October 13, 2010 – 7:03 am
Letter to the Editor in the Pioneer Press:
As a former four-term member of the Illinois House of Representatives, former chair of the Judiciary Committee and Vice-Chair of the Elections and Campaign Reform Committee, I am a strong supporter of reform in state politics.
It has been great to watch State Rep. Karen May fight for integrity in our political process.
Both political parties have had their share of unethical politicians, and neither party has a monopoly on reform. As voters, we need to look at the candidates and decide who has been working for us, and who has been working for themselves.
It is clear that Rep. May has stood up to the leadership of the House when it was necessary, and has been willing to work with leaders on both sides of the aisle to get things done. When you look at the leadership she has provided on environmental issues, the success she has had in expanding health care for recently laid-off workers, and her ability to bring together independent-minded legislators to develop budget cuts and reform ideas as alternatives to the state’s proposed budget, you have someone who is clearly working on our behalf to build the kind of state that residents of our area want.
I thank Karen for the great work she has been doing, and I hope in November you will join me in voting to keep Karen May working for us in Springfield. I’m worried about our state’s future, and know that we need more legislators like her if Illinois is going to truly improve and prosper in the years ahead.
Lauren Beth Gash Highland Park
Karen May walks in 2010's Lake Forest Days Parade
September 20, 2010 – 8:34 am
State Representative Karen May (D-Highland Park) has launched a new website to help in her efforts to reform the local pension system in Illinois. On Friday, the Chicago Tribune spotlighted additional pension excesses in local governments. It’s an issue that May has been fighting for over the past several months. Earlier this year she issued a 10-point action agenda that she is pursuing for pension reform. Legislation is currently being drafted for near-term consideration using those points. But to keep the momentum for reform moving forward, May launched the website to give supporters of reform a place to sign an on-line petition. She will use that petition to show that reform is supported by a large number of Illinois residents. To go to that site and sign the petition, go to http://www.ethicsreformillinois.com/
The following is her platform for local pension reform. Through these actions, her goal is to improve oversight, transparency and accountability.
Karen May’s Local Government Pension Reform Platform
1.Appoint an independent Inspector General to investigate pension funds.
2.Create an on-line accountability portal to have all compensation packages listed for local government executives.
3.Require a fiscal note in writing from the overseeing pension board outlining the total cost to any board before compensation votes are taken.
4.Close any further loopholes that allow for end of career compensation spikes. (The current limit prevents any pay spikes in the last three months of employment. This should be a longer period of time.).
5.Legislate (I am a co-sponsor of HB 6866) to use both salary and service times to determine the portion of pension to be paid by affected districts (now just service time is used across an employee’s total payout.)
6.Ask the Illinois Attorney General for an opinion if fraud was committed in Highland Park and other cases and, if so, if any fraudulent spiking can be retrieved from recipients.
7.Do not permit cars, or unused vacation or sick days to be rolled into final average salary calculations.
8.No double dipping. Retirees should not be able to receive pension payments from and work as independent contractors to the same employer.
9.All reform will need to be within the bounds of what is permitted and protected under Article 13 of the Illinois Constitution. We should appoint a blue-ribbon panel to sort through legal opinions and analysis on the constitutionality of proposed reforms.
10.Develop a strategy to insure that all pension plans are fully funded.
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