The following is a partial transcript of Jim Tobin’s remarks before the state House Mass Transit Committe on January 16, 2008

1/16/2008
Today’s Chicago Tribune reports 320,000 people take CTA bus routes facing elimination.  However, this represents approximately 160,000 people riding to and from their house.  The proposed cuts affect only 5 percent of the population.  95 percent of the people would be unaffected but all would be forced to pay $530 million more in taxes to finance CTA salaries and million dollar pension benefits for CTA employees.  (For example, a 55 year old CTA employee making $80,000 who retires with 25 years on the job receives more than $1 million in pension benefits in the first 20 years.)  Members of the Illinois General Assembly should resist being duped by greedy union employees and Chicago politicians who want to throw more taxpayer dollars at the moribund CTA.  Please vote ‘NO’ on HB 656 and force the CTA to reform.