Cal Wachdog | Pension deniers attempt to shame reform advocates
TUA’s work on California’s pension crisis is mentioned in this post at CalWatchdog.com. If you have not read or heard anything about California’s unfunded public employee pension crisis, you’ve probably been living under a rock or, like union bosses and too many members of the state Legislature, the governor’s office and local elected officials, you [...]
WHEC TV News 10 | Convicted and Cashing In
Christina Tobin, Vice-President for TUA, was featured in this story from WHEC TV News 10 on convicted New York public employees cashing in with pension payouts. See video of the story below. // Former public employees convicted and cashing in. Despite serving time behind bars, many public sector workers are still drawing a pension that [...]
Pekin Daily Times | Dig deeper into pensions
Gary Heiser wrote a letter to the editor in the Pekin Daily Times featuring TUA’s three part series on the Illinois pension problem. To the editor: The editorial on pension reform was informative, but it did not go far enough into the problem. The editorial needed to expose the obscene retirement packages that Illinois taxpayers [...]
Chicago Tribune | Family campfires may burn again in Cook forest preserves
Jim Tobin, President of Taxpayers United for America, is quoted in the following story from the Chicago Tribune. This month, for the first time in their lives, some 10- and 11-year-old Cub Scouts from Chicago built a fire, pitched tents and slept under the stars. The kids discovered the great outdoors in a small patch [...]
Duluth News Tribune | Duluth, St. Louis County retirees see six-figure pensions
Findings from TUA’s pension project on Duluth, Minnesota are featured in this article from the Duluth News Tribune. A Chicago-based watchdog group that trains its critical eye on public employee pensions has turned its scrutiny to Duluth and St. Louis County. The group’s figures, confirmed by the Public Employees Retirement Association of Minnesota, show that [...]
Peoria Journal Star | Report details high state pensions for police
The Peoria Journal Star featured TUA’s release on Illinois state troopers and corrections officers who are pension millionaires. GERMANTOWN HILLS —A recently retired captain of District 8 of the Illinois State Police and the current director of the region’s covert drug enforcement group each receive among the highest state pensions. According to a report released [...]
WGN 9 Chicago | Emanuel speed camera ordinance passes City Council committee
Christina Tobin, TUA’s Vice President, was featured in a story from WGN 9 Chicago for her testimony against Chicago’s speed-camera ordinance. To see the video, click on the image below. CHICAGO—Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan for speed cameras near Chicago schools and parks passed in a City Council committee late Wednesday. Emanuel offered a revised ordinance [...]
The Telegraph | Teachers get lesson on retirement system
The Telegraph featured TUA’s release on pension millionaires within the Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System. GODFREY – Retired educators got to vent Tuesday and question the head of Illinois’ Teachers’ Retirement System about the future of their benefits during a public meeting at Alton High School. “We’re in an awful place; it is unfair for us [...]
ABC 7 Chicago | Emanuel changes speed-cameras plan before vote
Christina Tobin, TUA’s Vice President, was featured in a story from ABC 7 Chicago for her testimony against Chicago’s speed-camera ordinance. To see the video, click on the image below. April 11, 2012 (CHICAGO) (WLS) – Hours before a city council committee was expected to vote on Rahm Emanuel’s controversial plan for speed cameras Wednesday, [...]
Telemundo Chicago | Cobran fuerza las “cámaras de velocidad”
Christina Tobin, TUA’s Vice President, was featured in a story from Telemundo Chicago for her testimony against Chicago’s speed-camera ordinance. To see the video, click on the image below. Una propuesta para instalar 300 camaras destinadas a medir la velocidad cerca de escuelas y parques alrededor de la ciudad, cobro fuerza hoy en el comite [...]
ABC News 10 | Pension study reveals gov’t officials making millions
Findings from TUA’s pension project on New York State are featured in this piece from ABC News 10. Click on the image below to watch the video. ALBANY, N.Y. – A press conference was held Tuesday to discuss the results of a new pension study. The study exposes the top pensions for retired government employees [...]
Capitol Confidential | Here’s your Top 100 state employee pensions and for schools too
Findings from TUA’s pension project on New York State are featured in this article at Capitol Confidential. We’ve had lists for some time now of state and local public employee salaries and pensions, starting first with the Empire Center and then followed by newspapers including our own. The phenomenon has spread over the past few [...]
TimesUnion.com | Public pension ‘millionaires’ club
Findings from TUA’s pension project on New York State are featured in this article at TimesUnion.com. ALBANY — A fiscally conservative advocacy group from the Midwest arrived in Albany to propose an intriguing math experiment: If retired public employees maxed out their pensions by retiring early at age 55 and living to the ripe old [...]
Daily Herald | Voters back tax hikes with tangible results
TUA’s defeat of 7 tax-increasing referenda was mentioned at the end of the following article by the Daily Herald. Despite a tender economy, a healthy majority of voters in Libertyville and Kildeer felt paying more out of pocket would be worth the investment in terms of better roads. And though nearly an even split, voters [...]
Metro New York | Group: Scale back lavish NY pensions
Findings from TUA’s pension project on New York State are featured in this article at Metro New York. A report released Thursday by the group Taxpayers United of America accuses state government employees of getting way too much in their retirement pensions. One schoolteacher on Long Island, for example, could stand to collect nearly $12 [...]
News Talk 1240 WRTA | Taxpayer Group: Pensions Out of Control
Findings from TUA’s pension project on Altoona and Blair County are featured in this article at News Talk 1240 WRTA. A national organization says public pensions are drowning local municipalities financially and leaving taxpayers on the hook for their costs. Representatives from Taxpayers United of America paid a visit to Altoona on Tuesday to highlight [...]
newsworks.org | Illinois pension reform group sweeps into Philadelphia
Findings from TUA’s pension project on Philadelphia are featured in this article at newsworks.org. A tax-reform group from Illinois is advocating for sweeping changes to state and local government pension programs by making an example of top-earning former Philadelphia municipal employees. Retired Philadelphia Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson tops their list with an annual pension of [...]
Times-Tribune | Mellow pension guided by state law
Findings from TUA’s pension project on Harrisburg are featured in this article at the Times-Tribune. HARRISBURG – Former state Sen. Robert J. Mellow’s legal fate is tied to a federal plea agreement while a state law will determine whether he gets to keep his sizeable pension or not. Mr. Mellow collects a $138,958 annual taxpayer-funded [...]
Altoona Mirror | Chief: I’m not getting pension payments
Findings from TUA’s pension project on Altoona and Blair County are featured in this article at the Altoona Mirror. UPDATE: A response to this article has been made here. Altoona Fire Chief Reynold D. Santone Jr. disagrees with a Chicago-based organization that claims he is double dipping. Representatives of Taxpayers United of America stopped in [...]
bcrnews.com | Go to the polls
The following commentary by Jim Tobin, President of Taxpayers United for America, is featured at bcrnews.com. The subject of the commentary is a ballot measure in the city of Princeton, Illinois, on “unlimited home rule taxing power”. As president of Taxpayers United of America (TUA), I am urging voters in the city of Princeton, Illinois, [...]
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review | Controversy doesn’t stop group from disclosing pension figures
Findings from TUA’s pension project on Pittsburgh and Allegheny County are featured in this article at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. UPDATE: An update to the original release that this article is based on has been made here. A group that is crisscrossing the nation raising alarms about underfunded public pension plans says it will continue to [...]
post-gazette.com | Visiting group decries high public pensions
Findings from TUA’s pension project on Pittsburgh and Allegheny County are featured in this article at post-gazette.com. UPDATE: An update to the original release that this article is based on has been made here. A Chicago advocacy group stopped in Pittsburgh on Monday to promote its campaign for scaled-back government pensions, but retirees and others [...]
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | Taxpayer group slams public pensions
Findings from TUA’s pension project on Pittsburgh and Allegheny County are featured in this article at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. UPDATE: An update to the original release that this article is based on has been made here. A Chicago-based advocacy group today highlighted what it called overly generous pensions to local government retirees and called on [...]
Charleston Post Courier | S.C. law hides pension records
Rae Ann McNeilly, TUA’s Director of Outreach, discussed the need for transparency in the South Carolina pension system in the following article from the Charleston Post Courier. South Carolina’s pension system paid retirees more than $2.5 billion in benefits last year. But taxpayers whose contributions to the troubled system have ballooned over the past decade [...]
