United Republican Fund Urges You to Contact Rep. Biggins
We just received this email from United Republican Fund about Rep. Bob Biggins (who represents portions of the western Cook suburbs), who may be considering a vote for the tax increase in Springfield. We urge you to contact him today…
Tell Rep. Biggins to Say ‘No’ to the Tax Hike
Your state representative — Bob Biggins — is considering raising your taxes.
Click here today to tell him to say “NO” to the tax increase.
In an ABC 7 Chicago News story last week, Rep. Biggins said:
“It will be difficult to come up with a solution that doesn’t have a tax increase, but I’m not sure what that tax increase would be. I’m not sure how I would vote on it. In this business you never say never. So I’m not saying never.”
The Democrats have mismanaged state government for six years, destroyed our economy – and now Bob Biggins is considering bailing them out with a tax increase?
Click here today to email Rep. Biggins to tell him you want him to vote “NO” on the tax hike.
You can also call his district office at: (630) 941-1278.
We know tax hikes will make our struggling economy even worse. Tax increases would slow economic growth, threaten jobs and shrink Illinois workers’ paychecks even further.
Email Bob Biggins to tell him you don’t want him to increase your taxes.
Rep. Biggins needs to do what’s right for our jobs, our families and our livelihoods.
If Bob Biggins gives the Democrats the votes they need to pass the tax hikes, it will do immense damage to our state — and to our Republican Party.
Tony Fires up the Chicago Young Republicans
Tony attended the Chicago Young Republicans summer membership event at the Cubby Bear last night — and had the opportunity fire up the crowd. Below are some pics from the event:
Help us Beat Tomorrow’s Midnight Deadline!
Help Us Raise $2,400 in the Next 24 Hours
You know who I am and what I stand for. My record of working for tax relief, transparency and accountability is clear.
If you’d like to see me re-elected to the Cook County Board — please click here to make an online contribution to help us beat tomorrow’s midnight fundraising deadline.
Political insiders from Chicago City Hall to Cicero want to see me defeated — and are planning to spend big bucks to make that happen.
Forrest Claypool is retiring and Mike Quigley has moved on to Congress … I may be the last line of defense on the County Board against future tax and spending increases.
Cicero Village President Larry Dominick and my fellow Commissioner Mario Moreno are already recruiting opponents to run against me and pledging campaign cash to see my defeated.
Can you help us raise $2,400 in the next 24 hours to beat tomorrow’s midnight fundraising deadline?
Your support is vital to keeping me fighting for you on the Cook County Board.
This Deal Smells, Plain and Simple
This Chicago Tribune story needs no further explanation:
Ald. Edward M. Burke wrote a letter in his official capacity that helped a client of his law firm win City Council approval to develop a blighted stretch of land near Midway Airport.
It’s the second time Burke has written such a letter so someone he’s done business with could get a zoning change from City Hall. After writing those letters, Burke abstained from voting on both cases to avoid any conflicts of interest.
Just because he abstained from the votes doesn’t mean this deal smells good. He’s one of the most powerful members of the City Council. He wrote the letter.
And just who was the individual helped by Burke?
In the most recent case, Burke wrote a letter July 18, 2007, endorsing a development project for Calvin Boender — who was indicted last month along with Ald. Isaac Carothers (29th) on bribery charges stemming from a different project.
But wait, there’s more:
This year, Burke persuaded Cook County Assessor James Houlihan to lower property tax assessments on three of five properties Boender owns.
Boender also has made campaign contributions to Burke.
In addition, Boender hosted a fund-raiser for Burke’s wife, Illinois Supreme Court Justice Anne Burke, four months before Ald. Burke penned the letter supporting Boender’s project.
In May, federal authorities accused Boender of bribing Carothers to win zoning changes for a West Side housing development in Carothers’ 29th Ward.
It’s deals like these that destroy the public’s faith in government and continue to tarnish our city’s and states’ reputation.
Lipinski to Make Courageous Stand on … Airline Baggage?
In an apparent attempt to lessen his own personal travel frustrations, Cook County’s own U.S. Rep Dan Lipinski (D-3) is set to propose new federal regulations on airline baggage procedures:
The three-term congressman, who grew up on Chicago’s Southwest Side under the flight path of Midway Airport, is seeking to solve some of the continual annoyances he and other air travelers experience through legislation aimed at regulating both checked baggage and carry-on items toted onto airliners.
Because most airlines are now charging fees for passengers to check baggage, he also thinks the carriers should face financial penalties when excessive delays occur in off-loading checked bags to airport baggage carousels.
Because what we need now with the recession is more federal regulations, right? Wrong: if the above passes, it is likely to put yet another burden on the broken airline industry and lead to higher prices for travelers.
Just because Rep. Lipinski gets frustrated when he travels doesn’t mean he needs to literally make a federal case out of it. I mean, what other personal frustrations does Dan have that he might be tempted to regulate?
Since Dan is looking to legislate on sources of travel delays, perhaps he can fine people who take too long to locate their change at toll plazas? Or how about jail time for participants in a gapers block? How about a federal law against state highway construction that takes too long, jams up traffic and goes over-budget?
Rep. Lipinski and his ilk in Congress unfortunately have the “Don’t just stand there — do something!” mentality that too often plagues politicians. That type of mentality leads to our elected officials spending their time regulating everything from foie gras and plastic water bottles (and now airline baggage) instead of doing the work to protect the taxpayers and legislative efficiently and effectively.
Taxpayers on the Hook for Olympics Starting this Week
This morning’s Chicago Tribune features a story on the city of Chicago’s acquisition of the proposed 2016 Olympic Village site — assuming tomorrow’s “closing on the $86 million purchase of the Michael Reese hospital site” goes as planned.
But the story also carries some stark reminders of the financial problems that other major Olympic cities are facing — namely Vancouver and London, both of which have needed taxpayer bailouts despite promises of private financing.
The acquisition of the Olympic Village site carries substantial risks, given the moribund state of the credit markets, which has created wrenching problems for Vancouver and London. Both cities have had to bail out their respective Olympic Village projects, which, like Chicago’s, were supposed to have been privately financed.
And for Chicago, those struggling projects hover like specters, raising any number of questions. Will the lending spigot have opened sufficiently by 2012, when work is slated to begin? Will the city’s glut of new housing units have been absorbed by then? Will Chicagoans line up for condos and rental apartments that won’t be available until 2016, and only after they have been crash pads for several weeks for about 16,000 visiting athletes and coaches?
As we’ve written about before, Chicago’s track record on a large-scale projects, such as Millenium Park and the proposed CTA mega-station in the Loop, is less than stellar. Given this track record of going over-budget and over-schedule, how can we expect anything different from the Olympics?
And, when that taxpayer bailout comes — will it be limited to the taxpayers of Chicago, or will Mayor Daley come looking for a handout from Cook County and Springfield, as well?
UPDATE - Top Ten Political Tweeters in Illinois
Thanks to Lt. Gov. candidate Thomas Castillo (@ThomasCastillo) for spearheading this list of the top ten Illinois politicians on Twitter.
We’ll keep this list updated right here on ReformCookCounty.com - so check back often to monitor the rankings. We realize the Illinois House Republicans and United Republican Fund aren’t “politicians” per se, but they have a good amount of followers and represent politicians — but since they are political and/or campaign organizations we added them to the list.
Please tweet us with updates or to let us know if we’re missing anyone:
1. @ThomasCastillo – 2228
2. @Tonyperaica -2150
3. @AdamforIllinois– 1793
4. @SaraFeigenholtz -1472
5. @pulido4congress - 1353
6. @QuigleyCampaign–1344
7. @birkettforil — 1315
8. @andy_mckenna–1277
9. @repaaronschock — 1134
10. @RutherfordDan – 1110
Honorable Mentions:
11. @JacksonJrOnline – 971 (Jesse Jackson, Jr.)
12. @Mannyflores – 667
12. @CharlieWheelan – 588
His Brother’s Sleeper … er … Keeper?
The second half of the year will soon enough bring the start to the County Board budget season … which should be interesting, since the first half was spent sparring over whether or not to repeal last year’s sales tax increase.
As Todd Stroger and others defend the tax increase, and no doubt push for yet another year of increased spending in the next budget, we call your attention to this Fox Chicago News investigation from last month that found Highway Department employee Alex Moreno (the brother of Commissioner Joseph Mario Mareno) sleeping on the job.
When the county insiders defend the high sales tax and push for increased spending … we implore you to remember this story:
Chicago Journal: Quit Pretending on Taxpayer Funds for Games
The Chicago Journal this week comes out swinging against Mayor Daley’s committment of taxpayer money to fund the 2016 Olympic Games:
The Daley Administration and its lackeys in the local Olympic organizing committee have repeatedly promised that no public money would be spent putting on a 2016 Olympiad here.
“Taxpayer money is not being used for the games,” John Murray, chief of bid operations for Chicago 2016, told us last year.
Well, no. That hasn’t been true for a while now. Shame on anyone for pretending otherwise.
Good for the Chicago Journal. Keep working to hold Mayor Daley and the Chicago City Council accountable.
Next Stroger Challenger … C’mon Down!
Clerk of the Circuit Court Dorothy Brown becomes the latest pol to jump in the increasingly crowded Democratic Primary for Cook County Board President:
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