By Allen Skillicorn -
Jim Edgar has been getting a lot press lately for pushing Speaker Mike Madigan's $7,000,000,000 out of balance spending spree. What Edgar isn't talking about is why Illinois' finances are in such shambles.
Notice that the former governor doesn't talk about a quarter of our budget going to fund pensions. He doesn't talk about the pension debt that crowds out spending on the mentally handicapped or educating our children. No talk about the fact that Jim Edgar mortgaged our pensions through his infamous "Edgar Pension Ramp"!
As of Jan 2016, Jim Edgar’s GARS pension info:
Twenty-two years ago, both Jim Edgar and Mike Madigan colluded on a plan to allow them both to spend more money than they had. They knew that fully funding pensions was expensive and the legislature, like a pay-day loan store, would allow them to come up with scheme that could pass billions of debt to the next generation.
That's right, today's millennials will eventually have to pay off the money Edgar borrowed from the pension funds of teachers, cops, fire fighters, and other civil servants.
On the topic of Edgar and pensions, did you know that Jim Edgar contributed only $164k total to his pension plan? He currently collects $13,027.58 per month in pension and it only took him about 13 months into retirement to recoup his entire contribution back.
Jim Edgar is a pension millionaire and stands to rake in over $4.7 Million. That isn't a modest pension, that's a lottery payout!
For more information on why Jim Edgar is part of problem click here:
Allen Skillicorn is Republican candidate for Illinois House in the 66th House District.
