Mayor’s Row…………….by Ned Mitchell

                What would a small town mayor such as myself have in common with a Jewish Rabbi in Chicago?  The answer to that question is that we have both been lied to by the reformer/unreformer Governor here in Illinois.

                Rabbi Philip Lefkowitz came to the forefront of Illinois politics during the last election when those brilliant democrats who control everything in this state re-elected the buffoon we now have in office.  At the time Governor Blagojevich had appointed one of Louis Farrakhan’s lieutenants to a position on the Hate Crimes Commission.  Blagojevich did this to curry favor with blacks up north.  The resulting outcry was almost unanimous among Jewish leaders, except for Rabbi Lefkowitz.  The Governor’s floor leader in the State Senate, Senator Carol Ronen set up the reward for Rabbi Lefkowitz, a cool $400,000 grant to build a community center in Uptown.

                Here is where Rabbi Lefkowitz and Mayor Ned Mitchell find each other.  The Rabbi has not received his $400,000 and the City of Sesser has not received their $385,000 despite the fact that the Governor had previously told both of us that he would deliver the grants.  He told Rabbi Lefkowitz he would release the money in a Chicago meeting and he told the good folks of Sesser when he made a campaign stop at the historic Sesser Opera House.  I still have the documentation where Sesser’s grant was approved in legislation passed and signed by the Governor and I have proof that the money was in the state budget at the time.

                I have written letters to the Governor, Senate President Emil Jones, and our State Senator Gary Forby and have not received a single response to the letters I have written.  This has all came to light again as we read last week where the Governor and his razor sharp staff had mistakenly sent a cool million dollar grant to the wrong place and guess what, that money is gone.  Now he has promised to come up with another million bucks supposedly to send to the right place.  So once again Rabbi Lefkowitz and Mayor Ned Mitchell are left out.  I sure am proud of the folks running this state and I am sure Rabbi Lefkowitz is too!

                Speaking of Senator Carol Ronen I have read a couple of stories this past week about her.  In one story she is talking about a new job she has taken with the reformer/unreformer saying it was a newly created job just for her and she was sure having fun working.  The other story had her talking about being a Super Delegate to the Democratic National Convention and she was laughing there in addition to having fun on the new job.

                The truth is Senator Carol Ronen defended the rascal governor even when she knew he was wrong.  No matter what the guy did, she was in his corner.  The reward here for her unflinching loyalty is a newly created position, not a job, paying $120,000 per year.  Ha ha ha, I would be having fun and laughing too!  That’s not the worst news though, the bad part here is that when she resigned the Senate she was making about $75,000 per year and was entitled to a pension of about $64,000 per year.  By taking this newly created job she is now going to be entitled to a nice annual pension of over $106,000 plus an automatic 3% cost of living increase for the rest of her life.  Ya, I would be laughing too!

                Senator Rowen joins others in the very high pension bracket such as former Representative David Phelps now in IDOT, former Senator Larry Woolard at DCOE, former Senator Glenn Poshard at SIU, former Representative Chuck Hartke who just retired at a huge pension from the director’s job at the Agriculture department.  Rep. Kurt Granberg is going to resign in the next few weeks and he will either take Hartke’s job at Agriculture or will go in as director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.  I am told that retired comptroller at Rend Lake College Bob Carlock will be going along with Granberg to his new position.  I am here to tell you that life is very good for some folks!

                Here is what we have representing us in Illinois.  I think a person who is elected as a state legislator in Illinois has to serve 8 years to get their entire pension worked out and it might even be as little as 6 years.  Whatever their salary is at that time they are entitled to 85% in retirement and medical coverage.  The employees that work for the same State of Illinois can get a small pension after 8 years but if they want to draw the full amount and have health insurance they must work at least 20 years and then are entitled to 65% of their highest salary averaged over their last 4 years and not 85%.  Are they worried about their pension?  Of course not, they are in a completely different pension system than the rest of the peons so it does not matter that the employee pension fund is broke beyond belief.

                Where else in the world could you serve that little bit of time and get a full pension worked out with health insurance and then take a political appointment at double your last salary and in a short time be entitled to 85% of that higher amount?  I’ll tell you we have done one whale of a job choosing those who make the laws in this state.  Are we getting our money’s worth?  Only you and I can answer that question but one thing about it, you won’t read facts like this anywhere else!

                Nostalgia set in once again at the Mitchell household last week as I ventured into the kitchen to experiment the art of waffle making.  Little Carrigan had so far been introduced to the fabulous toaster waffle but had never had the real thing.  A trip to the garage found the like new Sunbeam waffle iron on the top shelf.  I had purchased the old iron at the yard sale of my aunt Clorine and Uncle Bud Straub after they had both passed.  It just caught my eye that day and was all shiny with a like new chrome finish.  It had sat on the garage shelf for a couple of years before the urge hit me.

                I thought about the waffles my mom used to make us on a similar waffle iron.  I was duly impressed when I flipped the iron over to clean it and found it was made right here in the USA.  I am sure that today’s Sunbeam products are imported like everything else we buy in this country.  So I have an original made in America Sunbeam waffle iron that works perfectly.  The huge mess was worth it as we all enjoyed waffles for breakfast as I told a few family stories about aunt Clorine and uncle Bud Straub.  Life in Sesser is good!

                Make plans now to attend the Community Choir’s Easter Cantata this Sunday at 2:00 pm at the historic Sesser Opera House.  Come early and enjoy a great buffet in the Café.  Choir director Gayla Stubblefield and her singers have put together a great program of Easter music.