Your editorial of Jan. 14 states that “the skyrocketing pension and health care costs for retired public employees are the No. 1 reason why Springfield has been unable to pay its bills for everything else.” What about the fact that Springfield failed to make the needed contributions to the pension systems for many years? I contributed 8 percent of my salary to the pension system every year. (Yes, the State of Illinois has been mismanaged. So has the Tribune.)
So far, we pensioners largely have remained silent during your drumbeat against us. I take it personally. Here is my story. After taking six years in graduate school to earn a PhD from Yale University, I joined the faculty of UIC in 1971 as an assistant professor of economics. We had high hopes for a public university that, at long last, was established in the city of Chicago. While those hopes have not been fulfilled completely, it is not because of me. I rose from assistant professor to professor to research center director to department head (of three different departments at various times) to senior associate dean to interim dean of the College of Business Administration, and devoted 38 years to UIC. My original salary was $13,000 – and I was underpaid for many years. I was not a member of a union, and oppose faculty unions for major universities.
The State promised a pension, and the rules were clear. I receive a big pension, and I earned it.
— John McDonald, River Forest
