Quinn wants $14B loan guarantee

Greg Hinz is reporting that local officials have asked President Barack Obama for a few favors since he took office;but now they want a really big one: a federal guarantee of a potential $14-billion Illinois pension obligation bond issue.

According to newly installed state Budget Director David Vaught, Gov. Pat Quinn recently brought up the idea with U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and others at the White House. The governor got a good enough reception that "he intends to extend" his efforts, Mr. Vaught said.

A federally guaranteed bond issue could be an enormous help to Illinois in dealing with a huge fiscal 2011 budget hole that Dan Long, executive director of the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability, the Legislature's fiscal research arm, now pegs at $11 billion to $12 billion.