Four reporters may have saved pension abuse legislation

Rep. Kevin McCarthy, D-Orland Park, wants to gut a pension reform bill with new legislation friendly to union officials. (E. Jason Wambsgans, Chicago Tribune / December 12, 2011)

December 13, 2011

We don’t expect the perpetrators — a slew of Democrats in the Illinois House — to confess. But let’s all remember what they nearly achieved in Springfield late Sunday afternoon, when half of Illinois was shopping and the other half was watching the Chicago Bears.

That obscurity would have been perfect cover for gutting important elements of legislation to crack down on egregious pension abuses that are cheating rank-and-file union members and millions of Illinois taxpayers.

We can’t prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the arrival of four news reporters at this special meeting of a House pension committee radically changed its outcome. See whether you think the Democrats, realizing that they had been found out, hurriedly abandoned a plan to help some important union officials who just happen to be their political allies:

Four reporters may have saved pension abuse legislation