The Mike Bertelsen Project

The special session called for education funding became a special session for pay raises. The senate voted on House Joint Resolution No. 132 that would reject the Comprehensive Review Board report for legislative pay raises. The vote carried 47 to 0, with 3 present to REJECT THE RAISES. Here's a link to the vote history.

Senator Mike Jacobs had this to say before the vote: "I encourage everyone to run for public office. It's not the greatest experience in the world but you learn a lot about yourself. I'm going to do the political thing. My newspaper friends who write bad editorials will say 'look he did the right thing.' I'm doing the wrong thing."

So far the comments about this aren't all the positive. Here's the link to the Rock Island Argus/Moline Dispatch article which includes comments. Comments at this writing are not positive.

I say the "right thing" was done. Thanks to you, this issue did not go away, and a vote was taken. I would have voted to reject the raises and my stance would have been to get to the business at hand, even going back to the regular session. We have to address the $44 billion pension liability, the $185 million in Medicaid unpaid bills and a reasonable capital plan to boost infrastructure and help with job creation. The pay raise should not have been an issue.

When I decided to run for the state senate, I didn't know what the job paid. I did know it paid more than what I am making now. My reason for running is not the pay, but to serve. I want to serve you as your state senator. When I filed to get on the primary ballot, pay raises had not yet been discussed.

Judicial Watch has filed lawsuits against Governor Rod Blagojevich, the Illinois Senate and State Senate President Emil Jones. The lawsuits were filed in Sangamon County Circuit Court in Springfield. The suits are part of an investigation by Judicial Watch which involve private deals between Governor Blagojevich and Democrat lawmakers. Judicial Watch is also reviewing public spending in general in Illinois.

Open record requests filed with the Governor's Office and the State Senate on February 20 and March 25, 2008 were ignored, prompting the lawsuits. The lawsuits were necessary, according to Judicial Watch, to force compliance with Illinois open records law.

Judicial Watch and Americans for Prosperity launched an investigation of public spending policies in the State of Illinois after multiple press reports documented "secret side deals" between Governor Blagojevich and Illinois lawmakers "for items ranging from police cars and tornado sirens to millions of dollars for after-school programs..." (The Chicago Tribune estimated these pork barrel projects cost Illinois taxpayers at least $70.8 million in 2006 alone.)

A detailed review of public spending practices in Illinois is being conducted by Judicial Watch and Americans for Prosperity, including member initiatives and/or earmarked appropriations, about which substantial questions have been raised," Judicial Watch wrote in its original open records request filed with the Illinois Senate.

I have said that if elected I would call for a major, independent accounting firm to conduct a thorough audit of Illinois government spending. This might well be happening now with the Judicial Watch investigation.

Oh where to begin....oh yeah, the budget for Illinois FY09. Six years of Democrat overspending and complete fiscal mismanagement has now swept into one budget. This budget from the start was woefully out of balance (2.1 billion dollars), but the Democrats made no move to make a tough decision. The Republicans were not consulted during the budget process until the process fell apart. The Republicans were asked to find a solution. A demand that is quite a challenge!

But is it that large of a challenge? Illinois Senate Republican Leader Fran Watson knows the score and here is the solution.

1. Cut wastefull spending
2. Eliminate new programs
3. Reform programs like Medicaid, where the spending is out of control
4. Gain Republican seats in the Illinois Senate

With the Democrat Senate majority, there has been no way to block the wasteful spending. For the past six years, the Senate Democrats have been loyal to the Governor which has led to special-purpose fund raids and more spending. Plus, the Senate Democrats gave the Governor more power to unilaterally raid 530 million dollars from special state funds which pay for highway repairs and downstate public transportation, just to name two.

This frankly has to end. We can't keep putting more debt on the backs of taxpayers and future taxpayers if Illinois is to be competitive in the job market. With the global economy, a new wave of imported products has flooded our markets. That's competition enough! Businesses and taxpayers can't afford more of the same six years!

The Fair Tax Book, written by Neal Boortz and John Linder (first paperback edition published in 2006), begins the introduction with these words: "When Karl Marx wrote The Communist Manifesto in 1848, he included ten points-goals if you will, that must be accomplished to bring about a true communist society. Number two on Marx's list was the establishment of 'a heavy progressive or graduated income tax.' "

The graduated income tax idea has been talked about in Illinois government as way to raise more revenue for the State of Illinois, since the overspending has left Illinois practically broke. This tax is often referred to as a progressive income tax with a graduated rate schedule. This could not be done without amending the Illinois Constitution. But is this such a good idea?

The League of Women Voters of Illinois is in support of this amendment. Why do they support this? The link I provided doesn't tell us. Plus they are a nonpartisan political (oxymoron?) organization....but this issue is far from nonpartisan. The idea of a graduated tax has had roots in the Democrat Party.

Thankfully the Illinois Senate defeated the graduated income tax ballot proposal on April 29, 2008. The information I viewed would give the extra revenue to education mostly. Well and good, but the time is now to look at the new programs created and see if those programs are really and truly needed. Put performance measures in place to guage these added programs.