When Gov. Pat Quinn took office in 2009, he promised to take aim at state boards and commissions stocked with politically connected folks drawing large salaries with little oversight into their activities.
He would pare down those panels and save you money.
Better Government Association investigative reporter Barbara Rose this month looked into whether Quinn delivered:
"... more than three years into Quinn’s watch little has changed, except the number of such units is growing. As troubling, many don’t comply with the Illinois Open Meetings Act, according to a report last year by state Auditor General William Holland."
In fact, the governor's office is having a hard time keeping up with it all.
"With over 322 boards and commissions, including approximately 3,000 governor-appointed positions, it has become increasingly difficult to track both current and newly created entities," Quinn’s Office of Executive Appointments wrote in response to Holland’s report, released in September 2011.
Not the Life of the Party: Illinois should replace primary elections with nonpartisan contests where candidates who secure more than half the vote win, suggests Bill Daley in a report on Clout Street. Daley is mulling a challenge to Gov. Pat Quinn. That's how Chicago conducts its election. The general public seems increasingly less connected to political parties, and our current primary system gives party stalwarts entirely too much sway over the candidates ultimately selected to run for office, state or federal.
Perhaps the governor can appoint a commission to study this idea.
Squeezy Was a Bargain-Basement Idea in a Cellar-Dwelling State: According to WCIA-TV, Squeezy the Pension Python, the centerpiece of the governor's brilliant pension reform campaign, cost all of $23. Meanwhile, a new report from the Illinois Auditor General shows the five state pension programs are paying out way more than they take in as their investment values tank, reports Illinois Watchdog. And Time magazine, poking fun at Squeezy, has decided Illinois should be the national poster child for how not to run a state.
Illinois governor Pat Quinn presides over a state with some of the highest taxes, the worst credit rating, $9 billion in unpaid bills, and a pension debt of more than $94 billion.
Former State Senator and Republican Cook County Board President candidate Roger Keats and his wife Tina are leaving Illinois to live in Texas. They bid farewell to their Illinois friends in a Wilmette Beacon article and with this letter this weekend, saying they're "voting with their feet and their wallets": GOOD BYE AND GOOD LUCK As we leave Illinois for good, I wanted to say goodbye to my friends and wish all of you well. I am a lifelong son of the heartland and proud of it. After 60 years, I leave Illinois with a heavy heart. BUT enough is enough! The leaders of Illinois refuse to see we can’t continue going in the direction we are and expect people who have options to stay here. I remember when Illinois had 25 congressmen. In 2012 we will have 18. Compared to the rest of the country we have lost 1/4 of our population. Dont blame the weather, because I love 4 seasons.
Illinois just sold still more bonds and our credit rating is so bad we pay higher interest rates than junk bonds! Junk Bonds! Illinois is ranked 50th for fiscal policy; 47th in job creation; 1st in unfunded pension liabilities; 2nd largest budget deficit; 1st in failing schools; 1st in bonded indebtedness; highest sales tax in the nation; most judges indicted (Operations Greylord and Gambat); and 5 of our last 9 elected governors have been indicted. That is more than the other 49 states added together! Then add 32 Chicago Aldermen and (according to the Chicago Tribune) over 1000 state and municipal employees indicted. Also, as many other Northern States there is great racial bias against white people. The corruption tax is a real cost of doing business. We are the butt of jokes for stand up comics
We live in the most corrupt big city, in the most corrupt big county in the most corrupt state in America . I am sick and tired of subsidizing crooks. A day rarely passes without an article about the corruption and incompetence. Chicago even got caught rigging the tests to hire police and fire! Our Crook County CORPORATE property tax system is intentionally corrupt. The Democrat State Chairman who is also the Speaker of the Illinois House (Spkr. Mike Madigan) and the most senior alderman in Chicago each make well over a million dollars a year putting the fix in for their clients tax assessments. We are moving to Texas where there is no income tax while Illinois just went up 67%. Texas sales tax is ½ of ours, which is the highest in the nation. Southern states are supportive of job producers, tax payers and folks who offer opportunities to their residents. Illinois shakes them down for every penny that can be extorted from them
That's nothing?
The thing that rubs me the wrong way, and I do feel for the Willis family, is that Edgar could have ran again and be welcomed in. There were long time Secretary of State employees that were in on this. They were not new Ryan hires. The foundation must have been laid long before George Ryan took office as Secretary of State. Edgar was already out of office when the mudflap fell off of the truck that killed six innocent children. He got away clean. I am sure Ryan was no angel. However, He was also the guy left holding the bag for crimes that benefited others. Many more should have gone to prison. Ryan took the fall for them.