Jury still out on governor's pension plans

SPRINGFIELD – After two years of reduced contributions, Gov. Rod Blagojevich is now pushing a dramatic plan to invest $26 billion into the public pension systems for teachers, university workers, state employees, judges and members of the General Assembly.

"I'm pleased really that the governor has brought this issue to the forefront, and has proposed a significant influx of cash to the pension funds," said Dan Slack, executive director of the State Universities Retirement System. "Underfunding of the pension systems of Illinois has occurred for decades. But we're still in the process of learning and analyzing details of the proposal."

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