Mayor's Row....by Ned Mitchell
Well, well, well, aren't we in a fine mess in this state? Legislators and their leaders, including all of the constitutional officers, all democrats I might add, have been in session since January and here it is the last of June and we still do not have a budget. What have they been doing you ask? For one thing they have been hiding the costs of a remodeling project at the state capitol. In an attempt to re-create the look of the House and Senate chambers as it was in the late 1800s these budget minded folks have spent money like "drunken sailors". I've had a little experience in remodeling and preserving an old house so I am well aware of how costs sometimes go over budget.
In the capitol we now have doorknobs that cost $405.00 each. It is funny though that on a recent visit to the capitol I had my hand on several of those doorknobs and not one of them impressed me to the point that I took a second look at it. What I needed to do was open a door and that doorknob served the purpose much the same as any door knob bought at a local hardware store would do for hundreds of dollars less.
The restrooms for legislators are equally as expensive. For instance urinals in the men's rooms can be bought from the supplier for $178.00 each but the ones our friends bought with our money cost $950.00 each. A good question to ask these budget minded folks would be if you were remodeling your house would you have made the same decisions?
Continuing on in the rest room areas we find that in the House of Representatives those folks use custom made paper hand towels with the word "House" embossed on them. The ones you and I would use in the public restrooms are plain. Of course a spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan quickly pointed out that the towels are produced in house at "no cost". How novel, here we have a dedicated public servant making a public statement that something provided in Springfield costs nothing! When is the last time you remember something directly tied to a government office and the cost was zero? Sorry, I'm not buying that one either!
We also find a clock in the Senate that cost $38,582.00. Or how about the automatic window shades that cost a cool $15,128.00 in the House? These folks are so busy and over worked they don't have the time to open the shades manually. Also in the House we find four crystal chandeliers that were rebuilt, not replaced, at a cost of $497,795.00 along with a new backlit stain glass light that cost $456,201.00. The Governor's office would not reveal a per unit price on new desks for legislators but an invoice for four models of the desks cost $40,000.00 to build so the way I figure that is we have some very expensive mahogany furniture. So much for saving the rain forests, here our ecology minded legislators are assisting in the destruction by using one of the most expensive hardwoods available.
Moving on to that great reformer/unreformer Governor I am daily amazed at his workings. As you remember last week I wrote about the cost involved in shuttling him back and forth to Springfield. After doing that I ran across some of his campaign blubbering when he was a candidate against Paul Vallas, a fellow democrat in his first run for office. Blagojevich blasted Vallas for using chauffeur driven limousines while he was Superintendent of Schools in Chicago. It turns out they were not limousines but regular sedans owned by the school system. Since then Blagojevich has taken trips to the democrat national convention in Boston where at least 10 vehicles were required to move him around. He attended a wedding and fund raising event in California and again at least 10 state owned vehicles were dispatched across the country for those events. Assuming that each car had a least one driver and I would venture to say they probably had two; we have a minimum of 10 state employees just to drive this guy around town. It is a classic example of the pot calling the kettle black and trust me this guy wrote the book.
Is it any wonder that our pension debt is higher than anyone's in the nation? In the last few years this same bunch in Springfield has raised taxes by over $2 billion dollars and they are still broke. Now some of them want to see another $9 billion dollars in taxes raised plus selling the state lottery. I can assure you that if this happened we would be broke again in three years or less. Of course $9 billion dollars might buy all of us a $405.00 doorknob! By the way, is your utility bill going down?
Locally we have a story that is being completely hidden by the local media. This story concerns Southern Illinois University and a huge flip flop by that institute's President Glenn Poshard. Poshard while he was an elected public servant worked tirelessly for open government. Now that he is out of office and running the SIU system he has decided to keep the public's nose out of the University's records.
At a recent hearing before the Illinois Appellate Court lawyers for SIU asked the court to block public scrutiny of employment contracts for Poshard and other officials at the state owned school. Poshard and his troop of lawyers, also paid by the taxpayers, say the release of this information would violate their right to privacy. Hogwash, Glenn, what are you folks trying to hide?
Illinois has had a Freedom of Information Act for over 23 years now and it is supposed to protect the public and give them access to governmental documents. Most of the time it is not individuals who are using this Act, it is the news media and that is true in this case. One would think it might be a huge local daily newspaper asking to see these documents but that is not correct. It is a small weekly newspaper in Anna that has taken on the mighty SIU in asking to see the hidden documents.
The newspaper had asked to see Poshard's contract and that of four other current or former administrators. Two of those in question readily allowed their contracts to be inspected among them Mike Lawrence of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute. Lawrence has long been a beacon of light in open government and he once again shines over the rest of the lot as he merely said "I'm a public employee and my contract should be public." Lawrence was taken to the woodshed by Poshard a few months back about public statement he had made and I would say another trip is just around the corner.
My advice to President Poshard is to open up the contracts and avoid the appearance of any hidden costs or agendas. There are ample ways to black out personal information such as health issues and that is done every day by both the private sector and governmental agencies. I am deeply disappointed in SIU's stance on this issue and more disappointed in Poshard's allowing it to go on. Poshard knows better. It is our money being used to fuel this institution and we have the right to see how and where it is spent. No more, no less!
If you have missed the first two concerts at the historic Sesser Opera House there is one more chance to see a professional production this Thursday evening at 7:30 pm. This week the Chicago Chamber Orchestra will produce the opera "Elixir of Love" and it promises to be an outstanding show. This show will feature an orchestra in the stage pit of 40 musicians directed by our friend Ed Benyas from SIU Carbondale. The cast will have 40 singers and performers and will feature some world wide known names in the opera field.
One of my friends last week was lamenting the fact that folks around here don't seem too interested in cultural activities and that is true I suppose. My friend went on to say that folks in these parts need to take care of their bacteria as it is probably the only culture some of them will ever have. I laughed at that and hope that you do too.
It is a little disheartening for me personally though to see musicians and performers that are known to perform in shows that cost upwards of $75.00 to see at a minimum but when we get them to come to the corn fields of Southern Illinois we can't get folks to attend. My personal goal here though is to promote Sesser and the historic Opera House. Every musician and performer that comes here without fail has positive things to say about Sesser and especially the Opera House. I feel that if we can get folks from out of town to visit us they might very well eat a meal in our fine café or they might buy an antique or two, or fill up their gas tank. We are not going to be successful for sure if they don't find a reason to come to Sesser in the first place. It is our job to get folks to visit us and we are doing that. It just would be nice sometime to see Sesser folks get on board and help by attending a show or two. One would think community minded groups such as the Chamber of Commerce might want to at least attend and support a show. Churches are another group that is always promoting family orientated entertainment. Good clean fun for everyone has been here this month, but sadly Sesser folks have chosen to go another direction. We know and understand that folks are busy during the summer months and for that reason we have put together three shows over a two week period to allow for that. We hope you will attend this Thursday's last performance of the season. Tickets can be purchased or reserved by calling 625-5322. If you need us call that number or write to nedmitchell@verizon.net .
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