Chicago politics

In 1981 there was a law sponsored by Illinois Assemblyman John D’Arco which would allow members who had left the General Assembly but then worked for other state agencies could rejoin the Assemblymen’s pension group as long as they did so before 1992. In 1980 Mayor Daley left the Assembly and took the job of Cook County States Attorney. He had 8 years of service and purchased an addition 2 years by paying $6,000 into the fund giving him ten years of service in the pension plan. He paid in that money one month after the new law went into effect. One month after Daley was elected to his first term as mayor he used D’Arco’s law to rejoin the Legislators pension plan for one month and that allowed him to transfer his pension credits from his city jobs to the legislative pension fund. The normal procedure would be to pay up front for all those years to make the pension whole but the law allowed him to gain those years and avoid the $400,000 up front payment. Instead he simply transferred the $128,000 he had accumulated in the city fund to the legislative pension and avoided the $400,000 payment. The legislative pension now pays Daley $118,000 per year and the city plan pays him $66,000. In case this is all too complicated realize that Daley paid the legislative pension plan a total of $128,000 and collects $118,000 per year for life. This pension, known as the GARS plan, is underfunded by $235 million dollars. Daley is only one among many who have taken advantage of the D’Arco rule and this may explain why the pension fund is unable to meet its commitments.