August 19 IL State Budget Town Hall Meeting

There will be a "State Budget Town Hall Meeting" on Thursday, August 19 from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. at St. Augustine College, 1333 W. Argyle, Chicago (map). That's in Edgewater, Chicago's 48th Aldermanic Ward. Those who attend will be treated to a blurring of facts about the FY 2011 Illinois Budget. The meeting, sponsored by State Senator Heather Steans and State Representative Greg Harris, both "progressive" Democrats, promises a cavalcade of excuses from both as they try to act as if they've had nothing to do with the nightmarish situation of the state's budgetary crisis during their years in the Legislature. There will also be presentations by the Civic Federation and Center for Tax and Budget Accountability. A cautious and tense Q& A session will follow. RELATED: Unbalanced State Budget Triggered Downgrades Civic Federation Report: Illinois Budget Crisis Worst in Nation Chicago Public Radio Heather In A Corner Lake Effect News

Springfield And Washington - Capitols Of Cowardice

CNN's Jack Cafferty slammed the Democrats in Congress last night for their failure to pass a federal budget (see the video below). Although he was scolding the Dems in Washington for their lack of resolve, Cafferty could have been talking about Illinois legislators in Springfield. Although the Illinois General Assemby did pass something of a budget in early June, they just couldn't muster the courage to include any substantial spending cuts. Governor Quinn, a Democrat himself, just can't muster the courage to veto that worthless budget. WJBD Radio reports that Quinn "did say however he wishes that the General Assembly had done more to close the state's spending gap. Instead, lawmakers have handed Quinn the power to make the cuts he deems necessary." The state's fiscal year ends on June 30th, 19 days from now, but they just could take the time to hammer out the needed cuts in billions of dollars being misspent and wasted. They passed the buck, literally and figuratively, to the hapless Pat Quinn. WJBD says that he "is still pushing for the Senate to pass a four-billion-dollar borrowing plan to pay down the state's pension debt." Quinn, however, is as cowardly and as clueless as the legislators: On the one hand, he wants the lawmakers to reduce the state's deficit, yet on the other hand he thinks that borrowing four billion dollars to do that is somehow better than actually reducing spending. In other words, neither the Illinois Governor nor the Illinois lawmakers have the courage to make politically unpopular - but absolutely necessary - cuts in spending. As Jack Cafferty would say, "they can’t be seen cutting things in an election year." "The budget approved by the General Assembly last week has a $25.9 billion general fund, that has already been cut by $1.3 million. But with $6 billion in overdue bills and a $3.7 billion pension contribution due in a little more than a month, programs and services will be eliminated," reports The Quincy Herald-Whig. "Mike Rein of Transitions of Western Illinois said the state owes $2.5 million to that agency, which serves people who have disabilities and those needing mental health counseling. 'Illinois is a deadbeat state. They don't pay their bills,' Rein said." The "deadbeat state" of Illinois is so bad a paying vendors and service providers that a debt-brokering company in Georgia is moving to take advantage of the situation. Put simply, the company will loan money to qualifying vendors who are stuck waiting for "deadbeat" Illinois to pay them for services rendered. MyFoxChicago reports that Alpharetta Industries can arrange "for struggling vendors to sell their overdue paper at a discount. Sellers would get most of the money owed to them now. The buyers would collect the full amount from the state later. [They] would take a cut as the middleman." While some would call Alpharetta Industries "vultures," MyFoxChicago quotes one vendor as saying that, "At the end of the day it was better to have some money than no money." Those are the words of Na-Tae Thompson, "whose nonprofit True Star Foundation is waiting on $75,000 from the state that hasn't arrived." (Source: Ibid) If Alpharetta is a "vulture," then the State of Illinois is a parasite, sucking out lifeblood and giving nothing back. It should be remembered that vultures do not kill. Rather, they clean up the mess. Parasites, all too often, cause death or incapacitating illness, and only then do the vultures have opportunity. Unlike a real vulture, however, debt brokers offer the victims of parasites the time and hope needed to heal and, possibly, recover.

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"See, it’s an election year; they can’t be seen cutting things in an election year." xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx

Cafferty said: At a time of skyrocketing federal deficits and a national debt that just passed $13 trillion, the Democrats in Congress can’t be bothered to pass a budget for next year. That’s their job. Congress is supposed to decide how to spend the taxpayers’ money. They are mandated to pass a budget; and presumably to stick to it… but that’s a whole other story. Yet efforts to pass a budget have stalled in the House because Democrats can’t agree on what and how much to cut..... Cafferty gets then turned sarcastic, but his words ring true: See, it’s an election year; they can’t be seen cutting things in an election year. As I said, that applies to the cowards of Springfield, too. Republican Bill Brady is Quinn's challenger in the Illinois gubernatorial race, and the latest Rasmussen pol shows Brady ahead of Quinn by 11 points, 47% to 36%. It's no wonder. Voters know that it's the Democrats who call the shots in Springfield, and that Quinn is one of them. The voters know that it's the Democrats who sunk Illinois into its current financial abyss, and most seem to understand that the Democrats are incapable of pulling us out. Perhaps the voters themselves can pull us out by means of voting for real change - and fewer Democrats - in November. RELATED: Debt Broker Will Make Money off Illinois' State Budget Crisis‎ MyFox Chicago Pain of Illinois state budget woes will be felt by all‎ Quincy Herald Whig Universities Owed $630 Million; Borrowing Power Not Yet Approved Illinois Statehouse News Our opinion: Budget problems ultimately will cost taxpayers more 24newstime.com Rasmussen: Brady Holds Lead Backyard Conservative We Buy Ugly Statehouses St Louis Today

Illinois Legislator's HB 6842 Would Allow Opting Out of Obamacare

March 26, 2010 - In spite of its reluctant Attorney General, the State of Illinois just might resist ObamaCare after all. On Thursday night, March 25, Illinois became the 40th state to introduce legislation to allow its residents to “opt-out” of the Democrats’ job-killing government takeover of health care. The bill, HB 6842, “[p]rovides that no resident of the State…shall be required to obtain or maintain a policy of individual insurance” and “[p]rovides that no provision of the Act shall render a resident of this State liable for any penalty, assessment, fee, or fine as a result of his failure to procure or obtain health insurance coverage.” Source The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) noted in a press release that "Illinois became the 40th state where legislators have introduced, or will introduce, legislation modeled after the American Legislative Exchange Council’s (ALEC) Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act. Illinois House Bill 6842 prohibits a requirement to purchase health insurance and would provide the state with protection in a constitutional challenge of the federal health reform bill." It should come as no surprise to anyone that the driving force behind HB 6842 is - surprise! - a Republican. Even as Illinois' Attorney General Lisa Madigan (a Democrat) was saying that she would not join 13 other states' AGs in challenging "ObamaCare," State Rep Bill Mitchell (R-Decatur) introduced HB 6842 to essentially accomplish some of the same goals. Mitchell's HB 6842 is, as reported by Illinois Review, "patterned after Virginia's law undermining the federal mandate requiring individuals to buy health insurance. HB 6842 removes the requirement in Illinois, and cancels any penalties associated with the federal mandate for health insurance." Illinois is in serious financial meltdown. Governor Quinn has been weak and indecisive about how to deal with the mess. The federally mandated, nationalized healthcare that was voted on earlier this week will certainly affect every states' budgets, and profoundly, but it is too early to know just how. Illinois Democrats who have not spoken out in favor of challenging ObamaCare seem happy to play a kind of Russian roulette with the state's already-injured economy. Keep your fingers crossed that the Republicans in Springfield can guide HB 6842 through to passage. Get ready for more headlines like this one, from the Los Angeles Times: "States fighting healthcare law don't have precedent on their side‎." It's meant to discourage the challengers of ObamaCare, but fails to take into account a simple fact: A precedent is set when something happens for the first time. There is, as the saying goes, a first time for everything. After all, where was the precedent for a Marxist-Leninist takeover of one sixth of the U.S. economy? RELATED: Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of HB6842 Illinois General Assembly - Bill Status for HB6842 It’s official: Louisiana signs on with Florida in legal challenge to HCR Leave a Comment * Conservative T-Shirts * Follow CNB on Twitter * RSS Feed

Andrzejewski "I'd Sell Official Illinois Luxury Aircraft"

Republican candidate for Illinois governor Adam Andrzejewski says that an ABC-Channel 7 (Chicago) report shows that the Illinois state budget priorities are "upside down." In response to Channel 7 investigative reporter Chuck Goudie's report on Wednesday evening (Nov. 18) about the cost of operating the state fleet of 16 aircraft, Andrzejewski says he would sell the $22 million air fleet, with the only exceptions being the two helicopters and certain planes used by the Illinois State Police. Andrzejewski re-emphasized his plan to "open up the books" in Springfield and conduct a forensic audit of the state's expenses. He pointed out that Channel 7's report indicated that state employees are using the planes regularly at a cost of $3,000 per hour totaling $4 million per year. "Real reform can only be the result of new people with new ideas in Springfield," Andrzejewski stated. "While the state wasn't paying social service providers, which in turn, forced them to lay off staff and cost the state jobs, these planes were flying," he said. "Illinois is in a budget crisis, and our state leadership is needlessly spending tax payer dollars. Billions of unnecessary spending will be uncovered by a forensic audit of expenses." Andrzejewski also made reference to a recent article in the Peoria Journal Star in which Governor Quinn was asked about the budget gap for fiscal year 2010, which puts it among the worst three states in the nation. That dismal ranking came from The Pew Center on the States report, which cites Illinois for a lack of fiscal discipline and failure to balance the state budget. Gov. Quinn's response was "I think we've done pretty well. We've stabilized the budget." However, Andrzejewski points out that the waste culprits are not only on the Democratic side. He recalled a conversation he had with senior GOP leaders at the United Republican Fund Anniversary Gala at the Hilton Chicago Hotel. "I mentioned to those at my table that I thought we should stop using the fleet so excessively, and sell the planes. To my dismay, the leaders at my table were firmly resistant to the idea." As governor, part of Andrzejewski's plan for reform would be a top-down transparency mandate by executive order to open up the books in Springfield. His second executive order would be a forensic top-to-bottom audit of state spending. He estimates that the savings of such measures could be $3-$5 billion. Conservative Caps, Shirt and more! Leave a Comment - Chicago News Bench RSS Feed Visit us on Twitter!

Why No Tea Parties During Bush Years?

This is fascinating, and a damned good question. President Barack Obama has repeatedly claimed that his budget would cut the deficit by half by the end of his term. But as Heritage analyst Brian Riedl has pointed out, given that Obama has already helped quadruple the deficit with his stimulus package, pledging to halve it by 2013 is hardly ambitious. The Washington Post has a great graphic which helps put President Obama’s budget deficits in context of President Bush’s. FULL ARTICLE... Also See: Deficit Projected To Swell Beyond Earlier Estimates - Washington Post Chicago News Bench RSS Feed CommieBama Hats and More

Governor Absentovich

That's the cost of doing business in the capital of Illinois these days. Governor Blagojevich will not even attend the sessions, even though he called it and will be in his office only two floors up. He's pouting, you see, because he and House Speaker Michael Madigan (father of A.G. Lisa Madigan) are mad at each other. Perhaps "Governor Absentovich" would be a better name for this governor, who rarely steps foot into our capitol city, let alone the capitol building. Hmmm, $40,000... Closer to home in Rogers Park, that's the approximate combined cost of the CTA-DevCorp mural over Morse Avenue and the one planned for the CTA wall between Morse and Lunt. The Illinois Legislature, however, will actually accomplish something. We hope. SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - July 5 - Illinois lawmakers met today in a special session ordered by Governor Blagojevich, but the governor did not take part. Lawmakers scolded the Democratic governor for refusing to attend a House hearing. MORE... SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - Lawmakers are back in Springfield Thursday for a special session of the Illinois Legislature. Governor Rod Blagojevich called the session to try to break the impasse over a multi-billion-dollar budget. The session will cost the state thousands of dollars a day. Some estimate the cost at more than $40,000 per day. MORE... RELATED: Blagojevich Getting it Done! and Special session will cost plenty

Reaction to Blagojevich Budget, March 7

Excellent quotes from various leaders reacting to Governor Blagojevich's budget proposal, which he presented to day. The quotes are provided byBethany Carson and Deanese Williams-Harris at Illinois Issues Blog. Among the leaders that she quotes: - Senate President Emil Jones Jr. - Rep. Lou Lang, a Skokie Democrat - House Minority Leader Tom Cross of Oswego - Sen. Minority Leader Watson of Greenville ...and more. Read this great posting now... Hat tip to blognetnews.com