The top Republican in the Illinois House of Representatives says he thinks Democratic leaders are purposely not passing pension reform for their own political gain. IPR’S Tony Arnold reports.
There are lots of conspiracies for why pension reform hasn’t been approved. One is that it’s purely a legal debate over how to interpret the constitution.
Another is that the powerful House Speaker and state Democratic Party Chairman Michael Madigan is stalling because it would somehow help his daughter, Attorney General Lisa Madigan, to become governor in next year’s election.
Lisa Madigan has only said she’s considering a run for governor. Today, House Republican leader Tom Cross was asked if he supports that second theory.
“Yes.”
Cross says Democrats in Illinois are powerful and if the leaders in the Senate and House really wanted pension reform passed, they would’ve done it already.
“Can’t get this done? Seriously. I mean, seriously.”
For his part, House Speaker Michael Madigan said earlier this week that if he didn’t want pension reform done, he wouldn’t have worked to pass a bill that ultimately failed in the state Senate.