Here in California, a la-la land run by progressives like Schwarzenegger and Jerry Brown, we can see the fundamental dishonesty of our progressive legislature that has squandered California’s sunny future into a insolvent state facing the spectre of total financial collapse if the citizens don’t support “just one more” massive tax raise.

And, unfortunately, we are not alone. It appears that Illinois, the home of such prominent progressives as  Barack Obama, Rahm Emanuel, Valerie Jarrett, Pat Quinn and notable crooks like Rezko and Blagojevich, is facing a similar situation.

What the politicians don’t seem to understand is that we have reached into our pockets and there is not much more to give and what little remains must be spent to benefit our families – not the special interests who trade campaign funding for the privilege of stealing from the public treasury.

Consider this recent e-mail from the Governor of Illinois …

Did Quinn say  in his e-mail “I am sorry for all of the Illinois politicians who spent your hard-earned money on parties, perks and privileges for government workers before spending money to repair or replace our crumbling infrastructure?”

Did Quinn say in his e-mail  “I will try to reform the system and put these savings toward paying down our current debt – much of which is owed to Wall Street and others from whom we borrowed to “balance our budgets?”

But he did threaten you – in the manner of all politicians past, present and future: pay up or we will cut essential services. You know, the services you rely on: police, fire, medical and sanitation. Many heavily unionized and priced beyond what can be purchased in the private sector. Yes he did threaten you – even though there are thousands of unproductive cubicle workers passing paper back and forth among themselves rather than doing something for the citizens who pay their wages.

Did Pat Quinn explain why, in spite of billions of dollars in federal aid, the inner cities of Chicago are democrat-run cesspools of crime, corruption and decay? Where did that money go? Perhaps we should ask Barack Obama where all of the money flowing to community organizers and others was actually spent.

They want to keep you beholden to the politicians for essential services. Why else would the push for gun control over crime control – disarming law-abiding citizens to promote a target-rich environment for those crooks who do not obey the law?

If there is little money left in the Illinois State Treasury to pay its rightful debts, maybe the State should  fire and possibly prosecute those legislators who have mismanaged the money they were given. Funding union-driven projects which went radically above budget and over-time – on purpose. Fire those who do not provide actual services to citizens – including the cops sleeping in the cars on cold mornings.

Don’t tell the citizens that it is our duty to maintain this corrupt dunghill by giving you even more money. Especially when you can’t guarantee it won’t be flushed down the same political rat hole as before.

Senate Bill 3 should be defeated – prove to us that you can restructure the debt, cut the waste, fraud and abuse of the system and we might just continue to let you and your political cronies survive for one more campaign season.

And you do not need a “template” to encourage your state politicians to support Senate Bill 3 – make a phone call and tell them NO!

Bottom line …

It is about time to tell the politicians NO! And if you cut our essential services, we will prosecute you for failing your oath of office and not prioritizing the essential work to be done. If you don’t cut back on non-productive city workers and reform pensions NOW – we will vote you out of office.

We know you and your party is in the midst of fundraising for the 2012 election cycle. Perhaps if you spent more time concentrating on the citizen’s problems instead of the party’s problems – the state and the nation would be a better place.

-- steve

Reference Links:

Senate Bill 3

“Amends the State Finance Act. Creates the General Obligation Restructuring Bond Fund and the General Obligation Restructuring Bond Debt Service Fund as special funds in the State treasury. Provides that the Comptroller shall transfer into the General Obligation Restructuring Bond Debt Service Fund certain amounts to service debt due on State General Obligation Restructuring Bonds. Amends the General Obligation Bond Act. Increases total authorized amount of General Obligation Bonds. Provides that the $8,750,000,000 of Bonds authorized by this amendatory Act shall be used to pay vouchers that are at least 60 days past due, medical expenses incurred by the State under its health plans, corporate income tax refunds, and other operating expenses of the State. Provides that the proceeds of these Bonds shall be deposited in the General Obligation Restructuring Bond Fund. Provides for the conditions for issuance and sale of State General Obligation Restructuring Bonds. Makes other changes. Effective immediately.”

The Fact Sheet

“To stabilize the budget and grow jobs, Illinois must pay its bills, while continuing to improve education, health care, human services, and public safety.”

Translation: we need to keep the unions and unionized government workers well-paid (even if the rest of you suffer) because we need their vote in 2012!

“Debt restructuring is similar to consolidating credit card or loans. Senate Bill 3 allows us to pay our bills in a lump sum and save money, while we also have dedicated revenue streams to pay it back:

• The lender will pay all of Illinois bills now;
• Illinois will repay the lender over a period of 14 years;
• Repayment will come from the 0.5% of the revenue increase specifically set aside for this plan.

This is not ‘new borrowing’. This is a strategic restructuring to pay down debts already owed by the State of Illinois.”

What a lie – this is exactly like credit card borrowing where you can never pay off your debt to the card issuer and continue making minimum payments forever. If this is not “new borrowing,” what does a revenue increase mean?  It means they won’t borrow the interest payments from the credit card issuer – they will take these payments out of your pocket.

Enough with the dishonesty – perhaps it is time to throw the bums out instead of continuing to elect people like Pat Quinn and Rahm Emanuel.