Joe Moore on Tax Hike: Desperate, Hypocritical Liar

Chicago's 49th Ward Alderman "Stumpy" Joe Moore has come out as one of the city councilmen opposed to Mayor Daley's obscene tax increase, passed yesterday by a bunch of fellow thieves who - like the Mayor - just want to pull more money out of your pocket. So, Moore should be praised for opposing this huge tax increase, right? No, not really. If Joe Moore was not a sociopath, if he was a man with a normal conscience, he would not have come out against this tax increase. He would have stayed, rather, true to his colors, true to his own philosophy. Democrat Joe Moore consorts with the likes of Cook County President "Taxing" Todd Stroger, public trough pig David Fagus, and big spending Democrat Congressgal Jan Schakowsky. Moore makes his living from your tax dollars. With all the pretty rhetoric coming from Moore and other hacks, NOT ONE OF THEM proposed trimming the budget in a serious way. NOT ONE OF THESE THIEVING BASTARDS suggested that actually lowering taxes would encourage people to move into or stay in Chicago, attract new businesses and jobs, help the working poor, and ultimately increase the total tax revenue. Not one of them. In his own remarks to the City Council yesterday, he said, "Over the years, I have supported far more Mayoral budgets than I have opposed." Does this sound like a guy who generally favors lower taxes? Was that a Freudian slip by Mr. Moore? So why should Moore oppose Daley's tax hike? Has he spoken out against Stroger's tax hikes? How about Schakowsky's miserable voting record when it comes to taxes? Has he ever urged David Fagus to take a cut in his publicly provided salary? Will Joe Moore urge the Chicago City Council to cut their own salaries, to at least give a gesture of moral support for the people that they - as a collective body - are robbing? Moore's political career in trouble, and he knows it. His life in politics is at a fork in the road after barely surviving a run-off election that he and his Democratic National Committee (DNC) pals spent many hundreds of thousand of dollars on, and under the shadow of heavy and numerous accusations of illegitimate polling place hijinks. His DNC controllers must surely be watching him closely, wondering if they would be wise to pour money into any of his future campaigns, whether for alderman or a run for Congress. Which brings us back to why Joe Moore, a man under a dark cloud, came out so vociferously against Mayor Daley's tax hike. He's trying to suck up to the voters of the 49th Ward, which has shown that it has a changing demographic and will likely not re-elect him in 2011. Moore knows that his "opposition" to Daley's tax hike will be read and heard by people in this congressional district, too. He's playing to the current base, but he's also playing to the future possibilities. He's working on his public image. Moore also said in his remarks yesterday to the Council, "Unfortunately, this is one proposed budget I will not be able to support." Uh huh, because before this year Moore had no reason to question his own future. Suck up, Joe, suck up. To wit, his idiotic e-mail, dated today, in which he "explains" his "opposition" to Daley's organized fleecing of the City of Chicago. [Links in the text below were added by The Bench.] Alderman Moore Votes to Oppose Budget and Tax Increases Wed, 14 Nov 2007 Dear Neighbor, The City Council yesterday voted to approve Mayor Daley's proposed 2008 budget that called for $276.5 million in taxes, fines and fees, including a revised $83.4 million property tax increase, the largest in Chicago's history. The budget passed 37 to 13, and the property tax was approved 29 to21. They were the closest budget votes in Mayor Daley's 19 years in office. I voted to oppose both the budget and the tax increases. Given the many documented instances of waste, fraud and corruption, I did not believe the budget contained enough assurances that the taxpayers' dollars would be spent honestly and efficiently. And I was also concerned that the tax package placed a disproportionate burden on low and middle income residents. The budget contained one bit of good news. The blue cart recycling program will be expanded to the 49th Ward next year. If you receive city garbage pick-up, the city will also collect your recyclable materials once every two weeks. Implementation of the program will begin in the second half of next year. Below are my remarks on the budget, which I delivered yesterday in the City Council. Please feel free to share your comments. Sincerely, Joe Moore REMARKS OF ALDERMAN JOE MOORE REGARDING PROPOSED 2008 CITY BUDGET November 13, 2007 Mr. President and members of the City Council, this is the 17th time that I will cast my vote on the City of Chicago budget and the revenue packages to finance the budget. Over the years, I have supported far more Mayoral budgets than I have opposed. Unfortunately, this is one proposed budget I will not be able to support. I am very mindful of the budgetary and fiscal challenges our city faces, challenges of a size and scope not seen since the Great Depression. Chicago is not alone in this regard. Cities and towns across America face financial crises more dire than our own, and have been forced to drastically cut even the most vital public services. Our Budget Director, Bennett Johnston, has performed yeoman's work in crafting a balanced budget during these very difficult financial times. I congratulate him on his professionalism. The cost of providing for police and fire protection, affordable housing, quality schools, adequate health care and basic city services continues to increase and the resources to pay for those essential needs continue to dwindle. The current slowdown in the nation's economy undoubtedly contributes to our budgetary difficulties. But an even greater contributing factor is our federal government's completely misplaced priorities. We may have our disagreements over this budget, but let's make very clear who the real enemy is. The Bush Administration cut spending on Community Development Block Grants, Head Start, education, child care, affordable housing, energy assistance and a vast array of other programs to help people. At the same time, it gave the richest five percent of Americans tax cuts of $92 billion in one year alone. While federal assistance to cities and towns faced the chopping block every year since 2001, the Bush Administration doubled the spending on national defense. Spending on the war in Iraq has cost our nation's treasury nearly half a trillion dollars. Chicago taxpayers alone have spent $4.9 billion on that misguided and senseless war, nearly equal to our city's budget for an entire year. Put another way, each Chicago ward sent an average of $98 million to Iraq. Thanks in large part to these misplaced national priorities, the gap between the rich and poor is wider than at any point in the last 80 years. Government can play a key role in alleviating this disparity, and ensuring that no one is left behind. But tragically federal government policies in the last 30 years have served only to exacerbate that disparity, leaving millions of Americans to fend for themselves. We at the local level have no choice but to step in and fill the void left by the federal government. Over the last 20 years, Chicago has risen to the challenge. Despite the lack of federal support, Mayor Daley, with the help of the City Council, has launched an array of initiatives to improve the quality of life in our neighborhoods. From affordable housing to AIDS prevention, from green roofs to community policing, from libraries to Neighborhoods Alive, I supported those initiatives and the budgets which financed them. But those who believe in the power of government to promote the common good and build a more just society must do more than simply point out that city services cost money and the federal government isn't living up to its obligations. We must also insist that the hard earned dollars we collect from the taxpayers are raised fairly and spent honestly and efficiently. Unfortunately, the taxes and fees proposed in this budget are neither fairly raised, nor can we be assured they will always be honestly and efficiently spent. The taxes and fees we are asked to support today fall disproportionately on poor and middle class individuals and families. Of the 51 taxes and fees proposed, only one is targeted specifically at business. And while both homeowners and businesses pay the property tax, it is a regressive tax that has a disproportionate impact on low and moderate income people and those living on a fixed income. If more taxes and fees are necessary to maintain government services, the burden must be shared by all who benefit from those services. Under the current proposals, average taxpayers are carrying far more than their fair share. This budget also does little to assure taxpayers their dollars will be spent honestly and efficiently. Nothing has eroded public confidence in our local government more than the constant drumbeat of criminal indictments and convictions of people who have enriched themselves at public expense. And nothing has made the public more cynical than the endless string of broken promises to end business as usual in city government. How can we ask a retiree on a fixed income to pay another $100 in property taxes on her home when the City pays $1.2 million to a politically connected developer for property that the developer had bought for $50,000? How many bottles of water must be sold to pay for the $12 million fund created to compensate victims of the city's rigged hiring system? How many parking tickets must be written to cover the $10 million in legal fees that have already been spent to defend John Burge and his cohorts? How many sewer and water fees must be paid to cover the costs of the fraudulent "minority" contracts awarded to politically connected white-owned businesses? How many red light runners must be caught on camera to make up for the $40 million a year that was spent for do-nothing hired truckers? Is there any doubt why people feel so angry and betrayed by their local government? Before we in local government ask people to dig deeper in their pockets, we must demonstrate a true commitment to eliminating waste, inefficiency and corruption in our midst. Unfortunately, this budget fails to do so. The budget gives only a token amount of additional resources to the Inspector General's Office--the only agency in city government with any demonstrated record of uncovering corruption and waste. And the additional inspectors in his new budget merely replace those that were diverted to work with the federal monitor in the Shakman case. Rather than spend $2.5 million to create the so-called Office of Compliance, an agency of suspect independence that consists primarily of employees from other city departments, the Administration could have used those dollars to staff a truly independent agency that not only roots out corruption but also uncovers waste and inefficiency. Such a commitment of resources would go a long way to convince our citizens that Chicago was truly committed to cleaning its house. And rather than running up never-ending legal bills, and leaving the city taxpayers vulnerable to multi-million dollar court judgments, the city's law department could actually settle the Jon Burge cases and begin to heal the wounds from one of the most heinous police misconduct cases in our nation's history. Such an action is not only the right thing to do morally, but could potentially save the city's taxpayers tens of millions of dollars. At a time when local government is needed more than ever to fill the void left by the misplaced priorities of our federal government, we must restore public confidence in our ability to raise revenue fairly and deliver services honestly and efficiently. Because this budget fails to do either in any meaningful way, I must vote "no."