WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING

The more troubling that the fiscal situation in Illinois becomes, the less levelheaded local officials sound about facing up to their problems. That was evident in the reaction that incoming governor Jay Pritzker and several Chicago mayoral candidates had to a speech by outgoing Mayor Rahm Emanuel on the state’s deep pension problems . ... Emanuel urged the state to consider sweeping fixes, including changes to the state’s constitution, and he argued that the course favored by the Democratic Party’s increasingly powerful progressive wing — to solve the problem by taxing the wealthy — endangered prosperity: “You’re going to cut jobs doing that.” ...

Those who will soon be in charge of trying to fix the mess jumped to dismiss Emanuel’s ideas. Oversimplifying the issue, state comptroller Susana Mendoza, a candidate for mayor, said, “We do not mess with people’s pensions,” adding, “End of story.” Former City Hall insider Gery Chico, also running for mayor, somewhat naively suggested that one way to fix the problem is to “figure out how to do things better,” as if saving a few dollars here and there could possibly suffice. Former federal prosecutor Lori Lightfoot likened the movement to reform pensions to pulling “the rug out from under” city employees and retirees, while incoming governor Pritzker was equally simplistic in his dismissal of Emanuel’s ideas: “I believe when you’re promised something ... you ought to get whatever you’ve been promised.” … (T)hose who will soon have responsibility for dealing with the mess continue to minimize its impact. Steven Malanga, City Journal