David Greising

David Greising is president of the Better Government Association, publisher of the Illinois Answers Project and home to the BGA Policy website. A former Tribune business columnist, Greising broke into professional journalism covering Harold Washington’s run for mayor at the City News Bureau of Chicago. His Tribune column appears every other Friday.

Former Ald. Edward Burke, center, arrives for his political corruption trial at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse on Nov. 6, 2023.

David Greising: As ex-Ald. Edward Burke faces trial, Chicagoans are told yet again that it was ‘just politics’

November 16, 2023 at 2:18 p.m.

It serves as a fitting metaphor that, in an effort to avoid tainting the jury in the trial of disgraced former Ald. Edward Burke, a rogues' gallery of corrupt Illinois...

Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara marches with members during the St. Jude Police Memorial March, May 7, 2023.

David Greising: Maintaining Chicago police accountability in new contract will require a tricky legal maneuver

October 27, 2023 at 10:00 a.m.

Mayor Brandon Johnson's decision to put the brakes on City Council approval of a key part of a new police contract was politically pragmatic and a win for accountable government...

Mayor Brandon Johnson delivers his budget proposal for 2024 on Oct. 11, 2023, at Chicago City Hall.

David Greising: Mayor Brandon Johnson’s first budget shows that the realities of the job have sunk in

October 13, 2023 at 10:00 a.m.

Think of it as the reality check budget. As a candidate for mayor, Brandon Johnson had a neat and clean plan to raise $800 million from new taxes in order...

Chicago FOP leader John Catanzara after a hearing at the Leighton Criminal Court Building on May 10, 2023.

David Greising: Civic leaders seek sincere solutions while GOP stunt exploits Chicago violence

September 29, 2023 at 10:00 a.m.

At almost the same time this week, two meetings took place, both promoted as addressing Chicago's violent crime problem. They had two very different purposes: one dispensable, the other admirable....

The governor's office at the Capitol in Springfield is seen on Jan. 29, 2020.

David Greising: How Illinois can finally gain traction in solving its pension crisis

August 1, 2024 at 11:32 a.m.

Editor's note: This is Part Five of a five-part series. When something is the worst in the nation, it seems self-evident that responsible people would feel an urgent need to...

The state seal on a chair as Gov. J.B. Pritzker delivers his annual budget address to a joint session of the General Assembly on Feb. 15, 2023, at the Illinois State Capitol.

David Greising: Without political support, Illinois can’t move forward on pension fix

August 1, 2024 at 11:30 a.m.

Editor's note: This is Part Four of a five-part series. In an effort to help fix the state of Illinois' burdensome pension problem, the Civic Committee of Chicago has made...

Then-Gov. Bruce Rauner, alongside Illinois Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno and House Minority Leader Jim Durkin, announces Jan. 21, 2016, that he will support a Democratic pension reform proposal.

David Greising: Examining the plans to tackle Illinois’ pension debt

April 1, 2025 at 3:29 p.m.

Editor's note: This is Part Three of a five-part series. As Gov. Bruce Rauner's administration was winding down in 2018, a group of about two dozen prominent Illinois residents —...

Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, smiles as he addresses the legislature in the Arizona House of Representatives at the Arizona Capitol on Jan. 13, 2014, in Phoenix. The Republican lawmaker was a proponent of the state constitution to be amended to allow cuts to public employee pensions and increases in employee contributions if the systems are badly underfunded.

David Greising: What Illinois can learn from other states’ pension reforms

August 1, 2024 at 11:36 a.m.

Editor's note: This is Part Two of a five-part series. Word for word, the clause protecting public employee pensions may be the most consequential sentence in the Illinois Constitution. The...

Gov. J.B. Pritzker speaks before signing the 2024 fiscal year budget on June 7, 2023, in Chicago.

David Greising: The challenge to erase Illinois’ $140 billion in pension debt

August 1, 2024 at 11:23 a.m.

Editor's note: This is Part One of a five-part series. When Gov. J.B. Pritzker delivered his first budget address in 2019, he laid out a muscular plan to fix an...

Chicago police Chief Larry Snelling, center, arrives with Mayor Brandon Johnson to be introduced as Johnson's choice for superintendent on Aug. 14, 2023, at City Hall.

David Greising: What Dr. Arwady’s firing, Larry Snelling’s selection and other decisions say about Mayor Johnson

August 18, 2023 at 8:05 p.m.

Mayor Brandon Johnson made two high-profile personnel moves this week that tell us a lot about what he will be like as mayor. A third, lower-profile appointment may yet say...

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