Mayor's Row......by Ned Mitchell
In all of the chatter coming out of Springfield and all of the ministers on board and all of the educators slobbering at the thought of mo' money, I find it strange that nobody is talking about a good of fashioned tightening of the belt in state government. I understand the concept of needing money to make government work. We deal with it on a local level all of the time. I understand the concept of increasing revenue as we have dealt with that in the past and will soon have to deal with it again if our utility rates remain as they are right now.
Personally I understand how folks have to borrow money to have a house in which to live in. We have done that at the Mitchell household and while our little house is not the mansion we think we deserve, it is what we can afford to have and we are happy and comfortable with it. I understand the need to have a vehicle to drive to work in or to take leisure trips and again we had to trot down to the local bank and borrow money to have such a vehicle. Being a plant lover I have searched all over for that "money tree" my parents and others of the greatest generation spoke of when I was a child. I am sad to have to report that as of this writing I have found no such tree!
The reformer/unreformers proposed Gross Receipts Tax is now drawing fire from some major fellow democrats of his. Unfortunately none of them will have a vote on the matter. The first to oppose this tax was Lt. Governor Pat Quinn. Quinn has been one of my favorite politicians for years now. He leads a simple life in Springfield. He has no army of security guards driving him around and carrying his papers for him. He has always maintained that he does not need security around him. He met last week with reporters to announce his program for increasing revenue and actually took questions from the press until they had no more questions to ask. The reformer/unreformer hides behind a legion of security men and will under no circumstances talk to the press.
One Springfield columnist wrote recently about Governor Blagojevich and his use of veterans as a major part of his multi million dollar campaign last year. The Governor created a new health care plan for veterans and made a huge splash out of it. The only problem with that program is that as of this writing less than 100 veterans in this state are qualified to take advantage of the program. It costs more to administer this particular program than it takes to pay the benefits for the few that it is able to help.
Pat Quinn on the other hand quietly attends each and every funeral of fallen soldiers from Illinois, refuses to talk to the press about it, sits in the back of the building for the service, quietly pays his respects and leaves after the service. Quinn is paying respect and giving comfort to the families involved, the Governor, well you and I both know what he is in this for.
Comptroller Dan Hynes is also against this tax pointing out last week that we are billions of dollars behind in current Medicaid payments and that we should fix that problem before we start creating any new programs. Now there is a novel approach to good government!
Newly elected Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias is concerned with what effect the proposed tax would have on businesses and that is a legitimate concern. All three of these constitutional officers are now at odds with the reformer/unreformer who thus far has God on his side (according to him) a group of black inner city ministers, and a teacher's union or two, and of course SIU President Glenn Poshard.
Some legislators came out immediately for this proposal and others remained quiet and cautious about it. Legislators will have to pass the law and do the actual voting on the bill. Legislators are between the proverbial rock and hard place. On one hand they all have schools that need to be built and other worth while projects. On the other hand they have voters to worry about. If they get in the voters back pocket on this issue like they have the utility issue, a lot of them will be dead in the water so to speak come next election. If people start losing jobs because of this tax and I think that is a safe bet, things will get ugly in a hurry. It would be nice to see those folks work as hard at creating jobs so income tax could be earned and sales tax from purchases collected from people who actually had a decent job, as they do at finding new ways to tax us. I think most folks would rather work and pay their own way instead of waiting on the government to come up with a new give away program. Legislators, we need jobs, cautious spending, and less taxes.
I've been around long enough to recall our famous Secretary of State Paul Powell who hailed from Vienna. We all know the story of Powell and the shoe boxes stuffed with cash but he was also a colorful character who was full of wit. One of the sayings Powell used to use referred to government pork being spent. He would say "I can smell the meat a cookin".
In all of this banter it appears that nobody is saying maybe we should try to cut back about 5% of the budget. Do we really need to spend $4 million dollars on a little league baseball field in Marion? Do we really need $84,000.00 per year drivers to haul state employees around from point A to point B? Lt. Governor Quinn is the only one thus far to suggest closing corporate tax loopholes and collecting that money.
I think the teachers unions, college presidents, ministers and others who have jumped on board this tax proposal without even thinking about the long term consequences can smell the meat a cookin'. You and I had better hold on to our back pockets!
Leaving the local grocery store last week and heading for that famous Opera House Café on Sesser's Main Street I witnessed a beautiful sight. For the first time in several years our Bradford Pear trees are in full bloom and it is a sight worth seeing for yourself. Looking around that same day I also noticed many other trees in full bloom, some next door at the Methodist Church that were all planted with care by George and Mary Slankard. All in all we are being treated to a spectacular spring in God's wonderful universe!
It is always hard to say a final goodbye to an old friend and with that thought in mind I paid my final respects to Sesser resident Cindy Page Cox last week. Cindy had told me since moving back to Sesser that she was not well, but I never considered how really sick she must have been until she died last week of heart complications. Cindy was 60 years old, one year older than me. We went through school together and had known each other all those years. We were not in close contact until she moved back to Sesser a few years ago and even then we talked mostly on the computer or up town at the Opera House. Cindy was a unique person as we all are, but she had a quality about her that few people have. No matter what was going on in Sesser, Cindy had a thought or an idea and was willing to share those with others. She also was painfully honest and that is the trait that I admired most. Most folks, including me, would rather beat around the bush sometimes and take the well worn path of least resistance. Not Cindy, she took the path less traveled and spoke her mind. She was upfront and honest with everyone who knew her and that is refreshing. Our condolences go out to her family and we will miss her.
Retirement congratulations go out to Diane Bennett who has left the Regions Bank for that envious retirement position. Diane will be missed at the bank but I am sure she will stay busy at home with her family and in our community.
If you need us give us a call at 625-3611 or 625-5322 or write nedmitchell@verizon.net or www.sesser.org or P. O. Box 277 Sesser, Illinois 62884.
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