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Steven Preckwinkle, political director for the Illinois Federation
of Teachers, and another union lobbyist, David Piccioli, took
advantage of legislation allowing union officials to get into the
teacher pension fund and count previous years as union workers after
quickly obtaining teaching certificates and conducting classroom
work before the legislation was signed into law in 2007, according
to a Chicago Tribune and WGN-TV investigation published Sunday
(http://bit.ly/oYeWTM). According to the report, Preckwinkle, 59,
could collect $2.8 million by the time he's 78. Piccioli, 61, could
receive around $1.1 million by age 78.
Preckwinkle and Piccioli declined interview requests for the
article published in the Tribune and did not immediately return
requests for comment that The Associated Press emailed to them on
Sunday.
The lobbyists must make payments to the pension plan to get
credit for their past union years and must pay interest. They still
get to keep their retirement plans through the union, but those
could be tapped to cover payments to the Teachers’ Retirement
System, said union spokesman Dave Comerford.
Preckwinkle hasn't decided whether he will receive the pension
when he retires because he would owe a lot of money to do so,
Comerford said. Records show Piccioli has paid for his prior years
of union service.
The federation's president, Dan Montgomery, said the lobbyists'
actions were legal, but that the deal "should never be allowed
again."
Union officials said Preckwinkle did not lobby for the perk, but
he did for another part of the same bill.
Experts say the practice undermines the public's confidence in
the underfunded pension system, especially as the legislation's
Democratic sponsors received campaign donations from the union in
2006. According to the report, former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who
signed the bill into law, got the union's endorsement and more than
$515,000 in political contributions. House Speaker Michael Madigan,
the state party's chair, and Democratic candidates received about
$567,000.
"It feeds into the cynicism about all the deals, that it's an
insider's game and that the system is rigged," said Kent Redfield, a
political science professor at the University of Illinois in
Springfield.
Madigan spokesman Steve Brown dismissed the notion.
"The only template ... on legislation is whether it represents a
common approach to a problem, policy or program," Brown said.
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Preckwinkle applied for the substitute teaching certificate four
weeks before the legislation passed and subbed six weeks before the
window to become eligible closed, according to the report.
With Preckwinkle's single day of teaching in a high school
special education class, he could claim 16.4 years of prior union
service toward his teacher pension, plus years since the law took
effect.
Piccioli was certified as a substitute in early December 2006 and
taught a middle school history class in Springfield in January. He
could claim nearly a decade of prior experience with the union.
Illinois Republicans blasted the practice on Sunday, calling on
legislators to pass legislation to terminate the pensions.
"This is an insult to every taxpayer and to every teacher,"
Illinois Republican Party chairman Pat Brady said in a statement.
[Associated Press]
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