Mayor’s Row………by Ned Mitchell
Sesser voters turned out in good numbers for the primary election and backed winners in all but one race, that being Governor. Now I’m not going to pick up my marbles and go home, I still feel Eisendrath was the best candidate. He just got a late start and had very little money to run on. Time will prove us right on this one. The reformer/unreformer has his work cut out for him in the fall and will have to come to Franklin County and quit ignoring us like he has done so thus far. He will need every vote he can get this fall to handle Topinka. A good third of the democrat voters in this state turned thumbs down on the reformer/unreformer and that is not a good sign for a first term incumbent democrat governor after a 28 year drought for democrats. It is too early to tell where this one will end up but he has his work cut out to convince me.
One subject that we will be able to talk about until April 7th is the reformer/unreformer governor’s Capital Spending Bill. You know, that $3.2 billion dollar bag of goodies that is a must have-something for everybody (unless of course you live in Franklin County) bill that needs 4 republican vote to pass. Again, how does one predict the outcome of that vote? Deals are in the works as democrats zero in on 4 republican senators and offer them the moon for their vote. Never mind the fact that nobody and I do mean nobody has put forth any clue as to how this will be paid for. Nobody has said exactly what projects will for sure be funded and which ones will be put aside for another day. All we have is the proverbial carrot on a stick right now being dangled in front of 4 weak kneed republicans. Only problem is which 4 republicans fall into the weak kneed category?
Some mayors and local officials in areas where there are republican Senators have been waging a push in their local newspapers touting the program in an effort to get citizens to call their Senator and demand a yes vote. This is a classic example of I’ll take what is in it for me and the rest of you will just have to pay for it. Union officials who will get to hand out construction jobs are also in the fray. Last week a local union big-wig, Tom Caliper, wrote in a Mt. Vernon paper a long list of projects that COULD become a reality if only Senator John Jones (R-Mt. Vernon) will vote for this bill. The idea is for voters in Jones’ district to call on him to not worry about who or how this will all be paid for, just vote for it. Jones is up for re-election this fall and these are the guys the democrats are going to go after. Jones and others face the decision that if they vote no, the democrats will beat them over the head with that no vote in the fall and if they vote yes, the voters may beat them over the head for driving us deeper in debt that we already are. The key word in Caliper’s letter to the editor however is COULD. Since even the democrats cannot trust the reformer/unreformer governor and for the last two years actually made him sign his name to memorandums of understanding, how on earth could the republicans trust him either? If the reformer/unreformer is forced to sign official documents at least Senator Jones and others like him will have in black and white exactly which projects in their respective districts will be funded and which will not. That way we will all know in advance which pork, I mean worthwhile projects will be funded. The only problem is the good elected public servants in Springfield hate to have to put things in writing in advance. The people who get projects funded will be elated but those who do not will be mad at the world and not very understanding. One thing about it you can bet the back room deals are hopping right now.
Just last week the whole concept of bi-partisan support took on a new meaning. We hear both democrats and republicans bellowing bi-partisan when they have a program that they deem as a great idea. You know one side will have a lot in it for them and they try to create a formula that will be just sweet enough to lure enough votes from the other side to pass it. Both sides will have press conferences and accuse each other of playing politics and snubbing their noses at a bi-partisan bill. When I was in the Senate it was the republicans always trying to legally bribe enough democrat votes to pass a particular bill and now the democrats have control so they are playing the same game.
Starting in tiny Golconda, Illinois and traveling from a small weekly newspaper a story about a well oiled big wheel at IDOT, none other than former Congressman David Phelps, has now made it to the Chicago Tribune. You have to know how proud the reformer/unreformer’s people are of Phelps. About the time they are lining up the 4 republican senators to vote for the Capital Spending Bill along comes Phelps and according to the published reports, says once Rod Blagojevich is re-elected governor there will be a mass exodus of republicans from the state payroll. That my friends has scared the wits out of republicans. I was not in attendance at that meeting and did not hear Phelps’ comments but I can believe they were said despite his denials. You see I am a politician, a hack by some folk’s definition so I know exactly how this game is played and I have been in hundreds of rally the troop meetings just like the one in Golconda. I have probably even made similar statements to party loyal. Both democrats and republicans are famous for making such statements in an attempt to fire up the troops. It helps get out the vote on Election Day and everybody does it. Everybody I know that has any political sense surveys the crowd first to make sure there are no reporters in attendance before making such statements even to the point of asking local party officials if they know of any reporters sitting around. Most of the time these meetings are closed to anyone other than elected precinct committeemen and party officials. The press is usually not allowed in but in this case the reporter was there, sitting on the front row and Phelps single handedly may have sent the Capital Spending Bill down the tubes. At the very least he has opened a can of worms for democrats. Now any republican state employee that is dismissed will use Phelps’ comments in their lawsuit.
I admire and respect loyalty in not only politics but also in friendship and life in general. A very good politician and loyal friend L G Wallace of Brookport died last week at age 77. L G was a well known and colorful democrat precinct worker. He always showed up at events all over wearing a black cowboy hat and carrying an old cow bell with a leather strap handle. During speeches to the crowd you could first hear L G sounding the cow bell and then spot him in the black hat. He also wore a bolo silver dollar tie. I’ve known L G for many years and had an immense amount of respect for him. When I was in the Senate and running for election L G was one of my staunchest supporters and I carried Massac County in the election due in part to L G’s hard work. He had good help down there, but he was 100 % on board as they say. The loyalty came in when the big shot democrat party wonks and labor officials from Chicago to Cairo tried to back L G off of me. L G told them all he would have nothing to do with that and he was staying hitched. And stay hitched is exactly what L G did. I’m telling you from personal experience in life and in politics there are not many loyal people out there. I was thinking on the drive to L G ‘s wake in Metropolis if he would be laid to rest with the cow bell and black cowboy hat. He was. L: G was living proof that you can be a die hard democrat and have Christian beliefs at the same time. I know being a democrat is not the only qualification for entry into Heaven’s pearly gates, but it can’t hurt. My life is much richer for having known L G Wallace. I respect his memory and honor him.
If you need to talk, give us a call at 625-3611 or 625-5322 or write to nedmitchell@verizon.net or www.sesser.org.
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