One of every 10 workers on the state of Illinois payroll made more than $100,000 last year. Illinois' $100,000 club includes 682 who made more than governor last year

The Chicago Sun-Times reports:

One of every 10 workers on the state of Illinois payroll made more than $100,000 last year.

Nearly 700 state employees — most of them judges but also prison guards and nurses among them — drew heftier paychecks than Gov. Pat Quinn.

And more than 100 state workers doubled their base pay by working overtime or cashing in compensatory time — with 14 of them getting at least $80,000 apiece in extra pay, records show.

Altogether, nearly $4.8 billion of Illinois taxpayers’ money was paid last year to 82,104 full-time, part-time and contractual workers on the state payroll, according to a Chicago Sun-Times analysis that comes as Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, Democrat Quinn’s successor, is proposing colossal cuts in state spending.

Rauner has blamed labor unions for a large chunk of the state’s financial mess, declaring in his inaugural address that state salaries and pensions have been inflated by “government union bosses negotiating sweetheart deals across the table from governors they’ve spent tens of millions of dollars to help elect.”

The self-interest of government workers. Ever wonder why they make campaign contributions? Anyway, the Chicago Sun-Times deserves a lot credit for putting this on the frontpage of tomorrow's paper.