North Cook News

Mark Weyermuller agrees with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Sen. McConnell said instead of the federal government providing billions of dollars to states, some should declare bankruptcy. McConnell, a Kentucky Republican in his sixth term and the longest-serving Republican majority leader in history, said states facing massive public employee pension bills should strongly consider that option. 

Gov. J.B. Pritzker has said that is a nonstarter on his view.

Illinois faces a $138 billion shortfall with its employee pension plans; Democrats in the state legislature have asked for $10 billion in federal aid to help fund pensions.

Illinois Senate President Don Harmon, in a letter to U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), asked for $15 billion in federal block grants as well as the $10 billion for pensions.

“I realize I’ve asked for a lot, but this is an unprecedented situation, and we face the reality that there likely will be additional, unanticipated costs that could result in future requests for assistance,” Harmon wrote.

Illinois Republicans sharply criticized the Senate Democrats, saying they were trying to cash in on a crisis.

Weyermuller, a Chicago small business owner who lives and owns a home in Wilmette, said he is strongly opposed to a federal bailout to solve Illinois’ long-simmering pension woes. He often writes about state and national political issues.

“I’m a concerned citizen, but people have called me an activist,” Weyermuller said.

“A federal bailout would be terrible,” he told North Cook News. “The state has been mismanaged for 20 years with the pension scam. Under the scheme, politicians, in exchange for votes from teachers’ unions, promised ‘deferred wages’ with no plan to fund them other than huge taxes increases and decreased services in the future. It was a pyramid scheme.”

Weyermuller said if such promises were made, they should have been built on a firm financial footing. But that did not happen, which led to the current dilemma.

“Pensions should be funded 100 percent no matter what these bond and fund managers tell you,” he said. “Benefits should never exceed what’s in the fund.”

“Years ago many suggested 401Ks on new employees to start a phase-out,” Weyermuller said. “Illinois politicians will never consider it. Also right to work, never considered. For me, I understand these pensions are 'in the Constitution' but they were promised illegally and unethically.”

He said an Illinois U.S. Senator was on this side of the issue before.

“Several years ago Tammy Duckworth, at a City Club of Chicago public policy lunch, is on the record saying no to federal bailouts,” Weyermuller said.

He said the state must move in a fiscally prudent direction without further delay.

“As of today I hope all Illinois government is in a spending and hiring freeze, but my guess it is not,” Weyermuller said. “Illinois needs to cut property taxes in half to save the state, and the pensions need to go bankrupt with no bailout.”

He said reports are not promising, despite the economic downtown in the last two months.

“Many are saying Pritzker won’t even consider a phase one type reopening until he gets a bailout,” Weyermuller said. “Every day more of an Illinois shutdown is destroying jobs, commerce, and lives. We need to reopen today.”

It won’t be an easy road or a short trip. There are decades of mismanagement and political malfeasance to correct, says Weyermuller.

Supporting McConnell’s idea is a good first step, he said.