North Cook News

Dan Gott, candidate for House District 55, recently weighed in on the state’s pension crisis, and as he laid out his case for supporting pension reform, Gott said he believes the current pension system is plagued by nothing but political corruption.

Gott, who has been a very vocal critic of House Speaker Michael Madigan and current state legislative policies, has centered his campaign around bringing change and political outsiders into Illinois state government this election cycle. Gott, a political outsider himself, believes one of those changes needs to be making the state’s pension debt a top priority to fix.

“Illinois’ pension system is famously underfunded; full funding of the pension system should be the highest state objective to initiate reforms,” Gott recently said.

Gott pointed to a recent study published by the Heartland Institute, a public policy think tank based in Arlington Heights. According to the study -- while citizens do support “fair compensation” for police, teachers, fire fighters and government workers, etc. -- large pensions are placing a huge burden on taxpayers.

Also according to the Heartland study, Illinois received an “F” grade and is among nine other states -- Kansas, Louisiana, Hawaii, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Colorado, Maryland, New Hampshire and Maine -- with low scoring public pensions as rated in the study “report card.”

Gott stated he agrees with the Heartland study and supports the ideas of increasing employee contributions as part of pension reform. Some other reforms mentioned in the study include extending vesting periods and doing away with “benefit spiking.” Gott also drew attention to a report by the Civic Committee of Chicago, which states “Illinois will face $145 billion in higher taxes over the next three decades” just to pay off the pension debt.

Gott said the current data he has seen on Illinois’ economic landscape include $111 billion in total pension debt and $72 billion in assets to cover an accrued liability of $183 billion. Gott also criticized his opponent, Rep. Marty Moylan, as well as Madigan, for carrying on with what Gott calls the current “rigged” system and pension debt.

“Madigan is all talk and no action; there is no incentive for Madigan to fix a rigged pension system that centers around political corruption and cronyism,” he said.

Gott said Moylan’s political record on pension reform is also plagued by cronyism.

“Marty Moylan supports the rigged system by voting in agreement on bills handed down to him from Madigan,” he said. “It’s no coincidence that they consistently vote yes. Yes on bills driving our state deeper into financial ruin.”

Gott said he will continue to drive home his message to voters that pension reform must be a major issue this election -- and there is a dire need to do away with the status quo in Illinois state politics.

“Outrageous public pensions could bankrupt Illinois,” Gott said. “Registered voters need to take a position against Madigan by fulfilling their mission in the upcoming November election. Vote down the ballot for Republican candidates to end one-party rule in Illinois.”