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Raise your hands, freshmen. Here's your syllabus:The state owes small business owners, hospitals, schools and other service providers more than $9 billion in unpaid bills. We stiff the people who provide essential services.You, members of the 98th, have to come up with $1 billion more for pension costs this year than the state had to pay last year.You inherit responsibility for five state pension funds that carry unfunded liabilities of $96.8 billion and climbing.Fixing the pension system must be priority No. 1. Moody's Investors Service warned last month it may downgrade Illinois' debt rating again due to inaction on pensions. The lawmakers who just failed again to fix the pensions are bracing to hear bad news any day now.Moody's already ranks Illinois the least creditworthy state in the nation. Standard Poor's Ratings Services downgraded Illinois' rating with a negative outlook in August. Downgrades increase the likelihood Illinois will pay more in interest each time the state sells bonds in the open market. It's another unfair whack at taxpayers' wallets, courtesy of lawmakers' failure on pensions.Senate President John Cullerton promised Wednesday to work immediately on a new pension bill that would begin to lift Illinois out of its financial mess. There's no time like right now.Except: The House and Senate convene on Thursday. After that, the House isn't scheduled to return to Springfield until Jan. 30. The Senate isn't scheduled to go back until Feb. 5. Don't forget, that unfunded liability a burden on taxpayers grows by $17.1 million every day the current pension system stays unreformed.The four legislative leaders and Gov. Pat Quinn have shown no capacity to broker an agreement.The members of the General Assembly will have to create that urgency, which is decidedly more difficult when they're sitting at home waiting for Cullerton and Madigan to call them into session.Madigan, Cullerton, put your people to work and fix the pensions now.As for the ambitious crop of new lawmakers, you've got to play catch-up, and fast. We're counting on incoming Democrats such as Sam Yingling and Scott Drury and Republicans such as Jeanne Ives to make some noise. Remember what you said during the campaign?"It's going to take the courage of the freshmen class to make changes. I'm not going to need political cover. I'm going down there to get something done," Ives told us during an endorsement interview last fall. "I'm willing to vote on anything that advances the situation in a positive way. I will do any baby steps to get there."Wanted: Baby steps. Big steps. Galloping strides. Fix the pensions now.Wednesday was a day for gripping and grinning and flashbulbs. Now, it's down to business.Members of the 98th General Assembly: It's so easy to get comfy in Springfield, hit the saloons, get sweet-talked by lobbyists, and wake up two years later as complete failures. It happened to the 97th. Don't let it happen to you.


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“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.” – Warren BuffettThe Michigan Economic Development Corporation, parent of Travel Michigan, swiped the pristine “Pure Michigan” tourism brand Tuesday for use in a clumsy touting Michigan’s new right-to-work law.Until now, the words "Pure Michigan" have been associated with beauty and pleasure.Now they are associated with screaming and union-busting.Ick. Who wants to vacation in that state?That's the reaction I'm worried about.Travel Michigan officials must take the blame for not fighting tooth and nail to protect the slogan from the clutches of competing business interests at the MEDC. They must act quickly to protect it from further harm. They owe it to all the tourism businesses in this state who have hitched their fragile futures to the Pure Michigan vision.A slogan so envied in tourism circles nationally that in 2009 it was named as one of the top 10 tourism slogans of all time (along with “Virginia is for Lovers” and others), Pure Michigan is not just a logo to slap on any old plodding news release or business pitch. It is responsible for bringing thousands of new tourists and millions of dollars to our state in the last five years. But the lyrical ad campaign also did something beyond money: It made Michiganders remember why they love this state.It gave us hope in the dark times.Remember the line, "Twenty-five thousand mornings, give or take, is all we humans get...Make sure some of them are Pure Michigan”? That’s not a sales pitch. That goes straight to the heart.Sadly, Pure Michigan has been a victim of mission creep. A couple of years ago, MEDC started stealing Pure Michigan's mojo, using its logos on its weaker business promotion materials. Last year, Travel Michigan sold part of its soul by creating a garish partnership with Coca-Cola, which put Coke logos on Pure Michigan billboards across the state.Now, if the MEDC persists in wrecking the brand, we may have to go back to the old state tourism slogan “Winter Wonderland.”Or just adopt a new slogan: “Pure Michigan Divisiveness.”