The trade magazine "Institutional Investor" has ranked Illinois' incoming governor as its most influential player in U.S. pensions. An article says Bruce Rauner may regret ever having run for office, given the state's massive longterm pension debt, and the difficulty he is expected to have in addressing it.
Former private equity investor BruceRaunerhas no real retirement policy experience, but he nonetheless finds himself atop a trade publication's list of the nation's most prominent figures in pensions.
The opening line of the "Institutional Investor" article is inauspicious. Rauner "may regret he ever wished to win elective office," the author writes, then goes on to explain why: namely, because of Illinois' "serious pension mess."
The author cites Illinois' more than $100 billion underfunding of its retirement plans, and goes briefly into the complications of doing anything about it -- because of the state's constitutional protection of benefits, and, the article says, because of the difficulty Rauner, a Republican, will have getting a Democratic General Assembly to agree to his plan to move to a 401(k) style system.
Rauner isn't the only Illinois name on the list.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel comes in fourth.Like Illinois, Chicago faces major pension underfunding. And like the state, the city is facing legal roadblocks. Some union members are suing to overturn the state law intended to help Chicago get up to funding speed, including by allowing benefit reductions.
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