Progress Illinois

Yesterday's edition of WTTW's Chicago Tonight included an interview on the state budget crisis with Eden Martin, president of the Commercial Club of Chicago.  Like fellow conservative John Tillman the night before, Martin lambasted the idea of raising the income tax rate.  And like Tillman, when asked what he would do instead, he focused entirely on pension reform.  At one point in the segment, anchor Eddie Arruza even pushed him to cite specific programs he would cut to balance the budget.  Martin responded by then steering the conversation to "retiree health." 

Martin also claimed during the interview that by lowering the benefit structure for current workers, the state could save "in excess of $2 billion" per year.  But as Capitol Fax noted earlier this month, that figure is nowhere to be found in the Commercial Club's recent report on pensions (PDF).  Moreover, Martin omitted something that the Club acknowledges in their report -- that this proposal to alter current pension plans could very well be found unconstitutional by the courts.

As evidenced by the responses we gathered yesterday, just about every progressive group in the state agrees that Gov. Pat Quinn's budget proposal doesn't do enough to solve the state's long-term fiscal problems. Meanwhile, conservatives like GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill Brady contend that the 1 percent income tax hike is too large and that the state could magically erase a $13 billion deficit by cutting deeper into state services and making some tweaks to the pension system.

On WTTW last night, Illinois Policy Institute director John Tillman advanced the ridiculous argument that the state's fundamental budget problem is the size of public employee pension benefits. He also once again asked supporters of an income tax increase what they want to see Illinois families cut from their own budget.  Sergeant Shriver National Center on Poverty Law President John Bouman countered both points, noting that the immediate savings from pension "stabilization" will be relatively small and that some struggling families are actually picking up second jobs to "raise their revenue." Watch it:

This evening's edition of WTTW's Chicago Tonight will feature another interview with former Democratic lieutenant governor nominee Scott Lee Cohen.  Let's at least hope it's more newsworthy than the one-hour "slobberfest" (as Eric Zorn described it) on WLS Radio's Don Wade & Roma yesterday.