Unions are defending their corrupt bargain with Democrats in Illinois against taxpayers

Washington Examiner Editorial:

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, faces a difficult re-election in six weeks. Under normal circumstances, he would probably be coasting to victory. He just beat a recall attempt in 2012, Wisconsin's economy is improving, and he put in place reforms that have already saved the state $3 billion.

But of course, this is the issue. His now-famous union bargaining reforms of 2011 have incurred the wrath of America's big labor unions, which are now eager to defeat him.

But anyone who doubts the wisdom of Walker's reforms — and the self-interested short-sightedness of the public union bosses — need only look southward to neighboring Illinois.

Public sector unions' robust political influence in Illinois has brought the Prairie State to a tipping point. Not only have public employee retirement costs become unsustainable, but union interests have also helped ensure that even basic reforms are impossible. Their court challenges and election-year muscle are preventing the state's recent, feeble attempts at pension and benefit reforms, threatening to stick already-overtaxed Illinoisans with ever-larger bills.

This month, Moody's Investors Service reported that Illinois has the worst public employee pension shortfall of any state — and by quite a large margin. The three-year average of Illinois' adjusted net pension liabilities now amount to 258.4 percent of revenues — second-worst is Connecticut at only at 200 percent. Illinois pension funds are only 40 percent funded and face a staggering shortfall of $187 billion, based on Moody's realistic assumptions about investment returns.

Gov. Pat Quinn, D-Ill., and Democrats in the state legislature passed an enormous $7 billion-per-year tax increase in 2011 that was supposed to help keep up with pension contributions without further borrowing. This year, they passed a law allowing Chicago to raise its city telephone tax by 56 percent (yes, they have a city telephone tax) in order to keep up with current city pension obligations.

Incredibly (or maybe not), these tax increases are not making a dent in the long-term problem.
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Here is how the corrupt bargain works.  The unions support Democrats who increase union pay an benefits at taxpayers expense which in turn is used to support more Democrats.  These contributions are unethical on several levels.  The results is an unsustainable burden on taxpayers who never had anyone at the bargaining table representing them.