Mayor's Row...by Ned Mitchell
Believe it or not it has now been 122 days since our electricity bills have went through the roof so to speak. That is 120 days that our state legislature has had to solve this problem. A lot of things can be done in 120 days. An automobile can be built in much less time, a speed boat can be built in less time than that, a nice home can be constructed in less than 120 days, so you see many worthwhile things can happen when legislators are not involved. On top of that our state legislators have had 3,655 days more or less to solve this problem that they created 10 years ago. I remind you this was not a brainchild of the utility companies, it came straight from the legislature and many of those upstanding and brilliant people are still in Springfield calling the shots.
As we all know legislation has came out of the House saying one thing and out of the Senate saying something different. That great reformer/unreformer is too busy hiding from the press and everyone else in this state to be a leader so we obviously cannot count on him for anything. Senate President Emil Jones is too busy securing an $80,000 pay raise for his new bride, a cushy state job for his son and contracts for a couple of other relatives. Speaker Madigan is on his own page of music being sure to let all of us know that he is in charge. Legislators are running up and down the sidelines cranking out press releases assuring us they are doing their jobs and fighting those greedy power companies. Hogwash is what it is! You and I are stuck paying the bill and despite all of the political posturing that is exactly where we are at. Here is where I remind my fellow democrats that everyone of these above named leaders happens to be democrats. One would think they could get their heads together and do some for the people instead of to the people! I suppose that is asking too much!
I do think the legislature is putting off action on utility rates now in hopes that the power companies will come up with a solution that will appease some people. It is the old theory of if you can't get a meal, take a sandwich. Utility companies have legally bribed our elected officials in this state for the last 10 years during the rate freeze debacle. It is now time to pay the fiddler and legislators would be okay with that except for the small fact that if something is not done soon, those up for re election early next year might just be out of a job. Another little tid bit of information is the fact that the House version of the proposed legislation has now been attached to a supplemental appropriation bill in the Senate that pays for a 10 per cent retroactive pay raise for all legislators. Now there is a novel concept, legislators taking a 10 per cent pay raise while sticking it to the rest of us via higher utility bills. What a swell bunch of pals we have running this state! If legislators want their pay raise, and let me assure you for the most part they do, they will have to pass the House version which rolls back the rates for electricity to last year's rate. You talk about a show down at the OK Corral; these great public servants are now faced with voting for a 10 per cent pay raise for the second time and voting against the utility companies who have legally bribed the system for the last 10 years. Are you beginning to see the picture? There is an immense amount of pressure behind the scenes being put on the utility companies to solve this problem without a vote. My guess is that will happen and we will see some relief and hundreds of press releases telling us what a great job has been done for us and not too us!
Just for fun though lets' take a look behind the scenes and examine what is happening to our local Senator Gary Forby. As we are all aware Forby is in a running feud with the Southern Illinoisan newspaper whom in my opinion made a major blunder when they added words to reporter Jim Muir's now famous high five paragraph without his knowledge. They have no doubt tarnished Muir's reputation and really have made a major journalistic blunder by continuing to "stick by their story". Of course we can expect no less from a publication that has treated a great photo journalist like Caesar Maragni like they have to the point he has filed a federal lawsuit against the company that he dedicated his professional career to.
Since nobody else in the medial will talk about this huge elephant sitting in the living room I suppose it becomes my job to do it. So be it! When Forby was appointed to the Senate both democrats and republicans knew there would be a fight over this seat and they were exactly right. Sides were chosen almost immediately as both sides prepared for battle. In one corner we had the appointed Senator Gary Forby and in the other the republican challenger Ron Summers. The candidates were as different as night and day both in their daily lives and their political philosophies. They did have one thing in common though; together they accepted almost a million and a half, yes million and a half dollars of campaign cash from their respective legislative leaders. Forby took $748,000.00 from Senator Emil Jones and Summers took $684,767.00 from republican Senator Frank Watson. We witnessed the two battle it out for a job that pays somewhere around $65,000.00 per year by spending nearly $2 million dollars. What is wrong with that picture?
What the main stream media has failed to point out that no matter who won that race, both candidates were already committed to their legislative leaders, either Jones or Watson, once they accepted the campaign cash. Both Forby and Summers had to have the cash to run their campaigns. There were other sizeable campaign contributions from big business to republican Summers and labor unions to Forby. Again, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but these contributions are all controlled right now by Watson for the republicans and Jones for the democrats. These folks could care less about either Forby or Summers but they will not give a dime to either without approval from either Jones or Watson. They don't want to buck the system either and they won't. Former republican presidential candidate Bob Dole explained it best when asked by a reporter what major contributors wanted in return for their campaign cash. Dole replied "they want a lot of things, but they don't necessarily want good government."
Here is where the rub comes in for Forby. Since he accepted almost $1 million dollars from Emil Jones in essence he is bought and paid for according to that great unwritten law in Springfield, or at least they thought he was. We do have to give him credit for taking on Jones over the rate issue though and I commend him for being his own person on this vote. Whether he will stay alive politically in Springfield or become a hot potato for Emil Jones remains to be seen. Jones will either work to get Forby "back in line" or he will cut him loose and let him twist in the wind like he did when he pulled the rug out from under him a few days ago. One thing about it, Jones or any other legislative leader does not stick $1 million dollars in your pocket to watch you go off and do your own thing. If Jones is insulted by Forby's lack of respect to his million dollars he will start to undo Forby's campaign organization. As of the end of last December Forby had $45,802.55 available in his campaign account. He is up for election next year and he will need another million dollars plus to run a campaign. Jones will either make him or break him financially. Labor organizations will not donate to Forby if it will run the risk of making Jones unhappy. If Jones is unhappy with labor, none of their legislation will move. Jones has millions of dollars in campaign cash to hand out to the candidate of his choice. He will only hand that out to those that he trusts to do his will. It is an evil system we have here in Illinois but you and I must approve of it because we keep re electing candidates to do this to us year in and year out. What happens to Forby will be interesting to watch but rest assured the behind the scenes action will not be covered by the press. They too respect the millions of dollars on the table too much to rock the boat!
Sesser was abuzz with a lot of activity last week. The evening of jazz concert performed by the Sesser-Valier and Murphysboro Middle School jazz bands was just superb. These students under the direction of Sesser band director Mark Mikulay and Murphysboro director Michael Moreland put on a great show. We hosted the event at the historic Sesser Opera House and fed over 200 people a great dinner before the show. This event brought a lot of new people to Sesser who raved about the food, the hospitality, and the Opera House. We heard many compliments about what a neat little town we have from folks who had never been here before and that continues to make us proud of Sesser.
Saturday found Sesser a busy place with the annual town wide yard sale in full swing. In my 31 years as Mayor I believe this was the biggest ever. Traffic was everywhere and businesses were rushed to take care of customers who came to Sesser and see what we have to offer.
On Saturday afternoon the banquet facility at the Opera House was used to honor Sesserite Hazel Robinson who celebrated her 85th birthday in style. The Woll Room was nicely decorated and food served by Hazel's family made the day a great one for not only Hazel but also for Sesser.
It is with much sadness that we note the passing of Dan Williams. Dan was pastor of the First Christian Church in Sesser for many years and was loved and respected by all of us here. He was a unique individual who never had a bad word to say about anyone. He was a great family man, minister, sports fan, someone I was proud to call friend. I will miss Dan at the post office every day, but I will remember his life and the example he set every day that he was here. He not only talked the talk but he truly walked the walk. We are richer because of Dan and who he was. He was a Christian, an American, a republican and a Cardinal fan in that order! Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family.
If you need us give us a call at 625-3611 or 625-5322 or write nedmitchell@verizon.net .
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