Look who's 'leaning' on pols to cut more out of pensions

THE POWER BEHIND THE PENSION GRAB -- Second from left, R. Eden Martin, past president of the Civic Committee ,Lester Crown, chairman of Henry Crown & Co., and Tyrone Fahner, head of the Civic Committee and former chairman of the management committee at the Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw.

An editorial in today's Sun-Times unmasks the real power and the face behind the current attacks on the pensions and health care supports for retired teachers and public workers. It's the face of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago and its union-hating leader, Ty Fahner.

While the leaders of both parties worry about union opposition to their proposed pension-cutting billls, Sen. Pres. Cullerton is whining about the undue influence Fahner and his boys are having on the legislature as it tries to find a successful route in the current pension grab.

Cullerton, for example, says he can’t get House Minority Leader Tom Cross on board with his favored pension cost-cutting plan because Cross is being on leaned by the Civic Committee, which says the plan doesn’t save enough money. Cross and Republicans, Cullerton said, “are getting pressure from people like Ty Fahner saying: Vote no. . . . You’ve got to save more.” 

The one thing Fahner won't tolerate from either Cullerton or Cross is any talk of a progressive state income tax and an end to the ridiculous tax breaks being given the the state's largest corporations. These two things would go a long way towards saving retiree pensions and solving some of the state's budget problems.