unheard of, “conference committee” of legislative leaders will be formed to work toward pension reform throughout the summer.  Why as much couldn’t be accomplished by Speaker Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton sitting down together over a beer and a large sausage pie at Vito and Nick’s as will be accomplished in the conference committee is beyond me, but one supposes something resembling protocol must be observed.  Of course, I digress.   In short, the latest plan will accomplish as much on pensions as has been accomplished up until now…nothing.

But the Governor is trying.   And he will achieve some measure of success in these latest moves, probably not in addressing the pension issue but certainly in advancing a strategy for reelection; see my 6/5/13 post  PAT QUINN, PENSIONS, AND THE UPCOMING ILLINOIS GUBERNATORIAL PRIMARY:  WHAT WOULD JIMMY STEWART DO?.

Speaking of Governor Quinn, much ridicule has been made of his contention that he “was put on this earth” to solve Illinois’ public pension problem.  While there is doubtless plenty of the politicaster’s portentous and popinjayish puffery at work here, the Governor does have a point.  If the pension problem isn’t solved, Illinois goes bankrupt.   If Illinois goes bankrupt, the economic disruption throughout not only the state but also the country and the world would be enormous as the credit of every political entity short of those entities, like the federal government, that can print their own money, comes into question.  Not only would Illinois become something of a ghost state, if you will, but the whole world would face another financial crisis in which millions would suffer.

So, yes, solving the pension problem in Illinois, while perhaps sounding quite mundane to those who eschew things such as economics and finance in favor of loftier aspirations and purposes, would be quite a reason for anyone to have been “put on this earth.”  Pat Quinn knows that; too bad he is apparently alone among his Springfield colleagues in possessing this knowledge.

See my two books, The Chairman, A Novel of Big City Politics and The Chairman’s Challenge, A Continuing Novel of Big City Politics, for further illumination on how things work in Chicago and Illinois politics.