Will Guzzardi, the Logan Square activist who is again running against State Rep. Maria "Toni" Berrios (D) in the 39th district, voiced his opinion on the dueling pension bills SB 1, backed by House Speaker Michael Madigan, and SB 2404, the We Are One Coalition backed proposal.

Here's what he had to say about both bills in an interview for Fred Klonsky's blog.

I have mixed feelings about SB2404. Granted, the bill was negotiated with unions at the table. But so was SB7. The circumstances strike me as pretty similar: A “crisis” manufactured by monied interests to force labor to the negotiating table, ultimately to accept something that isn’t in our best interests but is better than the alternative.

I think any pension bill needs to address the fundamental problem: That it’s our state — not working people — that has failed to make its payments to the system. It’s not about lavish, unsustainable benefits; the system would be okay right now if Springfield had ponied up what it owed instead of taking payment holiday after payment holiday.

So our state needs to meet its end of the bargain with a long-term sustainable plan for new revenues. In my mind, that’s a progressive income tax and a financial transactions tax, the combination of which would ultimately lower taxes on most working families while raising enough revenues to start paying down our debt and pension obligations (and our grossly unpaid bills to human service providers and educational institutions, etc.).

How would I have voted on 2404? I’d like to think I would have voted “no”, because in this hypothetical world where I’m a state rep, I’m working with a group of lawmakers and with organized labor on a comprehensive revenue plan to address the pension obligation holistically. Rather than just opposing the terrible stuff – a negotiating position from which a compromise like SB2404 seems like a win – we need to be asserting our own bold forward-thinking plans - a negotiating position that forces the other side to make compromises.

And don’t get me started on SB1, that patently unconstitutional monstrosity – on which my opponent, I should point out, voted yes.

Guzzardi was just 125 votes shy of beating Berrios in the 2012 election.

The pension conference committee tasked with coming up with a pension reform plan that is passable in both chambers has yet to unveil a bill, although a rumored framework proposal has garnered criticism from the We Are One Coalition.