Do some research and you will find that the Democrats had a plan to pay back pensions as early as 1994. Jim Edgar shot it down and came up with the wonderful (not) repayment plan we have today. Don't blame the Democrats when this can be traced directly to a Republican Governor. It's been a bipartisan problem since 1945 which became worse under Mr. Edgar.

@RB - what about the last 10 years - could they not have done anything since they controlled everything. Oh yeah, they did, they gave the unions A RAISE in the middle of the night.

Also, the Democrats and Madigan have controlled the house for all except TWO of the past THIRTY years. This is a DEMOCRAT/UNION problem.

The Democrats will vote for anyone that will give them their handouts - the leeches now out number the working voters in this state.

Dan, I don't want to pull out a plan from 20 years ago. I simply pointed out that a plan was proposed by the Democrats and Edgar would not go along with it. He wanted his own plan, the one we are dealing with today. You can't blame just Democrats. We have to move forward and solve it. You and others harass the Democrats when the Republican fingers are all over the mess we are in....right along with Democrats. Both parties screwed this up!

Daniel Krudup, Michael Madigan and John Cullerton are elected to their positions by Chicago residents, not people in Deerfield. While you are correct about them being ignorant partyline voters, Districts of these two are in Chicago.

Dan - as long as people in IL send democrats to Springfield, that is the leadership we get. They are voting for those people by proxy.

Yes, and can you blame thjem? The City of Chicago residents elect Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton back into office, no matter how bad of a job they do. The State of Illinois would be better off, if it allowed Chicago to split off and be its own State, with Cook County as its boundries.

@Dan Cox

Don't blame the residents of Chicago. Folks here in Deerfield and the surrounding area also wanted to keep Madigan and Cullerton to stay in power since they elected a Democrat for both the State Senate and the House.

@ Walter White,

I believe there were some very qualified Republican candidates this time around but the constituency in this area prefers Democrats no matter how corrupt and no matter what damage they do to the State.

Just facts. You don't like them but you obviously didn't do any research. Typical.

Facts always get in the way of a good story.

When did Edgar get a vote?

Jim Edgar, Republican. Makes over $300,000 per year from the State.
Jim Edgar, Republican signed into law Senate Bill 3,(sponsored by Republicans) which allowed government school teachers and administrators outside of Chicago to retire after 34 years of teaching and receive 75 percent of their final pay.
Jim Edgar, Republican turned down a Democrat sponsored plan that would have successfully solved the Pension mess - building since 1945, for his own plan....the one we have today.
So, to say I'm part of the problem? I don't draw a State pension. I didn't rob Peter to pay Paul. I didn't set up the teachers. That was all done by Jim Edgar...a Republican.

Jim Edgar, Republican. Makes over $300,000 per year from the State.
Jim Edgar, Republican signed into law Senate Bill 3, sponsored in the State Senate by St. Sen. Larry Bomke (R-50, Springfield) and Rep Raymond Poe (R-99, Springfield) in the State House. This allowed government school teachers and administrators outside of Chicago to retire after 34 years of teaching and receive 75 percent of their final pay.
Jim Edgar, Republican turned down a Democrat sponsored plan that would have successfully solved the Pension mess that had been building since 1945, for his own plan....the one we have today.
So, to say I'm part of the problem? I don't draw a State pension. I didn't rob Peter to pay Paul. I didn't set up the teachers, that was all Jim Edgar...a Republican.

There are plenty of governors whose fingerprints are on this mess, Edgar's not the only one RB. Get educated
1971 - Pension maximum raised to 75% from 60%. That didn't take long.
- Annual COLA raised to 2% from 1.5%
- No pension reduction if younger than 60 with 35 years service.
1972 - 85 sick days (1/2 year service) allowed for early retirement.
1973 - Survivor benefits paid at age 50 instead of 55.
1978 - Annual COLA raised to 3% from 2% (not compounded)
1979 - ERO (Early Retirement Option) allowed.
1980 - Retiree health insurance program established.
1982 - Employer pick-up of employee contributions allowed.
1983 - Unmarried children over 18 eligible for health insurance coverage.
1984 - Sick leave credit upped to 170 days from 85 days.
1990 - 3% COLA compounded.
1990 - Survivors get COLA.
1990 - Disability and pensions added for part-time and substitute teachers.
1991 - Retiree health care premiums 75% subsidy.
1998 - Waive Early Retirement cost - 34 work-years becomes 35 years for pension.

Let me see, Madigan has been in office since 1977. That means he has been around for almost all of these pension enhancements. But let's blame Edgar, right RB!

Deadcat, I know that. The Dems were getting sole blame, I simply pointed out Republicans are not clean in this mess, it's all over them, too. Governors have to sign these bills and for the next few days at least there is one Democrat AND one Republican in prison. So their $%#t does stink too.

RB - the democrats have controlled everything for the past decade or so, but have only managed to give RAISES and make things worse.

Do you mean President Obama?

Unfortunately, I imagine he means what he says. The hate from these people is pretty extreme. Further evidence of why they should not have Assault Weapons as they assemble their Militia of haters. They still get to vote, however.

No Doug i'm pretty positive he means OBLOWME.
To RB: Simply put so even you can understand this. You Sir or Madame or even both. are a Pompous ASS

This is indeed coming. Obamacare can not be sustained under the way things are now. The liberal Democrats have absolutely no economic sense at all. They write checks they can not cover or hope to cover.

Sorry Glenn, but that's wrong.

Listen, this isn't so much about governors, so those who are bringing up the names of different governors... that's not the crux of the problem.

Chicago, as the state's largest city (by far) with the most public union employees and the most state reps, holds the cards.

It's the Democrat 'machine' politics of Chicago that has got the state into this mess...it's not hard to connect these dots, is it?

Glenn, this is not like finger pointing at Congress and asking ourselves who the bigger obstructionist is, Harry Reid or John Boehner.

This is simple. It's right in front of our eyes. The Democrats in Chicago have ruined the financial solvency for the entire state of Illinois.

For anyone in denial, as Glenn is here..shame on YOU for not facing the facts.

Jac, you know that most of the Chicago populace will just punch any name with a (D) next to it, even if they have been under investigation, like Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. Il. State Rep. Derrick Smith, and now Il. Rep. Le Shaun Ford.

Dan - We can also look at the political families that have "lorded" over our political scene for so many years. For multiple generations they and their families have amassed jobs, pensions and benefits for themselves, of course. Depending on where you live, you may have one, two or even more of these royal citizens.

If you go back through the 70's a Republican Governor has held office more than twice as long as a Democrat. So, your theory is not grounded in fact. Chicago?- yep, Democrat.

So you don't believe some vote from Republican Jim Edgar in 1994 set in motion a whole set of events that have led to the bankruptcy of Illinois? But you sound like a Republican yourself, so your opinion doesn't count.

One thing we've learned from this last election is that the Democrat base will believe anything the Democrat leadership throws out there as long as it makes Republicans look bad. I am prepared to believe that they could blame the mess on Edgar, and that the rank and file Dems would buy it. But....

...what happens after that? The Dems are in power and things are falling apart.

Now I know they are waiting for the "recovery" to come around and pull their butts out of the fire, but since Obama got re-elected there's no chance of that happening, so they are staring at 4 years of economic deterioration which means 4 years of excuses and casting blame on anyone but themselves and their constituents.

This should be interesting to watch.

Your theory is grounded on LSD. Democrats have run this state into the ground, without question. Reaching back to Rutherford B Hayes shows just how weak your excuses have become.

This is pretty much a cut and dried 'debate'.

We have one liberal poster continue to bring up the fact that Illinois has had its share of Republican governors, so the Republicans are to blame in part for the sorry state of our state.

And we have another who resorts to her typical name calling as a debate tactic.

No reasonable person can disagree with the final answer; Democrats, particularly the Democrat 'machine' in Chicago, has ruined the fiscal solvency of our state.

The bizarre thing about this is that Illinois Democrats are embraced in D.C. and by the liberal elitists of the northeast. Why is that? Why is someone like Dick Durbin positioned to be the next Senate majority leader when his own state is so god awful. Why didn't Barack Obama pay any kind of penalty for being from Illinois?

Thea's good. democrats are running the entire state into financial ruin. LOL.

Just Lyin' (again), it's because of corrupt Liberal idiots like Quinn and Madigan that this state is beyond financial repair.

Jac, this goes back a lot farther than 10 or 20 years.

This goes back to the advent of public employees being unionized and the Democrat party doing the tango with them, in vicious cycle 'negotiations', over and over and over.

No, this is not a debate about R or D. Which party benefits from the votes of Illinois public employees? Where are most of these employees located?

This is not a debate at all. Why can't liberals admit, for once, that it's the Democrats fault that things are so bad in Illinois?

Dan - The specific issue of the pension debt can be safely traced to 1994 as that is when the current pension payment "ramp" was invented. I use the word invented intentionally as the ramp was not based on fiscal reality but on political comfort. That falls primarily on Republicans with Dems going along. However, in the last 10 years (since 2002) the Dems must bear the majority of the blame as they have voted repeatedly for budgets that followed this fiscal magic all the while (and this is critical) knowing full well what was coming. As I have pointed out before, one of the worst parts of the story is that those same State Representatives and Senators who have been voting are now acting as if they will "solve" the pension debt issue while accepting/acknowledging absolutely no ACCOUNTABILITY for it. This is why in my postings and discussions I ask the relevant question - "Will you vote for your State Representative and Senator when the time comes?".