Bad week for John Cullerton
Last week, Cook County’s own Illinois Senate President John Cullerton came under fire for misuse of a taxpayer-funded vehicle.
Now, this:
In a 58-0 vote that took just 94 seconds, Senate President John Cullerton and his colleagues passed a measure that would protect a long-standing bank practice of charging businesses an extra five days in interest each year.
Cullerton, who gave permission for a top lieutenant to introduce the bill, is a Chicago partner in a large law firm with banking clients that would benefit from the proposal. In fact, his firm had just weeks before finalized a class-action settlement on the issue for a bank that agreed to pay more than $4 million to its borrowers.
A tough week for Senator Cullerton.
Text REFORM to 77007: Tell the Board of Review Not to Play Politics With Your Property Taxes
This week the focus is on federal Tax Day — the deadline for us all to file our federal income taxes.
And, yes, while federal taxes are burdensome and growing, we must not forget about the tax shenanigans going on right here in Cook County.
The insiders fought my efforts to roll back Todd Stroger’s record sales tax increase — but we won.
Now, they are trying to play politics with your property tax bills by delaying their distribution until after Election Day.
Text REFORM to 77007 on your mobile phone to tell these insiders not to play politics with your property taxes.
In short — they are terrified of a Cook County tax revolt on Election Day.
We’re making it easy for you to send a message: text REFORM to 77007 on your mobile phone.
By sending that text, we’ll reply right away with a text to patch you through to the Cook County Board of Review to demand that they stop playing politics with your property tax bills.
When you call:
- Be respectful and stick to the facts.
- Tell them you are a concerned taxpayer who wants to ensure that property tax bills are sent out on time — before November Election Day.
- Thank them for listening to your concerns.
Your grassroots action helped us roll back Todd Stroger’s tax increase.
Let’s use that same enthusiasm to ensure that the insiders don’t abuse the property tax system here in Cook County.
Thank you for continued support in the fight for honest reform. I am proud to continue working for you as Cook County Commissioner.
County Corruption Even Affects our Drinking Water
How prevalent is corruption in Cook County?
As this CBS 2 Chicago report shows, it even affects our drinking water.
He says he just couldn’t look the other way. Drinking water that was supposed to be tested — wasn’t. He complained about it, demanded they play by the rules, and was fired … Anthony Sacco is now out of work, out of money and out of insurance. But the 30-year west suburban Broadview Public Works veteran is not backing down.
Click here to watch the full video.
Property Tax Cauldron Begins to Boil
Property tax assessments have long been a tool of the Cook County Democratic machine to control votes and reward political allies.
In recent years, as this Chicago Tribune report from January shows, Illinois Democrat Party Chair Mike Madigan has teamed up with Cook County Dem Chair Joe Berrios to use this tool quite effectively.
But the tax assessment scheme is quickly turning into a political hot potato that is drawing the focus of the Chicago media, causing infighting within the Democratic Party, and promising to be a huge issue when voters turn out to the polls on November 2.
Much of the debate started last year, when Republican-turned-Democrat State Rep. Paul Froehlich resigned amidst reports that he was abusing the tax assessment process for political gain.
That someone could have engaged in these activities without the knowledge or consent of “higher ups” within the Cook County Democratic Party machine is doubtful (did we mention that Cook County Dem Chair Berrios is also a Board of Review Commissioner?)
Now, with 2010 being a year in which high taxes and government spending are top-of-mind in every public opinion poll, outgoing Cook County Assessor Jim Houlihan (a Democrat) has warned that Madigan and Berrios are plotting to delay the second installment of property tax bills until after the November 2 election.
Why would they do that? Simple: with the county property tax cap having expired, and pre-housing bubble assessments promising to wallop county taxpayers with a huge property tax bill — the last thing the machine wants is an anti-tax voter backlash on Election Day. Click here to watch a video of Commissioner Peraica explaining the property tax bill issue in more detail.
The Democrat infighting further manifested itself today with the announcement by Cook County Commissioner Forrest Claypool that he is running for Cook County Assessor as an Independent. Watch below as Claypool announces his candidacy and takes aim at those who would abuse the tax appeals process:
Sister States: New Jersey and Illinois
The Wall Street Journal has this piece today about the link between “Big Government” and corruption.
The piece is right on — and it aptly describes the problems not only in the Garden State, but the Prairie State (and Cook County), as well.
Take, for instance, this excerpt:
Sandy McClure, co-author of the book “The Soprano State: New Jersey’s Culture of Corruption,” agrees that big government is a big reason behind the state’s corruption problem. “You have all these little authorities that everyone has to go to for permission,” she says. “Too much government means too many opportunities for officials looking to cash in. And there’s no way that the press can keep track of it all.”
New Jersey and Illinois. Two peas in a pod.
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
Open Letter to Illinois Republicans
To All Illinois Republicans:
How’s this for a “doomsday” scenario: tax increases will plunge Illinois into further economic crisis, hurting economic growth and job creation and causing our state’s budget deficit to grow even larger.
As such, any legislator – Republican or Democrat – who supports tax increases is voting against jobs, workers and the Illinois economy … and they should be voted out of office.
Unfortunately, this week we’ve heard some Illinois Republicans referring to tax hikes as “revenue enhancers” and refusing to rule out the possibility of raising our taxes.
History is clear. When you cut taxes, you increase economic growth, which, in turn, leads to increased tax revenues.
Afraid of being the party of “no” – some Republicans are anxious to cut a deal with Pat Quinn and the Democrats that supports some “reform” concessions in exchange for a tax increase.
This is wrong. It will enable the Democrats’ continued mismanagement of state government. It will hurt each and every Illinois taxpayer.
Real leadership is about doing the hard work necessary to present an alternative plan and standing firm on principle. It’s not about cutting a deal simply to get a budget passed and stop the Democrat PR barrage.
The people I represent in Cook County are suffering. Business bankruptcies have shot up 60%; mortgage foreclosures have gone from 12,000 to 50,000 per year; and, we are paying the highest sales and gasoline taxes in the country.
Unemployment in Cook County now stands at 9.5% — and it’s above 40% for African-American males between the ages of 18-40.
And yet our legislators want to make the situation worse by doubling the state income tax, exploding the expansion of gambling, increasing taxes on everything from cigarettes, alcohol and candy to a host of other services.
Some of us on the Cook County Board have held firm in opposition to Todd Stroger’s tax increase because it’s the right thing to do. Now it’s time for the Illinois General Assembly to do the same by holding firm against the Democrat tax hikes.
Every one of the constituents I represent in the 16th District of Cook County will be hurt by a tax increase.
Any Republican who supports a tax hike in these tough economic times should be voted out of office in February 2010.
It’s time to start acting like Republicans and standing on basic, sound, time-tested economic principles.
It’s time to, once and for all, do what is right for the people of Illinois.
Sincerely,
Tony Peraica
Cook County Commissioner – 16th District
Voters, Spending and Taxes
Filed under: Budget, Corruption, Reform, Spending, Taxes
Last week, Rasmussen Reports released a poll showing that 77% of Americans see government officials’ unwillingness to cut government spending as a bigger problem than voters’ resistance to tax hikes:
For nearly four-out-of-five U.S. voters, the problem is not their unwillingness to pay taxes. It’s their elected representatives’ refusal to cut the size of government.
Those poll numbers are music to our ears … but will these numbers actually translate at the ballot box?
After all, for years, the issue of political “pork” has made headlines. And polls regularly show that Americans disapprove of this political spending of taxpayer dollars.
But year after year … voters actually reward politicians who bring home the bacon.
It’s most likely an issue of voters disliking politicians who bring pork to other districts … but reward those who bring these pork-barrel projects to their own district. After all, one man’s pork project is another citizen’s paved road or sewer project, right?
It’s an ongoing problem — especially since, here in Illinois, the root of our corruption and budgetary problems is the spending process. Pork is exactly what has bred our notorious pay-to-play and budget deficits.
But corruption has been here for years — and so have the deficits. Yet the voters have continued to reward the same Democrat politicians who have brought this upon us.
Will 2010 be different? Let’s hope so — and let’s hope the poll results released last week will translate at the ballot boxes.
Sun-Times: ‘Stand up to end corruption’
We urge you to read today’s Chicago Sun-Times commentary “Time to Stand Up to End Corruption” … and to take the suggested action to contact your legislative officials (the commentary provides their contact information.)
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