http://www.suntimes.com/output/letters/cst-edt-vox30a.html
If you only read your e-mail when the moon is full. like friend Thor, I have pasted a copy to this e-mail.
Greg Lopatka, Retired CPS teacher
Greedy politicians
I can't take it anymore Gov. Ryan is to get more pension than
his salary. Give me a break. Chicago police officers have to work
32 years just to get the maximum of 75 percent of their pay for pension.
Plus, they haven't even had a contract in going on three years. It's time
to get things right. Give the police and firefighters a decent contract.
It's a shame when our politicians can get whatever they want,
and the men and women who serve the city the most can't get what they deserve.
Robert Schaefer, Mount Greenwood
Too little for teachers
How can you get a pension that pays more than your salary?
I just retired from teaching in the Chicago Public Schools after 39 years
of dedicated service in overcrowded classrooms. I have been writing politicians
like James ''Pate'' Philip and Governors Ryan and Jim Edgar for several
years, hoping that they would pass legislation that would allow hard-working
teachers to get 75 percent of their annual salary. I thought they would
feel a little compassion for people who have dedicated their lives to teaching
children.
I was limited to only 60 percent of my total salary because only
10 months of my salary is used to calculate the pension. School administrators
get 75 percent of their 12-month salary. I always thought an 85 percent
pension (that is what legislators voted for themselves) would be asking
too much, even though it would be nice to help pay the $360 a month COBRA
health payment that will jump to more than $700 next year.
I feel bad for people who are trying to live on Social Security
benefits. I took my 88 year old mother shopping in the Humboldt Park
area today. Ryan should see what those poor people are buying for dinner
at the end of the month. The governor's $3.2 million campaign fund should
go to upgrade the cat food diets of the elderly.
Legislators write our pension laws; we should be able to write
their pension laws.
Gregory Lopatka, Downers Grove
Real workers stiffed
There ought to be a law against it! How can Gov. Ryan, or, for
that matter, any General Assembly member who stays around for more than
20 years, draw more in pension money than when he or she was actually working
[news story, Aug. 27]? Well, they write the laws, so I guess the answer
is pretty simple. I just wonder how marvelous is the medical plan that
no doubt goes along with the pension plan, and how much taxpayers pay for
that over and above the pension? My bet is that it isn't an HMO or
Medicare plan like that of millions of real working folks.
Michael D. Turay, Crete
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