Mayor’s Row…………by Ned Mitchell

             We’ve all heard that it pays to be in politics and a recent headline that I read boldly made the same statement “It pays to be in politics.”  We, and I include myself, are all pretty much guilty when it comes to looking at politicians from local precinct committeemen, county board members, mayors, aldermen, school board members and right up the ladder to those bastions of virtue, state legislators, constitutional officers, members of Congress and even the President.

            One of the first things I always check out is what type of vehicle the politician drives.  I once saw Senator Paul Simon drive up to the Williamson County airport to catch a plane in an old Rambler.  There he was bow tie and all in a well worn vehicle.  He could have been in a new Caddy or Mercedes but that was not his style.  A recent visit to the State Capitol found me in the parking lot just looking at vehicles.  State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulis was driving a Dodge mid sized sedan.  He is now driving a flex fuel hybrid Ford SUV.  State Comptroller Dan Hynes had a Chrysler mini van while Lt. Governor Pat Quinn had a well worn Ford Taurus.  The great reformer/unreformer Governor was in the biggest SUV I think I have ever seen.  I did not see a vehicle in Secretary of State Jesse White’s parking spot but have seen him in a Chevrolet Suburban.  Attorney General Lisa Madigan drives an average sedan.  The Governor and Jesse White are the only two with paid drivers and security staff.  All other state wide officials have no security and usually no drivers other than a staff person along for the trip.  State Senator Gary Forby drives a Chevrolet Impala and State Representative John Bradley a Buick. 

            I always pay attention to the type of vehicle my union elected officials are driving.  If it is a company car I question the need for a union hauncho to be driving a $50,000.00 Lincoln when a $16,000.00 Ford would do the same thing.  It is one thing for a person to drive a personal car they are paying for but another for the same person to expect a provided car to be a luxury car.

            Vehicles tell the story for me.  Others look at the house an elected official lives in while others pay attention to the quality and type of clothing politicians wear.  We all have criteria that we use to judge those we pay to work for us.  If you owned a grocery store and the stock boy you paid drove up in a new luxury vehicle it might cause you to question whether you were paying him too much or not.  The same reasoning applies to our elected officials in my book. 

            I thought today it might be good to just look at the salaries we are paying our state legislators.  Remember this group just recently approved by a back door method a whopping 9.6 per cent pay raise that is retroactive.  They don’t vote on the issue, it is approved by a Compensation Review Board which by the way is an appointed board.  Illinois legislators are listed as part time employees.  They have a pension plan that is unmatched in the private sector and the best possible health care insurance available.  To be fair though our local legislators do consider this a full time job and I believe that is true.  In the northern end of the state you will find the part time legislators on someone else’s payroll, usually the City of Chicago or Cook County government.

            Legislators are quick to point out their base salary is only $57,619.00 and that will increase to $63,143.00 if the reformer/unreformer Governor signs the pay raise legislation.  According to a survey by the National Conference of State Legislatures, Illinois lawmakers are among the best paid in the nation.  With the fiasco now playing out in Springfield it makes me sleep better at night knowing this group is in charge and that they are among the highest paid in the nation..  Only six states in the country out paid Illinois.   Are we getting what we are paying for?  I have that answer for myself; you will have to do the same when the next election rolls around.

            What Illinois legislators do not tell us however; is the rest of the story or the page two if you will.  In Illinois our legislators are given extra money for serving in key legislative jobs.  This covers both democrats and republicans so at least our legislators are bi partisan when it comes to cash!  These are called stipends and that must be a dirty word because nobody in Springfield wants to talk about it.  All we hear about is the base salary but I am here to inform you that 52 out of 59 Senators and 100 out of 118 Representatives find extra cash in their pay envelope in the form of a stipend.  That looks to me like we have about 85% of these folks making extra money.

            The same survey found that 30 states pay nothing extra for committee work and Illinois is among the 10 states that pay extra cash to committee members.  If the pay raises are approved by the Governor the increase of 9.6 per cent will also apply to the stipend that almost all of them get.  That will mean that most legislators will make at least $72,755.00 per year.  All of that money plus a pension that can be drawn after only six years of service and better health care than most of us will ever have, not bad for a part time job. 

            As we have noticed around here and actually throughout the state the pensions are astounding.  Most folks figure they have to work at least 20 years on a job to be able to draw a pension of maybe 65 per cent of their highest salary.  Not this bunch, they work six years and draw 85 per cent of their highest salary.  Then if they bail out of the legislature and take a state job that pays a lot more than the elected one did, they draw 85 percent of the higher salary.  We have many former legislators in state government right now making well over $100,000.00 per year.  When they retire they will draw a pension of $85,000.00 per year plus an automatic 3 percent cost of living adjustment.   Is it any wonder that not a single one of them will talk publicly about stipends?  Rest assured those of us on the local level have to vote for our own pay raises within 60 days before the election in which we run.  That system sort of keeps everyone on the local level honest.  You really have to put some thought into voting for your own pay raise right before you run for office.  Could it be our legislators should be operating under the same system instead of hiding behind a Compensation Review Board?  Or perhaps the legislature could set up a similar system for local elected officials to receive a pay raise in a back door method.

            All of this brings us around to the fact that right now playing in Springfield we are spending in excess of $42,000.00 per day for legislators to meet for a few minutes a day to accomplish absolutely nothing while in special session.  We have the reformer/unreformer spending $6,000.00 per day to fly back and forth from Chicago courtesy of the tax payers.  Now it is revealed that we paid $600.00 to have the Governor’s hair fixed and make up applied for his State of the State address.  Is it any wonder that we are broke in this state?  If these folks ran their own households and businesses in the same manner as they are running the state of Illinois they would all individually be in financial ruins also.  You and I have a lot of work to do to start cleaning up this mess and elections are coming up in a few short months.

            We always like to brag about Sesser residents who do well and of course give them a pat on the back for their hard work to achieve what they want out of life.  So it is with that in mind that we congratulate one of our own, Anna Eubanks, daughter of Mona and Larry Sample for her latest achievement.  Anna works as a RN Orthopedic nurse for Dr. Chow in Mt. Vernon.  Recently Anna earned certification by the National Association of Orthopedic Nurses in her field.  Suffice it to say we are extremely proud of Anna and her accomplishments through hard work and determination.  It is always a pleasure to witness young people  grow up in Sesser get an education and enter the professional work force and most of all, remain here with us and become a part of our community.  People like Anna set an example for the rest of us and prove that life can be great in Sesser!

            Congratulations are also in order for Charlie Cross and Nancy Szceblewski in the birth of their son, Skylar Zachery Cross.  We are happy for the proud new parents and welcome the little one to our community where we hope that all will join us in becoming a part of his life!

            Lastly today and because I do consider faithful readers of this column part of my extended family I wanted to share with you about life at the Mitchell house.  As all of the readers of the newspaper know by now a divorce action has been filed between the two of us.  Together we have reconsidered that move and I am happy to write that we are in a period of reconciliation.  We had tried marriage counseling and that did not seem to be working until now and after a time to reflect we know that we have a lot to be thankful for.  First and foremost is the happiness of our young daughter, Carrigan.  Second is our own happiness and that of our own families including my two children from a previous marriage.  We do appreciate the calls and offers of support from our family and friends.  It is my desire that we remain together as a family unit.  There, you have it from the horse’s mouth so to speak and while not going into detail about personal matters I do want to keep you informed as to our own well being.  Thanks for your prayers and offers of help, we do appreciate it a lot!