Obscene Public Pension Bennies Slipped Into Law

Without public scrutiny. Naturally. The bill is coming due, years later. And the money's not there. Is it, Dems:

Former Ald. Thomas Allen is a prime example. After retiring from the City Council in 2010 at age 58, Allen went on to become a Circuit Court judge while also collecting roughly $90,000 a year from his city pension. During his lifetime, he stands to receive more than $4.2 million in benefits, though contributions and assumed investment returns are expected to cover only $1 million.

The inflated benefits for aldermen represent a small fraction of the municipal pension plan's $6.7 billion in unfunded liabilities. But they are a dramatic illustration of the structural problems lying at the center of Chicago's pension crisis.

The perk for aldermen also shows how the Daley administration leveraged city pension funds for political purposes rather than protecting the modest, sustainable retirement benefits promised to city workers.

This is the story all over the country. This is the shame of Illinois, the battle for Wisconsin, the public union porkers stand against the reformer, Gov. Scott Walker for the crime of balancing the budget and freeing local government from the tyranny of ruinous union pensions and captive healthcare benefits.

This is the ChicagoWay writ large in the passage of the massive ObamaCare bill, giveaways and kickbacks buried in its corrupt and still corrupting body, rammed through in the night.