Who's the better lawyer, Madigan or Cullerton? Bad poll for Quinn; Stantis cartoon pokes CTA: Your Reboot Illinois Daily Tip-Off

MADIGAN V. CULLERTON Now that we know any pension reform bill signed into law is going to be challenged in court, the issue comes down to whether you think House Speaker Michael Madigan or Senate President John Cullerton is the better lawyer. Madigan, who helped draft the Illinois Constitution in 1970, says his far-reaching pension bill will stand up in court AND save the state $150 billion by 2045. Cullerton disagrees, and says the state should play it safe with his bill and save only $46 billion. But Cullerton's savings won't get us out of this crisis, which threatens all aspects of Illinois government. We're with Mr. Speaker on this one and we explain why in our editorial. 

CAMPAIGN 2014 A new We Ask America poll brings not good news for Gov. Pat Quinn. The poll asked only one question: Do you approve or disapprove of the job Gov. Pat Quinn is doing? Quinn's disapproval rate among all voters is just under 62 percent. It gets worse when you narrow it to Republicans (84 percent) and downstaters (77 percent). Of course, it's still extremely early, but with two possible primary challengers waiting in the wings, the numbers aren't encouraging for the Quinn camp. We've got more on our Campaign 2014 scorecard. 

NO TORCHES ON THE BUS, LADY The Chicago Transit Authority is being less than courteous to Lady Liberty in the eyes of cartoonist Scott Stantis. Click to see the whole thing.

PENSION SAVINGS = EDUCATION FUNDING There's a new push in Springfield to make suburban/downstate school districts pay all of their teacher pension costs. The state now picks up part of the bill, which is around $800 million a year. House Speaker Michael Madigan calls this a "free lunch" for school districts, who can generate high pension costs by granting high salaries then pass the bill to the state. Chicago gets no such break. The education advocacy group Stand for Children thinks this "pension shift" is a great idea -- as long as the state takes the new savings and re-invests it in education. Can the state be trusted to do that? Stand for Children explains in a blog post and video.

TOP 5 In case you missed anything, here are the Top 5 items from rebootillinois.com this week.

1. Reboot Illinois pension crisis petition
2. Summary of State Journal-Register's 10-year history of Illinois' financial decline
3. Explanation of pension deal crafted by Senate President John Cullerton and Illinois public employee unions
4. Roll call on House pension vote for House Speaker Michael Madigan's pension bill 
5. Senate serves $6.5 million side of pork with gambling expansion bill

DAILY TIP-OFF Earlier this week we featured a story by Sun-Times political writer Lynn Sweet that excerpted letters from friends and former colleagues of Jesse Jackson Jr. asking a federal judge for leniency when Jackson is sentenced for misusing campaign funds. Today we have a link to a story from The Hill in which the letter writers are former constituents of Jackson and want anything but leniency.

A few samples: "(M)urder would be a lighter crime, as these defendants have used the political hopes and dreams of the constituents as a blank check for deceit." “I am asking that you do the right by his constituents and treat him as you would any other person... (Jackson) did absolutely nothing for our district for the time he served.” “Please do everything in your power to see that Representative Jackson pays, and pays dearly, for his egregious and repulsive behavior.” And so on. 

Closer to home, the Chicago Sun-Times editorial board today rips the pension reform bill passed Thursday by Senate, calling it "fake" and "morally wrong." "It is hard to imagine the state of Illinois could sink any lower. But it could. And it will if the meager pension cost-cutting bill passed by the Illinois Senate on Thursday becomes law." 

Also noteworthy in today's Sun-Times is a Neil Steinberg column that wonders whether all the money from a proposed Chicago casino really would go to Chicago schools, as Mayor Rahm Emanuel has promised. He uses the education funding promises that helped establish the Illinois State Lottery as an example. "How can we be sure Chicago casino cash put into the left pocket of schools won’t be taken out of the right?"

You'll find links to these stories and full array of Illinois news in the Daily Tip-Off section of our website.