By David Stanczak
The Illinois Constitution has come in for criticism in the endless discussion about state and local pension problems.The criticism fails to recognize the real source of the problem.
The provision guaranteeing participants in public pension funds their benefits was born of distrust of the General Assembly. Pension funds, by their nature, accumulate. Until they are paid out to recipients, they just sit there. Accumulated money looks the same to a politician as a fat juicy mouse does to a hawk. It’s just sitting there, unspent, waiting to be grabbed. After all, what good is it unless you spend it for something? That temptation to spend is why Social Security retirement funds, which were once a trust fund set apart from the current federal operating budget, no longer exist. Recognizing this eternal temptation, the drafters of the Illinois Constitution inserted the pension protection provision to insure the integrity of those funds. Do you remember several years ago when Blago and the General Assembly declared a “pension holiday”? That was the euphemism applied to the decision not to make a year’s contribution to the Teachers Retirement System so the money could be spent elsewhere instead. The Constitution is the only thing obligating the State to pay it back, and probably the only thing preventing other pension holidays with other pension funds.
Is the Constitutional provision inconvenient? Yes. A sensible approach to pension reform would recognize differences in entitlement. A retired public employee’s pension should be untouchable. The same cannot be said of a new hire who, if pension changes are not to his liking, can work elsewhere, with little or no adverse impact.
The solution, within the present context, is to change the plans for new employees and let the impact of the present system work its way through the system, like a deer swallowed by a snake. The only problem comes if what has been swallowed is too much for the snake and kills it.
The problem was ultimately caused by the need to protect us from politicians who cultivate their longevity, and their own generous pensions by spending our money. Given a choice between the inconvenient Constitution and trust in the General Assembly to do the right thing with pensions, give me the Constitution.
David Stanczak, a Forum commentator since 1995, came to Bloomington in 1971. He served as the City of Bloomington’s first full-time legal counsel for over 18 years, before entering private practice. He is currently employed by the Snyder Companies and continues to reside in Bloomington with his family.
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