Pensions pose latest challenge for Chicago mayor

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http://gazette.com/pensions-pose-latest-challenge-for-chicago-mayor/article/feed/106504

Pensions pose latest challenge for Chicago mayor
Associated Press Updated: April 7, 2014 at 8:31 pm • Published: April 7, 2014

CHICAGO (AP) — Rahm Emanuel has been a force in politics — the mastermind behind a Democratic takeover of Congress, dealmaker in two White Houses and now the hard-charging mayor intent on fixing what ails the nation's third-largest city, no matter whom he ticks off in the process.

But less than a year before asking voters to give him a second four-year term, the man once nicknamed "Rahmbo" for his fierce political maneuvering has now come face to face with a mess that could undermine Chicago's reputation as an efficient metropolis and derail its ambitions to become a high-tech business mecca: the worst public pension crisis of any major U.S. city.

Emanuel last week announced his first concrete proposal to bail out the city's drastically underfunded employee retirement systems, a festering problem inherited from his predecessor, Richard M. Daley. The plan, designed to cut Chicago's nearly $20 billion shortfall in half by reducing worker benefits and raising property taxes, would address only half the problem, but even this first attempt was met with fierce resistance from unions and taxpayer groups — and little enthusiasm from fellow Democrats he needs to get it approved.

Emanuel's supporters say that after decades of inaction by Chicago and Illinois politicians, the former White House chief of staff is finally dealing with the pain necessary to fix the problem. The mayor says it's the only answer for keeping the system out of insolvency and avoiding massive cuts in public services and a far larger tax hike.