Thanks to an unnoticed provision legislators slipped into state law 20 years ago, almost two dozen union leaders in Chicago stand to walk off with a cool $56 million in pension money, the Chicago Tribune reported last week.  But only if the Illinois legislature does not repeal the provision, detailed in a lengthy report the Tribune conducted with WGN-TV.  Three of the union leaders may earn as much as $5 million.

Legalized Theft

No one seems to know, the Tribune reported, who tweaked state pension law to permit the looting. Or at least no one will accept responsibility. The change in the law was a small one. It permits the pensions of city employees to be based upon salaries earned after they retired from the city and went to work for unions, rather than basing those pensions on their much lower wages from the city.

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