Mayor’s Row………………by Ned Mitchell

            Change we can believe in has been the banner headline for democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and one that he has carried quite well.  It is questionable whether or not he has been a real agent for change here in Illinois but he has successfully made that his campaign slogan.

            On the other hand republicans on the local level have asked each of us if we have had enough in some races where democratic incumbents are on the ticket.  Republicans too want change.  The real question here though is do you and I want change because after all, we own the company that every one of these politicians works for.  We are the corporate CEO’s but without the multi-million dollar golden parachute.  But wait you say, our Illinois legislators have their own golden parachute at retirement time.  Well, I suppose you are correct in that statement but lets’ not forget the vast amount of time they have spent in the past few years fighting with each other to earn those 6 figure pensions!

            Being a Chicago Cubs fan down here in St. Louis Cardinal territory has never been easy and we are the brunt of jokes about how those Cubs can always seem to figure out a new way to lose ballgames especially down the stretch.  Now that the Cubs have won their division for the second year in a row it remains to be seen how they will do in playoff action.  If I as a Cub fan wanting to go to a playoff game I could get on my computer and buy a ticket for a single game that would cost me between $460.00 and $2,500.00.  The truth is I would not pay that amount if the Cubs were playing in Marion on Bob Butler’s Little League field down there.  Now if I were a member of the Illinois State Legislature, a Chicago Alderman, or Cook County Board Member I could get the same ticket for a low price of $60.00.

            Moving on now, and I promise this will all tie together later; I read where the State of Illinois has now released the long awaiting $400,000 taxpayer funded study of our corrections system.  The study ordered by our famous reformer/unreformer Governor touted this study a couple of years back as the blueprint for corrections.  The only problem now is the blueprint is different from what the politicians thought it should be.  This study says Illinois does not have enough prison beds for thugs of the future and that more prisons will have to be built.  Did we waste $400,000 dollars on this study?  A good question and a little later I will suggest that we should ask that question to.

            Another headline in a St. Louis Sunday paper jumped off the front page at me as I read about another first for Illinois.  A few years ago when former Governor George Ryan correctly assumed he was going to the pokey he decided to pardon all of the death row inmates.  There was even some clown professor who nominated Ryan for a Nobel Peace Prize several times.  Chicago democrats who did not want to see their constituents get eliminated on death row jumped on board and set up the Illinois Death Penalty Fund.  This is a program that outspends almost every other state in the nation in buying a good defense for someone charged with murder that does not have the money to pay for a good defense team.  Not a bad concept except that in Illinois we have seen $88,000 paid to a Harvard psychiatrist for expert testimony about how a murderer’s childhood actually caused him to murder.  Or we have seen $10,000 spent on a mock crime scene that was never used.  Or how about $9,500 to locate witnesses that were never found?  This is a multi-million dollar spigot that has been opened of our tax money.

            Over the weekend in Chicago a police officer was gunned down on a city street while trying to serve a search warrant on a suspected drug dealer.  Announcing to the dope peddler the cop was fatally shot by the suspect.  Turns out this suspect has had multiple felony convictions and time spent in prison.  My question is why is this loser out on the street in the first place?  If Illinois, like 27 other states in the Union had a three strikes and you are out law people like this would be locked up forever.  Isn’t it amusing that we can find the legal expertise to pass a Death Penalty Fund but we can’t use the same resources to put together a tougher set of laws to deal with habitual criminals?

            Now I hear that Franklin County has the dubious distinctive honor of having the highest unemployment rate of any of the 102 counties in Illinois.  Now there is a real honor.  I wonder if there is some sort of trophy or at least a sign that can be posted when one enters our county?  Will state officials come down and do a ribbon cutting proclaiming there are more people out of a job in Franklin County than anywhere else in the state?  Can’t you see a press conference now with our legislators past and present along with the reformer/unreformer Governor, political hacks and ex politicians from DCEO and IDOT along with SIU big wigs, local officials too, all proudly pointing to the new signage designating Franklin County as the place to be if you don’t have a job?

            Another dose of bad medicine came last week when AmerenCips was granted the rate increase they had been seeking since the last one they got a year or so ago.  Add that to $4.00 per gallon gasoline and all of the above and we have a pretty ugly picture for us to look at. 

            We should all ask ourselves if those we send to Springfield are doing the job we expect of them.  We should all ask Rep. John Bradley, Rep. Kurt Granberg, Rep. Brandon Phelps, Rep. Mike Bost, Sen. Gary Forby, Sen. John Jones and Sen. Dave Luctenfeld what are you doing about perks for yourselves and your cronies or the fact that millions of taxpayer dollars are being looted out of the defense fund?  Or how about what are you really doing about a three strikes and you are out law, or the price of utilities in this state?  Locally guys, what are you doing about Franklin County having more out of work people than anyone else?

            I don’t know which column you are in, change we can believe in or on the had enough team but it appears to me that those two lines that started out miles apart could be coming together!

            Our Sesser family is saddened by the tragic death of Kent Eubanks who was killed in a single vehicle accident early Sunday morning on a rural road.  Kent left us way too early in life and leaves his dad, Butch, brother Craig, sister Kim, a son, a huge family and many friends who seek the answer why.  His mother Patsy died a few months ago.

            We are also suffering the loss of long time resident and all around great guy Homer Pitts who died over the weekend after suffering a stroke.  It is times like these that we must forget all the problems we each have and join our hands and hearts and become the strength that will bind our families during this time of loss.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to these members of our Sesser family.