For the past few years, the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago has been one of the most feared participants in the state’s pension reform debate. 

Ty Fahner, a former Illinois attorney general who heads the Civic Committee, managed to persuade both parties to elbow each other for a position of favor with him and his group. 

When Fahner ended up siding with the House Democrats in May and endorsing their pension reform plan, including shifting costs to school districts, House Republicans were disappointed and furious. They had been assiduously courting Fahner and figured that because the Civic Committee is composed of several top Chicago business leaders, they’d be the natural ally of choice.