Mayor’s Row………..by Ned Mitchell

            Most of us have at some time in our lives experienced a nightmare during our sleep.  I seldom have any such thing and usually have no trouble sleeping.  A hot and humid night last week was the rare exception for me as I awoke from a sound sleep with a cold sweat dampening my side of the bed.

            I had not watched any scary movies or health channel brain surgeries the night before on television.  There were no murder mystery books, only Newsweek on the nightstand and no other things that might provoke a nightmare, yet I was sitting straight up in bed trying to determine what had brought this on.

            My mind raced back and forth, reliving the day’s events as I became desperate for that good night’s sleep that I am so accustomed to.  I sat as still as I could on the edge of the bed trying not to disturb the wife, Sophia the calico cat, Quincy the wiener dog, or most importantly soon to be 3 year old Carrigan.  I made my way to the kitchen for a glass of cold water and in the Mitchell tradition I looked out every window that I passed just to see what was going on in the outside world.  Nothing!  Then while looking east out of the kitchen window and a suddenly as I had woke up, I figured out the reason for my night sweats.

            You see before going to bed I had read about the reformer/unreformer Governor and his re-write of the ethics legislation bill.  I read his handy work about three times and found myself agreeing with him.  You read that right, I found myself in agreement with the Governor and now I can’t sleep!

            Much to do has been made about this ethics legislation in the mainstream media, but in columns like this where the truth is to be found, this piece of feel good legislation is just that.  It applies to everyone but who it should apply to.  It has been years since I have agreed with anything this goofy Governor has done but I found myself admiring him on this one.

            The Governor simply states that ethics should apply to not only state wide elected officials, but also legislators themselves who conveniently left themselves out of this land mark law.  The reformer/unreformer goes on to say that legislators should not be able to hold another job from a tax entity and once again I agreed.  He did make an exception that if a legislator is say an elected Mayor or Township Supervisor or fireman, or police officer they could keep those jobs since they are either professional in nature or the voters control who is in office locally.  Here is the rub, several legislators, all of the democrat stripe, have appointed jobs doled out to them by Mayor Daley in Chicago.  If a piece of legislation comes before these legislators and Mayor Daley has a stake in the bill, I wonder just how a Chicago legislator holding down a job given to them by the Chicago Mayor is going to vote.  You and I both know the answer to that question; they are bought and paid for.  They just might have a vested interest to vote they way they are told.  One Chicago legislator even went so far as to say the $83,000 they made for a part time position in the legislature was not enough to “make ends meet” and that the other job paying $75,000 per year was needed just to get by.  You just have to have a lot of sympathy for folks to need $150,000 per year in tax payer money just to get by!

            The third reason that found me on the same page as the reformer/unreformer were his thoughts on the pay raise system we have in Illinois.  This system is a dream every year for legislators such as Senate President Emil “I Need A Pay Raise” Jones who proclaimed a few months ago he just might have to go on food stamps if he did not get his pay raise.  Never mind the fact that he is going to retire at $119,000.00 per year with great health care or that he is taking $577,000.00 in campaign cash too.  It gets better though; Jones now says that he might seek an ambassador position once his protégé Barack Obama has been elected President.  It just keeps getting funnier with this guy!  Sadly though he is a walking billboard for what is wrong with the Democratic Party in this state.  Whoever said “to the victor belongs the spoils” surely had Emil Jones in mind when they made that statement!

            So the reformer/unreformer has decided that legislators should vote yes if they want a pay raise and no if they don’t.  That is pretty simple, exactly as it should be.  Local officials from Mayors, Supervisors, and County Board all have to vote on a pay raise if they want one just before they are up for election.  That way folks that pay the bill can better judge whether or not their local politicians are earning their pay.  I have always agreed with that and have often wondered why legislators would have the unmitigated gall to exempt themselves from that.  Greed was the first word that came to my mind!

            The mystery had been solved!  That wily rascal of a Governor had finally hemmed me in and had me agree with something he had proposed.  As I toasted the reformer/unreformer with my second glass of ice water a smile broke across my face as I realized I had been had by this consummate politician.  He finally did something that I agreed with.  I climbed back in bed, clutched my flat pillow and dozed back off knowing that we are in good hands!

            The next day started off with a phone call from writer/radio talk show host Jim Muir.  The first thing Muir asked was if I thought he was off base in agreeing with the Governor on his veto of the ethics bill.  It is pretty scary when some folks agree with the Governor and Muir and I both had a laugh on that one.  During the conversation Muir passed on one of his observations about people.  We were discussing the need to sometimes burden our friends and relatives with our troubles.  Muir has it figured that about 80 per cent of the people we share our troubles with don’t really care and the other 20 per cent are kind of glad we are having some sort of trouble in our lives.

            In sick bay this week we have Hershal Gunter who is facing tests in St. Louis this week before he starts treatments.  Kay Styve has been moved to Du Quoin Hospital to continue the therapy for her broken leg.  Betty Isom is still in a St. Louis hospital.  Father-in-law Trent Terry is continuing to recover in a St. Louis facility. Your thoughts, prayers, cards and phone calls are appreciated!

            Former Sesser resident Thomas Mygatt spent the weekend in Sesser with his parents Janet and Tom.  We were able to visit a while with Thomas at the Opera House on Saturday night and give him a tour of the facility.  He continues to work at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and it is always a pleasure to see him back home.