[EDITORIAL] CHIGAO: No more waiting to pay down big pension bills

POSTER BOY FOR WHAT'S WRONG WITH CHICAGO!!

Chicago had better start budgeting like the game is up.

On Friday, a Cook County judge rejected Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan to restructure two of the city’s underfunded pension systems. If the Illinois Supreme Court does not reverse the lower court — and that’s looking like a pipe dream — the city will be on the hook for billions of dollars more just to adequately fund the Municipal Employees and Laborers pension funds.

On top of that, Friday’s ruling makes it extremely likely the city will remain on the hook for billions of dollars to adequately fund its police, firefighter and teacher pension systems.

New revenue must be found now, mostly through an array of loathsome tax increases, and cuts in city services are inevitable. That pension debt keeps growing. There can be no more waiting on the courts to give their seal of approval to pension reform schemes that border on wishful thinking.

But even if Chicago takes the most painful measures, a day may come when the city simply cannot pay full benefits to a retired worker. One would hope that the specter of this alone might compel the unions to agree to reasonable pension cuts — to better protect what they’ve got. But that, too, might be a pipe dream.

When Judge Rita Novak shot down the city’s pension reform plan, a union spokesman called it “a win for all city residents.”

It was, in fact, a disaster.

Via: Chicago Sun Times

Continue Reading....

Emanuel to face the music after pension ruling

The fat lady has been singing about Chicago’s plan to save two of four city employee pension funds ever since the Illinois Supreme Court overturned state pension reforms, but Mayor Rahm Emanuel chose to ignore it.

Now, the mayor has no choice but to face the music.

Cook County Court Judge Rita Novak on Friday overturned the city reforms to the cheers of retired city employees who’ve been paying more and receiving less since Jan. 1.

Novak cited the “crystal-clear direction” provided by the Illinois Supreme Court and the high court’s reading of the Illinois Constitution: Membership in a government employee pension system “shall be an enforceable contractual relationship, the benefits of which shall not be diminished or impaired.”

“Here, as in the case before the Supreme Court, ‘There is simply no way that the annuity reduction provisions…can be reconciled with the rights and protections established by the people of Illinois when they ratified the Illinois Constitution of 1970 and its pension protection clause,’ ” Novak wrote.

The deal that Emanuel painstakingly negotiated with scores of union leaders raised employee contributions by 29 percent — from 8.5 percent currently to 11 percent by 2019 — and ended compounded cost-of-living adjustments for retirees ineligible for Social Security that have been a driving force behind the city’s pension crisis.

The city started collecting the higher payments on Jan. 1.

Emanuel had argued that the Chicago pension reforms were fundamentally different than the state reforms imposed “arbitrarily.”

His corporation counsel Stephen Patton further claimed that the city’s commitment to “preserve and protect” the two funds amounted to a “massive net benefit.”

But, Novak concluded that the “net benefit” theory “does not survive scrutiny” because it’s based on “several premises that are wholly inconsistent with constitutional teachings.”

“Pension benefits cannot be netted against funding schemes, regardless of any salutary outcomes they may have. To do so would render the rights guaranteed by the pension protection clause illusory. Such a result is contrary to the pension protection clause its purpose and the Supreme Court’s interpretations of it,” Novak wrote.

“It disregards the settled distinction between pension benefits, which are constitutionally protected, and funding choices, which are not . . . It fails to account for the fact that each of the ‘benefits’ that are ‘netted’ against the constitutionally protected right to pension benefits are subject to change at any time . . . The General Assembly is not free to diminish benefits even if offering increased financial stability.”

Via: Chicago Sun-Times

Continue Reading..

Chicago Fires 1400 Teachers To Fund Extravagant Pensions

About 1,400 Chicago public school teachers and staff are expected to lose their jobs in order to finance a pension debt of $634 million, the city announced Wednesday.

The layoffs are part of an aggressive $200 million budget cut to help finance the pension payment, which is required of Chicago Public Schools by Illinois law. The rest of the pension payment is coming from heavy borrowing, as the district already has a massive $1.1 billion budget deficit.

In announcing the layoffs, Mayor Rahm Emanuel blamed the rest of the state for not picking up the slack, saying the rest of Illinois doesn’t pay its fair share for pensions.

“You negotiate with your teachers in Aurora… Then we get to pay for it,”Emanuel said at a press conference. He said the state should change its funding formula so “You… come to the table and start paying your share for what you negotiated.”

But lawmakers in Springfield failed to act, leaving “unconscionable” cuts as the only option, he said.

Chicago’s public schools have seen repeated mass layoffs in recent years thanks to a budget situation that is in perpetual crisis. In 2014, about 1,100 employees were laid off, and over 3,000 lost their jobs in 2013. (RELATED: Chicago Public Schools Whack 1000 Employees)

Still, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) released a statement saying it was totally “blindsided” by the mass firing, and accusing city officials of trying to “retaliate” against them for a recent breakdown in contract negotiations.

“These layoffs prove that the Board never intended to make the pension payment in good faith and that they are using this to justify more attacks on our classrooms,” said CTU president Karen Lewis. “Putting 1,400 people out of work is no way to balance a budget and resource our schools. This is going to hurt our students and the most vulnerable children in our district.”

Via: Daily Caller

Continue Reading...

Gun Control Success: 30 Shot In Chicago Since Friday…Update: Reportedly Now Up To 42, 12 More Folks Shot…

The article linked above only covers the Saturday shootings. This one covers the Friday shootings, including of an 81 year old grandmother. “This is the genocide that happens in our backyard,” said one neighbor.

But #BlackLivesMatter, right?

Via: Weasel Zippers

Continue Reading....

Obama strives to be 'my brother’s keeper' $200 Million more!!

President Obama on Thursday will establish a new interagency task force charged with promoting opportunities for young men of color through an examination of government policies and programs.

The program, dubbed “My Brother’s Keeper,” will ask businesses and foundations to fund programs across the country designed to keep young minority men employed or in school and out of jail.

“For decades, opportunity has lagged behind for boys and young men of color. But across the country, communities are adopting approaches to help put these boys and young men on the path to success,” a White House official said in a statement. “The president wants to build on that work.”

The president will announce that foundations supporting the initiative have pledged at least $200 million over the next five years to “find and rapidly spread solutions that have the highest potential for impact,” the White House said. 

Efforts receiving commitments will include those targeting early child development and school readiness, parenting and parent engagement, third grade literacy, and school discipline reform. 

Programs helping reduce minority interactions with the criminal justice system and improve health and economic opportunities will also be among those evaluated by the task force, which has three months to design an plan for coordinating the $200 million in commitments.

According to the White House, the panel will also work across the federal government to assess the impact of federal policies on boys of color, create an online portal of programs that have a proven record of success, and recommend ways the White House can continue to partner with the private sector on outreach efforts.

Obama will announce that the effort will be chaired by Assistant to the President and Cabinet Secretary Broderick Johnson at a ceremony in the East Room of the White House. 

Colin Powell, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, NBA hall-of-famer Magic Johnson, and NBA commissioner Adam Silver are also expected to be in attendance, as will business leaders, faith leaders, state and local officials, and participants of a youth guidance program called “Becoming a Man” that targets boys on Chicago’s South Side. 

The president has met repeatedly with the group, and heralded it as an example of how small interventions can help keep young minorities out of trouble.

Also in attendance will be Fox News host Bill O’Reilly, according to the network’s media reporter,

Via: The Hill
Continue Reading....

‘The Emancipation Proclamation was an executive action’: Rahm Emanuel backs Obama’s executive overreach ‘one thousand percent’

Democratic Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel went to bat for his former boss Monday, claiming he supports President Obama’s strategy of bypassing Congress “one thousand percent” and comparing Obama’s executive orders on healthcare to the Emancipation Proclamation.

Emanuel — the former White House chief of staff in Washington DC on Monday to receive federal money for a new “manufacturing hub” in Chicago — spoke with CNN’s Jim Acosta. The reporter asked if he thought Obama’s plan to use executive actions to ignore an unwilling Congress is the right approach.

“One thousand percent,” he declared. “He can’t allow America’s future to be held hostage by a Congress that won’t do anything.”

And what about worries over an imperial presidency? “So? Well, I dunno,” he began. “These are not equal, but the Emancipation Proclamation was an executive action. Integrating the armed forces was an executive action.”

“There are times which, if Congress would step up, the president would work with them,” he added. “But he has a responsibility not to let the future slip from our hands.”

Emanuel also waved away concerns about a looming Democratic defeat in midterm elections this November. “The one thing I know about politics,” he claimed, “is that anybody who tells you they know what’s gonna happen ten months from now doesn’t know what they’re talking about.”

And he provided valuable insight into how a stateside Democratic politician views Washington DC. “I like coming here when I can take money back home,” he said, laughing. “And this is one of those opportunities.”

Via: Daily Caller

Continue Reading.....

False job numbers: Did the White House know?

That like asking is snow white!!!!

Let me be the first to ask: Did the White House know that employment reports were being falsified?

Last week I reported exclusively that someone at the Census Bureau’s Philadelphia region had been screwing around with employment data. And that person, after he was caught in 2010, claimed he was told to do so by a supervisor two levels up the chain of command.

On top of that, a reliable source whom I haven’t identified said the falsification of employment data by Census was widespread and ongoing, especially around the time of the 2012 election.

There’s now a congressional investigation of how Census handles employment data. And we can hope that we’ll find out this was just an isolated incident.

But let me tell you why it might not be.

Back in 2009 — right before the 2010 census of the nation was taken — there was an announcement that the Obama administration had decided that the Census Bureau would report to senior White House aides.

The rumor was that Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel was in charge of the nationwide head count.

The chief of the Commerce Department usually oversees the Census, which determines how many congressional representatives and how much money each state gets for the next decade. But the Obama administration had decided — the story went — that Emanuel was a better guy for the job.

Via: NY Post

Continue Reading.....

Rahm Emanuel’s next Ventra headache: minority contracting

The disastrous rollout of the CTA’s new Ventra fare payment system already has a heavy potential for political fallout for Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Now, the mayor has a new headache: minority contracting.

Only 7.2 percent of the $329 million base contract with Cubic Transportation, the Ventra vendor — minus financing costs — is shared by black contractors.

Chicago firms are getting a 9.6 percent piece of the pie.

Twenty-six percent of that 9.6 percent is going to a white woman who once served as former Mayor Richard M. Daley’s campaign manager for “marketing and outreach.” Carolyn Grisko, who started her own firm after running Daley’s 1995 campaign, said she has been working on the Ventra contract “since Day One”— not just since the rollout went south.

“We did all the branding, advertising and community outreach. We had to develop all the advertising in-station and out-of-station,” Grisko told the Chicago Sun-Times. Her 12-year contract coincides with Cubic’s and is valued at $8.3 million over the life of the agreement.

Via: Chicago Sun-Times

Continue Reading....

ObamaCare architect defends plan, says president not to blame for rollout glitches

WASHINGTON –  The architect of the Affordable Care Act insisted on “Fox News Sunday” that President Obama isn’t to blame for the rocky rollout of ObamaCare and deflected charges that the administration misled Americans about being able to keep their current health plans.

Ezekiel Emanuel, a bioethicist, was part of the president’s health care reform team for two years and is the brother of former Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.

“We grandfathered in plans,” Emanuel said.

Host Chris Wallace pressed Emanuel to defend the growing number of cancellation notices sent to people whose plans changed after the law was implemented, but Emanuel could not.

Instead, he blamed much of the problems on insurance companies and not the new law.

“The law does not say ‘Sears drop coverage!’ Sears decides what’s good for Sears,” Emanuel said. “The insurance decides how to make money. When the private companies decide to drop an individual, you blame Obama. He isn’t responsible for that.”

Via: Fox News

Continue Reading.....

House Democrats Pull Pages From the Rahm Playbook

Democrats have taken a few pages from Rahm Emanuel’s playbook in hopes of boosting their difficult quest to win the House majority in 2014.

The Chicago mayor served as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2006, when his party beat long odds to win the majority for the first time in more than a decade. This cycle, Democrats face a similarly tough challenge: picking up seats in 17 districts on a map drawn to give the GOP an advantage.

To accomplish this, DCCC ChairmanSteve Israel has sought to emulate his former mentor with relentless recruitment, an incessant focus on messaging and Emanuel’s aggressive style — minus a few four-letter expletives.

The two Democrats have a lot in common. Former aides note their shared religion, gregarious public personas, all-in approach to wooing candidates and their soundbite-driven quests to drive messaging.

Israel served as one of Emanuel’s recruitment lieutenants in 2006, along with Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, who ran the DCCC in 2008 and 2010. Israel and Emanuel met recently in Chicago and speak regularly by phone, the New York Democrat confirmed in a Tuesday interview with CQ Roll Call.

Via: Roll Call

Continue Reading.....

The Predators’ Moll Column: Hillary Clinton (D., Goldman Sachs)

Two recent events organized by the investment bank Goldman Sachs featured a special guest. Goldman arranged to have one of the most successful investors in the world make remarks at last week’s AIMS Alternative Investment Conference in Chicago. And at this week’s Builders and Innovators Summit in Marana, Ariz., the same guest responded to questions from Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman’s chair and CEO. I hope the audience took notes.

Where else, after all, can “emerging and seasoned entrepreneurs from a diverse set of industries” hear the story of how a Yale law student turned an investment of time and energy into a marriage to a serial philanderer, a successful career in politics, and a fortune estimated above $100 million? For lessons in how to succeed in business by really trying, in how to manipulate the levers of government, finance, and philanthropy for massive personal gain, there is no better teacher than Hillary Clinton.

The New York Times  reports that Clinton brings in around $200,000 per speech, so in the space of a single week she made enough money to put her in the much-derided top 1 percent of U.S. taxpayers. But in this case I am less interested in her earnings than in the institution that booked her. There was a time, oh about a year ago, when a political figure would not have been able to associate with a symbol of rapacious capitalism such as Goldman Sachs without paying a price. And there was a time, oh about a year ago, when Wall Street had had just about enough of the Democratic Party and the redistributive egalitarianism it represents.

But those days clearly are over. Preparations are well underway for Clinton’s inevitable presidential candidacy: George Soros, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and Rahm Emanuel are all on board; David Brock is at his battle-station; a well-placed leak reveals that Senate Democratic women have pledged their allegiance to the former secretary of state. One of Clinton’s few remaining tasks is to win over Wall Street, and out-raise and intimidate potential opponents.

Via: WFB

Continue Reading.....