Pension Doublespeak: The Chicago Tribune
Doublespeak: Evasive,
ambiguous language that is intended to deceive or twist meaning to the
opposite. Deliberate attempts to disguise truth through the careful usage of
spin, twists, and methodical alterations to historical accuracies.
My good friends and I watched the latest Star Wars episode,
“The Force Awakens,” the other afternoon, and my memories of another blogger
partner’s prescient comment crept up into the present moment.
“No matter the
Illinois Supreme Court unanimously found their attempt to take away our pension
benefits were unconstitutional, you can bet these liars and thieves will return
again and again to steal more of what they have stolen already.”
He was right.
Today’s Bruce Dold and Trib company’s editorial exceeds
George Orwell’s doublespeak spinning the latest inability of narrow-minded
Governor Rauner to grasp an ego-inflating olive branch from Senate Leader
Cullerton to resurrect SB2404, an older version of forced consideration for
public employees’ pension benefits.
Simple version: A
deal between Cullerton and Rauner to resurrect his original pension reform bill
requiring a choice between a COLA or health care for retirees – now altered to
force a choice between increased salaries or COLA’s – was torpedoed by Rauner’s
maniacal need for the Governor to add his own anti-union sentiments and
inclusions to the agreement.
Truth & Building For Sale |
But the Tribune hopes “Can this marriage be saved?”
What follows is an essayist argument that would have made
Orwell (and party member O’Brien) delightedly proud.
Doublespeak: “Given the Supreme Court decision to toss
deeper pension reform – a plan we supported because of its much larger costs
savings for taxpayers – Cullerton’s plan right now is the only game in
town. It doesn’t promise dramatic
savings. But it’s a start.”
Comment: A 38
page unanimous decision by the Illinois Supreme Court is not a “toss.” In fact, when a Justice like Karmeier is
given the nod by six other Justices to write the decision, he has his clerks
and their clerks at his disposal to generate the information, the precedents,
the legalese, and the final product. He
is not told to go ahead and write what ‘you think we all think’; quite the
opposite, his opinion is then reviewed and scrutinized by the clerks and the other
Justices prior to release. It is not a toss – IT IS A JUDICIAL DECREE.
Doublespeak: “…a
plan we supported because of its much larger costs savings to taxpayers…”
Meaning: We
ignored the moral and legal argument by those who had been employed by the
state with no social security and no access to anything but a defined benefit
even as the state avoided paying them year after year, decade after decade for
what was owed in matching contributions.
We stood behind our politicians like James Thompson who declared openly
that services were provided without increased taxation (at the expense of
public retirees). The Pension
Protection Clause never meant anything to us, and it still doesn’t.
Doublespeak:
“Cullerton’s plan right now is the only game in town. It doesn’t promise dramatic savings. But it’s a start.”
Meaning: Let’s
pretend that this symbolic adventure back into litigation is something more
than just that – a likely expensive attempt by the state politicians to once
again avoid making payment for our debts.
Forget the state budget. Let’s
ignore our constitutional duty to pay those from whom we have stolen and their
own judicially guaranteed benefits once they begin service in the public sector. Let’s continue to suffer under a ridiculously
patched together scheme to pay back our debt in Illinois through a balloon
payment schedule that will leave us all bereft of funds by 2018.
Doublespeak: “Madigan’s
chronic refusal to compromise – his devotion to politics rather than governance
– has led to tragic service cuts for the state’s most vulnerable citizens…”
Meaning: Let’s
ignore the other issues beyond the Governor’s refusal to advance a budget
despite the suffering so many marginalized and others feel now. It’s all Madigan’s fault. Recall that just yesterday the Governor
regarded the fall off of important Lutheran Social Services, as “we’ll feel a
little pain as we go through this transition.”
And I'm beholdin' to the Trib, and the IPI, and the…" |
I’ll be listening to the State of the State tomorrow. And on Thursday, I’m sure I’ll be entertained
by the next piece of Doublespeak from Bruce Dold and the Board at the Trib.
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