"If people think we're another Detroit, they might avoid it. "This state has an interest in making the City of Chicago a viable economic place, because it's the engine of our whole state economy," said Christopher Mooney, who heads the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois. Even more important, Chicago is a vital part the state's overall economy, and its fiscal struggles affect the rest of Illinois. Illinois doesn't want Chicago's debt obligations-one of the pension funds has only 37 percent of the money it will need in the future, the other just over half-to someday land on the state's doorstep. But Quinn's decision to intervene also demonstrates the interplay between states' and cities' budget fortunes. Quinn, a Democrat running for re-election, wanted to claim the pension overhaul as an accomplishment in a year when legislative victories have been hard to come by-even if it does open him up to the charge that he cleared the way for Chicago to raise property taxes. Pat Quinn earlier this month signed an overhaul of two pension systems for Chicago city workers, he inserted the state into the city's budget business and set off a political firestorm that will heat up this fall's elections.
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