TUA President Jim Tobin appeared on CBS News Chicago Wednesday, to discuss the use of promotional trinkets, which costs Illinois taxpayers almost $1 million per year.
Source: CBS News.
The Vice-President of Taxpayers United of America (TUA) today admonished those in Illinois’ legal system and news media to hold Chicago Mayor-elect Rahm Emanual (D) and Ill. Gov. Patrick Quinn (D) to the same standard of behavior as former Governor Rod Blagojevich (D).
“Former Governor Blagojevich is aggressively being tried a second time for allegedly offering a U.S. Senate seat for $50,000,” said Christina Tobin, Vice-President of TUA. “Yet Rahm Emanual, scheduled to take office on May 16 as Mayor of Chicago, reportedly offered $50,000 to his tenant, Rob Halpin, as an ‘inducement’ for him to vacate his house prior to the expiration of the lease, so Emanual could move back in and present a more convincing case that he was a ‘resident’ of Chicago.” Read more →
Retiring Chicago Mayor Richard Daley recently chose to exploit the laws of Illinois to maximize taxpayer expense for his lavish pension.
Under the Illinois Retirement Systems Reciprocal Act, all his government jobs are being combined into one lump sum, instead of receiving separate pensions from every government body he worked for.
Daley is also taking advantage of a rule that was in effect for legislators in office before 1994, which allows him to base his state pension on his last government salary. In this case, it’s based on his $216,000 salary as mayor of Chicago. This allows him to collect a higher pension, then if each pension was based separately on his earnings at each job. In effect, it creates a fictional job that can be used to take more money from taxpayers.
Jim Tobin, president of TUA, told WBBM that it’s unfair to put the burden of paying for Daley’s and other government workers’ pensions on state income tax payers and Chicago property tax payers. Tobin said it appeared that Mayor Daley will celebrate his retirement by “retiring in luxury as he enjoys his double-dipping pension.”
You can listen to the WBBM radio episode here:
Source: WBBM
