Mayor’s Row……………..by Ned Mitchell

                I don’t necessarily like to come to the defense of a politician but for every rule there must be an exception.  You see I figure that with what we pay our Illinois “public servants” that we send to Springfield they can well afford the criticism that is heaped on them by guys like me.  After all where could you find a job that pays you a full pension after 6 years, lifetime health care, salary increases of 23 percent in the last two years, a chance to dramatically increase your pension after you leave office by just working 30 days in a new higher paying job, lifetime automatic cost of living increases in the amount of 3 percent and an exemption from paying the Illinois income tax of 3 percent?  Sounds pretty much like a gravy train to me so yeah, these noble “public servants” can stand a little heat from guys like me who sit around and think too much!

                Our own State Representative John Bradley has come under fire recently for his leadership skills in an effort to work on a capital spending bill.  This bill is flawed from the get go in my opinion.  I mean it started out at about $21 billion dollars and now is up to almost $35 billion dollars.  That in itself is appalling because I can assure you that the extra $14 billion dollars that has been added on simply amounts to “goodies” padding the bill to entice law makers to vote for the proposal.

                Some law makers did not need enticing; they already had their bag of goodies in place.  The hold outs needed some extra incentive to make the vote more palatable.  That way when they came home and heard the complaints from those who actually pay for all of this they could say but wait, I paid for a complete set of tutus for your little girls dance team, or I found the money for a field trip for school kids, or I helped you buy new band uniforms.  All this amounts to is a legal bribe by legislative leaders, especially under the spell of Senate President Emil “I need a pay raise” Jones.  This bill sailed through the Senate with Senators absolutely foaming at the mouth in excitement thinking about Christmas in July back home in their districts.

                The big problem with this bill though appears to be nailing down a guy to pick up the tab.  Our politicians do not know the meaning of Dutch treat it appears since they are willing to spend, spend, spend and send the tab to someone else.  Senators passed this bill in such a way that the House could not change any part of it.  Either accept it all or it all dies.  And die it did, a slow, painful, and terrible death.  Senators want to lease part of the lottery and drastically expand gambling to pay for their lavish program.

                Along comes Representative John Bradley and according to his critics single handedly destroyed the lives of thousands and thousands of Illinois residents.  The truth of the matter, and you will always get the truth here, even if you don’t want to hear it; is John Bradley did not kill off this bill single handedly.  There is an ancient ritual in Springfield played out on these issues, it is called voting my friends and John Bradley as our State Representative has one vote and one vote only.  He had help in killing this bill and in my opinion it should have been killed.

                Despite what former Congressmen Dennis “land deal” Hastert and Glenn “honest I did not mean to plagiarize” Poshard have to say this bill is not necessarily a save all for the rest of us.  Without exception every cheerleader on this bill has something in it for themselves or their own cause.  I don’t buy the concept that they are doing this to help me.  Hogwash, they are doing it to help themselves as they continue to expand their “what’s in it for me” system of government.  After all there is a flat $1 billion dollars in here for “urban revitalization”.  Now can someone please explain exactly what that is?  I can tell you that $1 billion dollars is headed straight to Chicago to some cronies of some politician up there with no strings or accountability attached.

                Illinois politicians borrowed billions of dollars a few years ago for Governor George “I’m in the jailhouse now” Ryan’s Build Illinois public works bill.  The big problem here beside the fact that we borrowed all of this money was that we had no accountability for this money and a huge portion of it was  squandered on frivolous projects with little or no benefit to the masses.  You and I are still paying for this boon daggle through increased license plate fees and other charges.  It is a classic example of you scratch my back and I will scratch yours.

                You all know that I very seldom agree with House Speaker Mike Madigan but on this I do.  Madigan thinks that we need to feel some pain if we pass this capital bill.  Pain being, we, me and you, need to pay for this through some sort of tax increase.  I agree with that philosophy and here is a message to our legislators, you need to get away from the concept of a “free lunch” and if you deeply feel this is a good bill, come up with a modest tax increase designated to pay for the program and vote on it.  To say we are going to hand Governor “I’m next” Blagojevich $35 billion dollars borders on the bizarre.

                Lets put together a committee of three state wide elected officials to oversee the spending, form a committee that will set some guidelines for programs that are good for all Illinoisans and build schools, road, bridges and other projects that will help us for decades to come.   Even Mayor Dailey of Chicago was opposed to the expanded gambling idea to pay for all of this.  Does that put him and Rep. Bradley on the same page?  Maybe it does on this issue but those down here criticizing Rep. Bradley for sticking to his guns are strangely silent in offering up the same criticism for Mayor Daley.  I find that just a little strange from a political standpoint.  It is time for legislators down here to be responsible and join Rep.  Bradley and do the right thing for all of us down here.  A little patience and thought would go a long way on putting together a viable capital program and a way to pay for it without selling or leasing state assets or massive expansion of gambling.

                Good news from Congressman Jerry Costello in announcing the re-opening of camp ground facilities on the east side of Rend Lake.   That will help our communities a great deal and we are appreciative of his continued work on our behalf.    Congressman Costello took the time from his very busy schedule to call a lot of local officials to inform us of the good news.  He could have just let us read about it in the paper or hear it on the news but being the kind of public servant that he is he made the extra effort to give each of us close to the lake a personal call.  The really neat thing about him is he would not think of doing it any other way.  Thanks Congressman!