Thoughts on yesterday’s elections

April 8, 2009 by CookReformer
Filed under: Budget, Corruption, Elections, Mayor Daley, Proviso Township, Reform, Spending, Taxes

The results at the polls in yesterday’s municipal elections were mixed.

In some municipalities, such as Bensenville, the machine-backed candidate won. (In that case, Daley was exacting revenge of Bensenville incumbent Village President John Geils for opposing Daley’s misguided O’hare boondoggle.)

In a township such as Proviso, the machine incumbents barely held on to power - but lost some key seats to reform-minded candidates.

In watching tonight’s edition of WTTW’s Chicago Tonight - an interesting bit of information was thrown out: this year, 69% of incumbents held their seats, compared to 73% two years ago, and 81% two years before that.

The trend is clear: incumbents aren’t as safe as they used to be.

Much of that can be attributed to voter anger - at the continued corruption and the skyrocketing taxes they are forced to pay in Cook County (and perhaps at the state level, as well.)

In fact, the voter angst over Cook County’s massive sales tax resulted in three townships voting to secede from the county. The Huffington Post reports more on that situation:

Referenda in Barrington, Hanover and Palatine Townships on whether or not to disconnect from Cook County, where the sales tax rate is the highest in the country, all passed overwhelmingly Tuesday, revealing the depth of unrest over the county’s 1 percent sales tax increase in 2008.

And we are sure to see that anti-tax voter sentiment amplified at the Tax Day Tea Parties being organized in Chicago and some suburbs next week.

The key is to keep this movement growing and to ensure that the anti-tax forces beat back the status quo politicians at the polls in 2010. Whether it’s the Cook County Board Presidency, the Governorship, or any of a host of key General Assembly seats - next year is a year in which the voices of reform need to join together to take back Illinois from the corrupt and the inept who are costing us millions in “corruption taxes” and who have made our state a national embarrassment.