Concealed-carry, pension defeats show Quinn shooting blanks
SPRINGFIELD — Hoarse and unusually agitated, Gov. Pat Quinn went before cameras Tuesday to explain his resounding defeat on concealed-carry legislation and to tell voters one more time why he couldn’t exert his will over a Democratic-led state Legislature. “Today was a bad day for public safety in Illinois,” Quinn said. But in fact, it was Quinn himself who had the bad day, perhaps one of the worst of his one-and-a-half terms as governor. What Tuesday demonstrated was that the governor — at least on guns and pensions — can’t deliver on his top priorities in Springfield, a damning realization.
WHAT WAS HE THINKING WHEN HE TRIED TO REDO CONCEALED-CARRY? INSTEAD, HE SHOULD BE FOCUSED ON THE STATE BUDGET CRISIS.
ILLINOIS HAS A CRISIS. TWO HORRIBLE DO NOTHING GOVERNORS IN A ROW.
I don't care for Quinn, but Republicans have no loyalty or connection to us and are likely to pull our promised and earned pension and retirement benefits right out from under us.
ReplyDeleteI don't get a pension why should my tax dollars help pay for your retirement?? I get to work until I die you union workers live in a totally different world from people in the private sector no raise for me in the last decade. How can you save for retirement when taxes and fees go up every year but not your paycheck?? 401k biggest scam in the world it was meant as an executive perk not retirement they take % every year for adminstrative fees so over the decades you lose 30%! A pension was a common benefit among every large company a hundred years ago what happened?? We should copy Australia's retirement system much better!
Delete1. For our entire working lives, we paid into a pension fund and were promised a modest pension.
Delete2. Most of us are not covered by Social Security. Those that are, can collect only at a much lower level than other citizens (thanks to legislation sponsored by Congressman Rosttenkowski).
3. Most of us are not covered by Medicare.
4. As a condition of employment, we have to live in the city. Because the Chicago Public Schools are so bad, this means private school tuition (sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars per family) for each of our children.
5. Private school tuition is money that cannot be invested 1n a 401k or a 457k for retirement.
6. Just as your taxes and fees go up every year, so do ours.
Our elected officials made certain promises to public employees. We structured our lives around these promises. Now some are suggesting that these promises should be broken. A promise is something that should be kept.
Obvious. Two things have to happen for any governor to be effective:
ReplyDeleteMadigan and Cullerton have to go.
Control of campaign money must stay out of the hands of party leaders.
We all need to vote for him in the primary so we have an unpopular Democrat running for re-election....THEN we vote for the Republican in the General election. Otherwise all we will get is a NEW horrible Democrat who has no baggage. Let's stop beating up Quinn prior to the primaries or we are just helping the Democrats.
ReplyDeleteIt would be nice if the other 90% of Illinois Democrats would do that same thing.
ReplyDelete