Illinois House votes to remove tollway board directors amid concerns of 'unethical behavior' (deed, salaries)

[pvande55]

Originally Posted by Grlzrl

Well, I have only lived in Illinois since 99 and for most of that time, it's been the Democrats.

Republicans won't mention it, but George Ryan was one of the governors who lived in the Big House as well as the Governors mansion. Former US House Speaker Dennis Hastert also spent time there.

[MSchemist80]

Illinois never really had any conservative republicans in major office. Ryan, Edgar et were are center left best analogy would be President Clinton just not off the deep end corrupt left like Madigan, Preckwinkle, Blagojevich etc.

The tollway board has always been a cesspool. I remember growing up the news did expossees on the director using tollway funds to fly around in a helicopter for personal business and leisure.

The Metra board was similar. Madigan's patronage shenanigans with Clifford who was brought in to clean it up then forced out when he actually tried to do that. Not to mention a former Metra board President who committed suicide by Metra train before being arrested for corruption.

[My Kind Of Town]

Originally Posted by wase4711

Irrelevant point, since the republican governors in Illinois have NEVER had real power, since both houses have been dominated by the Democratic crooks for the last 20-40 years, who made sure they had veto power/constitutional protection over anything a repub tried to enact

Well, Republican govenors had enough power to create the pension crisis that we are currently dealing with in Illinois.

https://news.wttw.com/2015/08/11/ill...ension-debacle

Enhanced pension benefits, including former Illinois Gov. James Thompson’s decision to increase the cost-of-living for retirees to 3 percent in 1989.

The decision by Gov. George H. Ryan toward the end of his term in 2002 to grant state employees an early retirement. According to McKinney, so many people took advantage of the program that the costs could not be paid within the designed 10-year program structure and the costs were added into the long-term pension system debt, where it will not be paid off until 2045.

The establishment of the “Edgar Ramp” by former Gov. Jim Edgar in 1994. McKinney describes the 50-year program as “A Ramp Toward Disaster.”

https://www.illinoispolicy.org/the-e...ension-crisis/

[wase4711]

hilarious that someone could even think that any Republican in Illinois has ever had the power to do anything to ruin the state of Illinois with the Democratic tyranny in power for the last 40 years..Posting a couple random internet opinion articles, from 4 years ago is a joke..Anyone who has lived in Illinois for the last 20-40 years knows exactly who ruined this state..

[MSchemist80]

Originally Posted by wase4711

hilarious that someone could even think that any Republican in Illinois has ever had the power to do anything to ruin the state of Illinois with the Democratic tyranny in power for the last 40 years..Posting a couple random internet opinion articles, from 4 years ago is a joke..Anyone who has lived in Illinois for the last 20-40 years knows exactly who ruined this state..

That's just classic leftism where you blame someone else for your bad policy and corruption. You saw it with Obama who spent his entire presidency blaming his predecessor for his failures, you see it with Maduro blaming the US for the economic ruin the Chavistas brought to Venezuela, The same with Kim Jong Un... It is the whole communism/socialism failed because it wasn't done right fallacy. The left always screws things up massively, cause suffering to all the people they claim to be serving and then seek out a conservative scapegoat. Unfortunately they don't have Rauner anymore to be their sort of coerced Jesus to dump all their sins onto.

[Curly Q. Bobalink]

Originally Posted by MSchemist80

That's just classic leftism where you blame someone else for your bad policy and corruption. You saw it with Obama who spent his entire presidency blaming his predecessor for his failures, you see it with Maduro blaming the US for the economic ruin the Chavistas brought to Venezuela, The same with Kim Jong Un... It is the whole communism/socialism failed because it wasn't done right fallacy. The left always screws things up massively, cause suffering to all the people they claim to be serving and then seek out a conservative scapegoat. Unfortunately they don't have Rauner anymore to be their sort of coerced Jesus to dump all their sins onto.

I personally also blame Democrats for what has happened in IL, but acknowledge the pay-to-play politics of Ryan did contribute heavily to the problem with the annual increase in the late 80's. On the other hand, Ryan didn't do that by himself, the Legislature is the body that passes bills, the Governor has the right to veto them, correct? Same thing with Edgar's ramp, subsequent legislation could have amended it; plus, a great deal of the problem was the pension "holidays", where the state didn't pay in its share - again, thank the Legislature. The proof in the pudding is Rauner - who was it that blocked every piece of reform that Rauner tried to put in place? You guessed it - Madigan and Cullerton, the root cause of IL's problems for the past thirty years. No collective bargaining reform, no workman's comp reform, no pension reform; nada, zip, nothing.

[My Kind Of Town]

Originally Posted by wase4711

hilarious that someone could even think that any Republican in Illinois has ever had the power to do anything to ruin the state of Illinois with the Democratic tyranny in power for the last 40 years..Posting a couple random internet opinion articles, from 4 years ago is a joke..Anyone who has lived in Illinois for the last 20-40 years knows exactly who ruined this state..

Hilarious that anyone could even think Republicans are infallible. Blind loyalty, sad really. Democrats are just as and likely more responsible for the mess we’re in but to say Republicans had no part in how we arrived here is biased and/or ignorant.

[MSchemist80]

Originally Posted by My Kind Of Town

Hilarious that anyone could even think Republicans are infallible. Blind loyalty, sad really. Democrats are just as and likely more responsible for the mess we’re in but to say Republicans had no part in how we arrived here is biased and/or ignorant.

I think there is a magnitude of difference from being fallible and being corrupt, incompetent and screwing up a state to the point where residents are fleeing.

Rinos/center left Republicans do carry some blame for this but most of it comes from not standing firmer against the Dems but then again Rauner tried that and look what happened to him. Republicans are in deed fallible and I do disagree with them on several issues but the Dems aren't fallible; they are flat out broken and dysfunctional.

[Manterro]

We need to freeze government salaries and privatize much of the state government (which would reduce state employment and pension obligations). This would bring the unions to the bargaining table to renegotiate pension benefit contracts. Dire situations require tough measures.

[MSchemist80]

Originally Posted by Manterro

We need to freeze government salaries and privatize much of the state government (which would reduce state employment and pension obligations). This would bring the unions to the bargaining table to renegotiate pension benefit contracts. Dire situations require tough measures.

It could. After Mccormick place lost several major conventions due to ridiculous union rules and rates they were forced to renegotiate. Before that the unions were so out of control exhibitors couldn't so much as plug a light into an outlet without having a union electrician do it for several hundred dollars.