I haven’t seen this story anywhere else but at Rich Miller’s Capitol Fax.
Let’s put it in a nutshell and provide lots of links for you to explore further if you wish.
Tyrone C. “Ty” Fahner is a former Illinois attorney general, partner of an international law firm that does business with the State of Illinois as bond counsel, and president of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago.
Last March, during a Civic Committee discussion of the state’s public pension problems, Fahner claimed that some members had talked to bond ratings agencies about lowering Illinois’ bond rating to create more pressure for pension reform.
As a taxpayer, this concerns me greatly. Lowered bond ratings mean higher borrowing costs, and it’s disturbing to think ratings might be based on something other than objective research.
As a citizen, it concerns me as well, being fraught with the possibilities of conflicts of interest, clout and other ethics violations.
Additional links:
Fahner: Civic Committee helped jaw down state’s bond rating (The post includes video of the discussion.)