What are key players saying about a consultant's proposals to fix the pension crisis?

Here's how key players in the effort to solve Kentucky's pension crisis are reacting to PFM Consulting Group's controversial recommendations to fix the problem:  

House Speaker Jeff Hoover, R-Jamestown:

”This is a complex, multifaceted problem. We, as a state, simply cannot financially sustain the current system. Changes need to be made, but what those changes are, or how we address them, right now we are not sure. … I would like to thank PFM for their hard work to produce this report, but please know that these are only recommendations. My colleagues and I will be asking for public input as we seek to make the best decisions for our state retirees, current state workers, and future state employees.”

Jason Bailey, executive director of the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy:

“The final report from the state’s pension consultant PFM uses exaggerated claims about the condition of all the state’s pension plans to justify harsh and ultimately counterproductive cuts to retirees, current workers and future employees. … PFM’s recommendations are a drastic and one-sided approach to addressing the state’s pension liabilities. They put the blame and responsibility entirely on retirees, current employees and future workers. Nowhere in the report does PFM look at revenue options that would help Kentucky pay down its liabilities over time while protecting the remainder of our budget and safeguarding our ability to attract a skilled workforce.”

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Jim Waters, president of the Bluegrass Institute:

“For years and even decades, Frankfort has distracted citizens and taxpayers from the real problem of an unbalanced system with unsustainable, arbitrary benefits. … It appears that with today’s presentation, we at least are moving beyond a limited view of what's simply politically palatable in discussions about the commonwealth’s pension crisis — arguably the nation’s most severe — toward meaningful changes that consider how the state can provide benefits to its workers without threatening Kentucky’s entire economy.”

Brent McKim, president of the Jefferson County Teachers Association:

"The important point I want to emphasize is that the recommendations in the PFM report are NOT recommendations from the Governor or the General Assembly. They are recommendations from one group of financial consultants, not legislators or lawyers, and many of the recommendations are probably not even legal under the Kentucky Constitution. So no educator needs to make a retirement decision based on the PFM report. The JCTA and KEA leadership have been directly engaged with the Governor and legislators, and all of these elected officials want to address the pension issue in a manner that does not lead to a mass exodus of teachers retiring."

State Rep. Jim Wayne, D-Louisville:

"They (PFM Group) are coming before us without any idea of how you address this issue with new revenue. You cannot address this issue without new revenue, and that means reform. If we go down this road that they are proposing, what you’re doing is going to hurt all Kentuckians. And that’s tragic. So right now they’re basically putting the squeeze on the retirees and the future retirees. You can’t do a clawback on the current retirees — the cost of living, for instance. You can’t expect some of these people to work, especially first responders, until age 60. You can’t expect them to have a guaranteed quality of retirement with 401(k)s."

Dave Adkisson, president and CEO of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce:

"We in Kentucky don't have the luxury of simply being for or against pension reform. We're in a downward spiral. If we don't reform our pension systems to reflect modern reality, we will be forced to take more money away from our schools, our universities, our economic development efforts, the state police - from all of the important services we citizens expect from state government."

Randolph Wieck,teacher at duPont Manual High School and founder of the Teacher Retirement Legal Fund:

"The PFM report cites the funding level of KTRS as 48 percent, when both Moody's (at 32 percent) and Standard and Poor's (35 percent) do not kick the can down the road. They are more in line with the truth. As we teachers have been misled by our union, our state government, and by our pension managers, we have seen the courts as our only recourse, and have filed a federal lawsuit to protect what is left of our pension."