In Illinois, the five pension systems have a $100 billion (yes, with a ‘b’) liability and the part that pays out public school teachers might run out of money as soon as 2029.
Just remember that as you meet Stephen Preckwinkle and David Piccioli.
The two men substitute taught in IL for one day each, but through some serious loopholes, stood to collect nearly $1 million dollars in retirement dollars from the IL pension fund. You might of heard about these guys already.
If you’re a teacher, you probably remember them well.
On January 5th 2012, IL Governor Pat Quinn singed a ‘reform’ bill to make sure these loopholes were closed. Many politicians, including the leader of the state, had learned from their mistakes and corrected their path forward.
Two days ago, Forbes checked back in on the story, did some research, and guess who were still getting paid?
Stephen Preckwinkle and David Piccioli.
In 2014 the two men are getting nearly $68,000 combined for that 1 day each of substitute teaching. Turns out that bill that was signed didn’t actually address the loophole that Mr. Prekwinkle and Mr. Piccioli had slipped through.
https://twitter.com/MikeMathenyy/status/522729379634614272
Mike Matheny isn’t an idiot.
That Tweet above? Parody account. It’s not like the front office never asks about what his thought process is with in-game moves and roster construction… so whatever he’s telling his bosses? They must be buying into.
He couldn’t keep his job if he didn’t have at least satisfactory explanations.
But whoooooo doggy. I’d really like to be in the season ending meeting with the DeWitt’s and Mo holding a tape recorder to find out just how in the hell he can rationalize carrying a player (Mike Wacha) that he has no intention of playing… even when a situation is SCREAMING for the player to play… IN the exact situation we were told he was being carried for!
That 3rd/4th inning – if the Cardinals lose this series, and maybe even if they don’t – are going to loom large over the Mike Matheny era. Magnified and intensified by the fact that Bruce Bochy had almost an identical situation in the other dugout with Ryan Vogelsong imploding and his call for Yusmerio Petit righted the Giants and propelled them to a GM 4 win.
If we need to narrow it down to the single moment in time for brevity? The second Shelby Miller stepped in the batters box in the 4th.
Ironic, considering that carrying Miller in the 2013 postseason and not using him was one of the big reasons that Boston was able to cut through the Cardinals pitching like a warm knife through room temperature butter.
We heard that lessons were learned. We saw that they weren’t. And once again the Cardinals are on the brink of tossing aside another golden championship opportunity.
The Best? The Worst?
– The postseason is cruel. I think we all were pretty impressed with the caliber of defense that Matt Adams played in 2014. It was well above expectations. But his prowess in the field will most likely be remembered for 2 suboptimal throws in the bottom of the 6th inning. One home. One to second. Both leading to runs being scored and turning a 4-4 game into a 6-4 Giants win.
– ‘Randy Choate reveals he’s been blackmailing Mike Matheny all October long!’ – Would anyone be surprised to see some TMZ-style headlines about these two at this point? Dude keeps people on base. Even Derek Lilliquist comes out to the mound to yell at the guy.
+ Jon. Fucking. Jay. His OBP is up to .588! His average is .500! He’s the anti- Jhonny Peralta!
– Matheny isn’t doing himself any favors by keeping Randal Grichuk in RF to take the collar every night when Oscar Taveras comes in and gets a pinch hit every at bat. 4 ABs are better than 1, right Mike? I know it’s fun having a bullet off the bench this year… but come on.
+ Can Pat Neshek just be the long-relief, short-relief and closer?
Highlight Of The Night:
[mlbvideo id=”36815423″ width=”650″ height=”324″ /]Photo: MLB.com
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