The name Carole L. Brown is rarely spoken in CTA garages. When it is, the silence that follows speaks volumes. For Chicago\u2019s frontline transit workers, Brown\u2019s tenure as CTA Board Chair was a masterclass in financial mismanagement that prioritized the executive class over the working class. The fallout from her 2008 pension \u201chandout\u201d wasn\u2019t just a ledger problem\u2014it has created a public safety crisis that Chicagoans face every time they board a bus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2008, as the CTA faced a budget crunch, Brown\u2019s board unanimously approved a \u201cvoluntary-termination employment program\u201d that allowed executives to buy years of service and retire in their late 40s and early 50s\u2014often while collecting six-figure salaries in new government jobs . Nearly 500 former executives have collected over $7 million from this supplemental plan, a boondoggle that one investigation described as allowing executives to \u201cride the pension express\u201d .<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The rules of the game were clear. For rank-and-file employees, pensions were designed to reward long-term service\u2014typically requiring age 55 or 25 years of service. But Brown decided those rules didn’t apply to C-suite insiders . While she claimed the program would save the CTA $3.6 million annually, the agency has spent approximately **$94 million over 15 years** funding this giveaway to the brass .<\/p>\n\n\n\n