‘The Front Page’
by Ellen McClennan, posted on Saturday, October 12th, 2013 at 6:25 pm
By now, it is quite clear Randy Hultgren has aligned himself with the far right wing Republican contingent responsible for shutting down our government and threatening the debt ceiling crisis. Conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer has actually termed Hultgren and his contingent of about 79 other representatives as the “suicide caucus.”
Hultgren and the rest of the Republican politicians known as the “suicide caucus” are called that because they signed Republican Mark Meadows’ letter, known as The Meadows Letter, which demands that House Speaker Boehner pass legislation to defund the Patient’s Rights and Affordability Care Act (ACA–Obamacare) and to commit to defund the ACA by using the continuing resolution to fund the government. In other words, shut down our government.
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Tags: 2014 elections, ACA, Affordable Care Act, conservatives, Heritage Action, IL-14, Illinois, Mark Meadows, Obamacare, Randy Hultgren, Republicans, shut down, Tea Party, Ted Cruz, The Meadows Letter
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by Ellen McClennan, posted on Sunday, September 29th, 2013 at 9:00 am
We can’t afford to keep Randy Hultgren and Peter Roskam in office any longer. They continue to waste our taxpayer money in vain attempts, 42 at last count, to end the Affordable Care Act. Each Hultgren and Roskam attempt to defund the law, which was enacted by Congress and upheld by the Supreme Court, costs us taxpayers (according to research by CBS) approximately $1.45 million.
Hultgren and Roskam join with the rest of the House Republicans in collectively spending 15% of its activity since 2011 on repealing the ACA (Obamacare), or about $17 million in Congressional Republican salaries– according to a recent report published by the New York Times.
When considering all the facts, it becomes quite clear that the Republican temper-tantrum over the ACA is nothing more than them serving the financial services industry–their primary campaign donors–rather than any concern about American people.
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Tags: Affordable Care Act, conservatives, healthcare, insurance industry, Obamacare, Peter Roskam, Randy Hultgren, Republicans
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by Ellen McClennan, posted on Saturday, August 24th, 2013 at 11:57 am
For a politician claiming to value fiscal responsibility, 14th Congressional Representative Randy Hultgren certainly has wasted a lot of our money.
Hultgren has voted with the rest of his Tea Party coalition to repeal Obamacare 40 times. According to a recent CBS study, each Republican vote to repeal costs all of us American taxpayers $1.45 million—for a total of about $58 million.
Question: Why would Hultgren be so focused on wasting our money to repeal a law voted in by Congress and upheld by the Supreme Court?
Answer: Hultgren’s largest campaign donors come from the Securities and Investment (i.e. Insurance) industry. Check it out at OpenSecrets.org. Hultgren is protecting Insurance CEO’s paychecks at the same time he is attempting to take insurance coverage away from those who need it and billing American taxpayers millions for his efforts.
Question: So what’s so bad about Obamacare that the financial services industry wants to repeal it? After all, Obamacare just delivered millions more people into their coffers.
Answer: Obamacare restricts the profit insurance companies can make.
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Tags: 2014 elections, Aetna, Angela Braly, Cigna, David Cordani, executive compensation, Health Care Service Corp, Humana, IL-14, Illinois, insurance industry, Mark Bertoline, Michael McCallister, Obamacare, Patricia Hemingway Hall, Randy Hultgren, Stephen Hemsley, U. S. House, United Health Group, Wellpoint
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by jstupec, posted on Saturday, August 24th, 2013 at 7:41 am
I attended the Anderson Announcement:
For the past two years we in the IL14 congressional district have had a do-nothing Republican Tea Partier as our representative in the US Congress. Due to gerrymandering, the district stretches from almost the Wisconsin border south to Yorkville, Il. On the east there’s the Fox River and the district bulges to the west occasionally but it’s a difficult district to campaign in because of the time consuming distances necessary to meet as many constituents as possible. In the 2012 election, Dennis Anderson came from out of nowhere to take 41% of the vote from a well-funded Republican (Randy Hultgren). Anyone who has been watching this useless House of Representatives knows exactly what his voting record is. This country must change the balance of power in the House and we have a truly superb candidate that will work hard for District 14 and, ultimately, all of the people of America.
I could try to paraphrase Dennis’ very impressive biography and where he stands on issues but that wouldn’t do him justice so I’m going to take the easy way out and let you read the good news. The speech was delivered on August 18th, 2013.
To donate, go to the Anderson Facebook page at www.facebook.com/dennisanderson.IL14 and click the ActBlue (AB) button or email the campaign at andersonforcongress14@gmail.com. You know the drill, volunteering and donations to help him fight for us. Dennis gives us the chance to change Congress.
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Tags: 2014 elections, Dennis Anderson, IL-14, Illinois, Randy Hultgren, U. S. House
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by Downtowner, posted on Thursday, April 18th, 2013 at 2:42 pm
After last year’s drought it was a relief to learn, just the other day, that our soil moisture has officially reached normal levels. But as they say, when it rains, it pours. And it’s not only been raining, it’s predicted to start again at around two this afternoon and keep raining until around midnight. Here are a few pics of current conditions – these pics are from St. Charles, but there are problems up and down the valley.
First, the Illinois Street Bridge is closed, not because there is water on the bridge, there isn’t. I remember this bridge closing in 2008, because water had filled the bridge arches and was hitting the side of the deck – a problem for this particular bridge as it’s sitting on the riverbed, rather than anchored in it, so the force of water broadsiding the deck has the potential to unmoor it. Not a big potential, but it exists, so in an excess of caution it was closed. Just a guess, but I suspect the same sort of thing is going on now, since there is no water on the bridge.
Illinois Street Bridge is closed
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Tags: 2013 flood, climate, Fox River, weather
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by John Laesch, posted on Monday, April 8th, 2013 at 7:13 pm
I first heard Pat Herrmann, a retired art teacher from Wheaton, Illinois, ask the question, “when did it become acceptable to take money from old people?” during a public pension discussion hosted by the
DuPage Coffeehouse. Herrmann is a deep-thinking activist. The multiple messages on her signs reflect her ability to conduct careful research and see the bigger picture. Her question about taking money from old people reflects her ability to see the human impact; something lawmakers don’t see.
As the Illinois General Assembly debates how much money they will strip from Illinois teachers’ pensions and President Obama puts deep cuts to Social Security on the table, I was reminded of Hermman’s important question. If you have not signed the petition to tell President Obama to take Social Security cuts off of the table, now would be a good time to do it by following this link.
Of course those reaching into the pockets of old people don’t want to talk about how this will impact living, breathing human beings. They want to talk about numbers, budgets and other inhuman things. Consider Tom Cross’s recent letter to the Chicago Tribune that makes this all sound like a tragic math problem. Cross, after 20 years in Springfield, takes no responsibility for the state’s past 40+ years of delinquency. I am not giving Democrats a free pass on this either. The primary drivers of pension reform in Springfield are Mike Madigan, Pat Quinn, Elaine Nekritz and Dan Biss (all Democrats). All of them, Democrats and Republicans, are singing from the same sheet of music. Watch the video of Bernie Sanders below the fold.
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Tags: Bernie Sanders, chained cpi, dan biss, Dupage Coffeehouse, Elaine Nekritz, Illinois, Illinois General Assembly, legislation, Mike Madigan, pat herrmann, Pat Quinn, social security cuts, Tom Cross
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by John Laesch, posted on Sunday, April 7th, 2013 at 8:03 am
Pam Verner took the time to contact all 18 school districts and ask when the school board planned on voting for or against the K12 Inc. application for a charter school. Thanks to Heather Steans, Stand for Children, and wealthy charter school backers, the law (SB79) requires school districts to vote 30 days after the public hearing.
While the public comments section is officially closed, we are still encouraging people to attend these hearings, add your comments of opposition at the beginning of the meeting and have your voice heard. Here are the dates that school districts said they anticipated a vote:
April 8, Monday
Naperville District 204 @ 7:00 p.m.
Crouse Education Center
780 Shoreline Drive
Aurora, IL 60504
630-375-3000
West Aurora District 129 @ 6:00 P.M.
West Aurora High School
1201 West New York Street
Aurora, IL 60506
– Meeting will be held in the Library.
Closed session first, then “may” vote on K12.
Geneva District 304 @ 7:00 P.M.
Williamsburg Elementary School
1812 Williamsburg Avenue
Geneva, IL 60134
630-463-3010
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Tags: Algonquin IL, Aurora IL, Batavia IL, Burlington IL, charter schools, DeKalb County, DuPage County, education, Elgin IL, Fox Valley, Geneva IL, Illinois, K12 Inc, Kane County, Kendall County, Malta IL, Naperville IL, Oswego IL, Plainfield IL, Romeovill IL, St Charles IL, Sugar Grove IL, Sycamore IL, virtual charter, Wheaton IL, Will County, Yorkville IL
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by John Laesch, posted on Friday, March 29th, 2013 at 9:16 pm
State Senator Heather Steans and Stand for Children are ultimately responsible for Chicago school closings and the recent increase of charter school applications like the 18-district virtual charter initiated by K12 Inc. in the Chicago suburbs.
Rahm Emanuel, Barb Byrd-Bennett, Heather Steans, Jonah Edelman
I started researching SB79 and HB 5825, the legislation that created and gave the Illinois Charter Commission super “override powers” and autonomy from the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE). If SB7 gave education activists concern, SB79 and HB 5825 should have started a five-alarm fire.
Because of SB79, K12 Inc., a for-profit, Wall Street-traded company applied for a virtual charter scam in 18 suburban school districts. Why are they doing this? K12 Inc. anticipates that the state charter commission will override local rejections of their taxpayer rip-off scheme and approve the charter despite overwhelming local opposition.
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Tags: Bob Pritchard, charter schools, Chicago IL, Chicago Public Schools, Cook County, CPS, education, HB 5825, Heather Steans, Illinois, Illinois Charter Commission, Illinois General Assembly, Illinois State Board of Education, Jean Pierce, K12 Inc, legislation, Leo Smith, Linda Chapa LaVia, Mike Madigan, Monique Davis, Rahm Emanuel, SB 79, school closings, Stand for Children
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by John Laesch, posted on Saturday, March 23rd, 2013 at 5:52 pm
K12 Inc., a for-profit virtual learning company is pitching their services to 18 Illinois school districts, attempting to exploit Illinois’ weak charter laws. K12 Inc. executives have handled presentations at 16 of the 18 schools in which they have submitted an application for a virtual charter. Geneva’s school district 304 held a hearing on March 11th and the applicant did not show. The final hearing is in District 365U (Romeoville and Bolingbrook).
Please join Northern Illinois Jobs with Justice (RSVP via this link) at the final public hearing to express your opposition to K12 Inc’s taxpayer rip-off scheme. This Wall Street company is trying to rip-off taxpayers in the amount of $8,000 per customer (students that they sign up).
When: Wednesday, March 27th @ 6:30 p.m.
Where: Valley View D365U School Service Center (755 Dalhart Ave., Romeoville, IL 60446)
The first vote for or against K12’s virtual charter scam is going to be held in East Aurora, District 131. Please join NIJwJ (RSVP via this link) and encourage the board to vote “no.”
When: April 1st @ 7:00 p.m.
Where: School Services Center (417 Fifth St., Aurora, IL 60505)
Tags: Aurora IL, Batavia IL, Bolingbrook IL, Carpentersville IL, charter schools, education, Elgin IL, Geneva IL, Illinois, Illinois Charter Commission, K12 Inc, Kane County, Kendall County, Oswego IL, Randall Greenway, Romeoville IL, School Privatization, Sharnell Jackson, St Charles IL, Yorkville IL
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by John Laesch, posted on Saturday, March 23rd, 2013 at 7:33 am
When the K12 Inc. executive stammered, Dean Fisher, a Yorkville School Board member repeated his question, “defend your profit model.” The questions came after the K12 Inc. corporate executive had made a 20-minute presentation to the board and administrators of Yorkville District 115.
The real world questions kept coming like a series of body blows to K12 Inc., the for-profit virtual education provider that has come under fire nationally for low test scores, scandals, lawsuits and cover-ups.
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Tags: Aurora IL, Batavia IL, Carpentersville IL, district 115, district 204, Elgin IL, Geneva IL, K12 Inc, Naperville IL, Oswego IL, Randall Greenway, Sharnell Jackson, St Charles IL, Yorkville IL
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