Mayor’s Row…..by Ned Mitchell

            Stop the presses!  Hold your horses!  Don’t strike up the band just yet! Where are all of the politicians and their spin doctors when we need them?

            In case you had not noticed, and the so-called main stream media in our area has not covered this story, so I will take it upon myself to let you in on a little known law that was passed by our legislators and signed by that great reformer/unreformer governor.  It always amazes me that these professional politicians, notice I did not say public servants, have lots of time to ham it up for the television, radio, and newspaper reporters when they sponsor or vote on some legislation that sounds good to the average Joe.  But when it is a controversial law that the average Joe just might not agree with they hide under their desks to cast that vote and hope that you and I don’t find out about it.

            We wouldn’t know about this law if the federal government had not filed a lawsuit against the State of Illinois in federal court a couple of weeks ago.  Still the story was not reported much and mostly not at all down here.  The new law is House Bill 1744 sponsored by Rep. Soto and Rep. Davis in that chamber and by Sen. Martinez in that chamber.  The law is called the Workplace Privacy Act which in itself sounds innocent enough and besides who among us would not want to have privacy in the workplace? 

            Where the rub comes in that brought about the lawsuit though is the fact that the federal government has a law that allows for business to voluntarily, notice it is voluntary, to check the immigration status of new employees they hire.  You don’t have to do it; nobody says you must do it.  You can if you want or you can ignore it if you wish. 

            Now Illinois has passed a law that is in violation of a federal law which simply cannot be done.  The federal law will supersede state law on any given day and on any subject, otherwise we would have 50 states picking and choosing what law they wanted to obey.

            So Illinois has taken on the federal government and now they are finding themselves in federal court on a complaint filed by the United States of America vs. the State of Illinois..  I know what this law is all about and you do too if you follow things even remotely.  This is to protect illegal aliens or immigrants, your choice, and nothing more.  This is another attempt to shield folks who live in Illinois from answering the question of whether or not they are a resident of this state.  Illinois right now has the 5^th largest concentration of illegal aliens in the country.  There is a record that we can all be proud of.  I assure you that the reformer/unreformer does not want you and I to know exactly how much free medical care is being handed out to illegal aliens, nor do any of the other politicians who keep running this shell game with the taxpayers.  Think of the legal fees that we will have to pay now that this law is in federal court. 

            A quick check on the computer at the Illinois General Assembly web site also reveals just how our local guys voted.  The internet is a great thing in that one can now go online and see exactly how everyone votes in Springfield.  In the old days you practically had to be there to watch and then sometimes things got changed around after the vote was taken.  Not anymore, it is all recorded and posted on the internet.  There is no hiding now.

            With that thought in mind I would like to ask Sen. Gary Forby why he voted for this bill to protect illegal aliens.  I would also like to ask Sen. Dave Luechtefeld why he voted present and Sen. John Jones why he did not even bother to vote.  Even though I strongly disagree with Forby’s yes vote, I am more troubled by Luechtefeld voting present and Jones not voting at all.

            Let’s not just pick on the Senators though lets move over to the House where we find Rep. John Bradley voting yes, Rep. Kurt Granberg voting yes, Rep. Brandon Phelps voting yes, and Rep. Mike Bost voting no.  There you have it, one democrat Senator voting yes, two area republican Senators either vote present or don’t vote at all.  In the House all three local democrat Representatives vote yes and the one lone area republican Representative votes no.

            Now I am sure they all have a logical answer for voting the way they did.  They could be horse trading their vote on a bill they have coming up, they could really feel like thumbing their collective noses at the United States of America, maybe they think there is no privacy in the work place.  Whatever their reasoning they should individually speak up.  It is really strange that none of them, including the reformer/unreformer, had a press conference, rather they choose to operate in the shadows on this one.  I also know that we will not see this law being touted on any of their slick campaign literature that will soon hit our mailboxes.  What’s up guys, or what gives?  When we, that means you and me, get serious about holding our legislator’s feet to the fire, then and only then will we halt legislation like this from being passed into law without our knowledge.  The cat is out of the bag now and since no elected official is running around the state boasting about this law I thought I should clue you in and let you decide what to do about it!

            The little one in our house, Carrigan turned two on Sunday with a phenomenal Sponge Bob Square Pants birthday party with all of the trimmings.  We have just returned from a week long visit with Rich and Becky Goessman and their sons Michael and Jesse in Silverdale, Washington.  We had a great visit with them and enjoyed the time together as well as the much needed rest and relaxation.

            We are sorry to report the death of Sesser resident Don Ezell.  Don was an active member of several clubs in Sesser when his health permitted.  Our condolences go out to his family.

            Belated Happy Birthday wishes go out to Grace Phillips who recently celebrated 102 years!

            Don’t forget the annual Chamber of Commerce Ocktoberfest is coming up in about two weeks.  There are many events going on this year and you will surely find something you like to do.  We at the Opera House are happy to be hosting the musical El Grande de Coca-Cola which will feature music and acting by area performers.  This promises to be a great show during this weekend and we hope to see you in attendance.  We are also looking for volunteers to help with the show!

            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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