Republican candidate Bruce Rauner continues trying to soften his image when it comes to government employees. This comes after he won the nomination in part by relentlessly attacking public employee unions.
Rauner has called for all current state employees to have their pensions frozen and be put into 401(k)-style retirement plans. Many consider that even more harsh than the pension reductions Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn signed into law last year.
But Rauner is trying to have it both ways, criticizing Quinn for cutting current retirees' benefits while also saying last year's reductions didn't go far enough.
And, at a brief public appearance in Springfield Wednesday, he said this about police pensions: "I'm a believer that we need to protect the pensions for the police officers, and give them a special retirement beyond what's standardly done in other pensions."
Rauner did not explain what that means and left town before reporters could ask about it.
Leaders from local governments across Illinois have been urging the General Assembly to let them cut police and fire pensions as a cost-saving move. Rauner's pronouncement seems to indicate that could be even more of an uphill climb if he wins the election.
