Posts tagged ‘Pat Quinn’

Unions of Illinois Unite–Our Families Are Counting on You

by , posted on Wednesday, November 13th, 2013 at 8:41 pm

Okay Union leaders, Union members, Everybody and Anybody else who cares about Illinois families, get out of your comfort zone and get to work. The time for sitting on the sidelines is over.

We need to endorse another candidate to run for Governor. Quinn/Vallas would be a disaster. A Republican would be a disaster. We can no longer fear what traditional Democrats will think–or what traditional Republicans will think–if we ‘rebel’ against our ‘traditional’ party lines. They have both abandoned us in support of a corporate-driven tax loophole culture which is cannibalizing our schools and our state. We need to think of our children and their future in Illinois. Our kids are counting on us.

All of us who care about the education of our children, our tax burden, and the maintenance and structure of our beautiful state’s infrastructure need to open our eyes. We have a real crisis brewing and we cannot live in denial any longer.

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Quinn Picks Republican Running Mate

by , posted on Saturday, November 9th, 2013 at 5:40 pm

Who will you vote for on Nov. 5, 2014 if you are given the choice between voting for a Republican (pick one) and a Republican (Paul Vallas)?  Yep, Pat Quinn picked a Republican as his running mate, further alienating working people, minorities and women from the Democratic Party.

Four years ago, Vallas told host Jeff Berkowitz on the Public Affairs cable TV show that he’s now a Republican.

VALLAS: “I would take a Republican primary ballot.”
BERKOWITZ: “Do you think of yourself as a Republican?”
VALLAS: “I’m more of a Republican than a Democrat.”
BERKOWITZ: “If you run again for office you’d be running as a Republican?”
VALLAS: “I would, yes, yes.”

It gets better

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Your Rights Are About to be Taken Away Again!

by , posted on Sunday, October 13th, 2013 at 12:06 pm

Just when I thought Illinois politics couldn’t get any worse than what it has been, it did. I am referring to an upcoming vote against Governor Quinn’s veto on HB 2454 which prevents citizens from petitioning voters to get advisory questions on a ballot in the future.

Last summer, there were 14 petitioners who spent 6 months collecting signatures from Kane County voters for an advisory question for the 2012 November ballot. That collection took place at the Gail Bordon and St. Charles Libraries, faires, festivals, Geneva’s French Market and the DMV in Elgin. The question asked if the voters thought the Constitution should be amended to limit all the money that is now part of our political process….thanks to the Supreme Court’s disastrous 2010 decision on Citizens United. Last November, it was ultimately passed by 74% of ALL Kane County voters who said they wanted to get rid of all this unlimited, secret and unregulated money that continues to pour into our elections and used to pay off politicians for their yes vote for favors. I believe this is still called bribery and it is the number one reason citizens have such low opinions of those we elect to speak on our behalf. The truth is, you just don’t have enough money to influence the legislators.

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When did it become acceptable to take money from old people?

by , 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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47 Plus Coalition: Federal Government Withdraws Prairie Parkway Approval, Ending Federal Funding for the Highway Project

by , posted on Thursday, August 23rd, 2012 at 1:18 pm

from a 47 Plus Coalition press releaase

The federal government has rescinded its approval of the proposed Prairie Parkway which would connect I-80 and I-88 in Kane, Kendall, and Grundy counties under an agreement to settle a lawsuit filed by opponents of the highway project.

The action eliminates federal funding for the project, and the Illinois Department of Transportation will now shift federal funds previously allocated to the Prairie Parkway to improvements to Illinois 47 and US 34.

After an 11-year fight, we have finally scuttled this highway which would have destroyed thousands of acres of prime farmland, threatened the Fox River and its tributaries, and forever changed the area’s small community way of life,” said Jan Strasma, Chairman, Citizens Against the Sprawlway (CATS), the grassroots organization long opposing the highway.

Note: The Prairie Parkway opponents will celebrate the end of the project at the 11th Annual “Stop the Beltway’ Picnic which begins at 4 pm Sunday at the Marvel Davis farm, 47W066 Jericho Rd, near Big Rock, about 5 miles west of Illinois 47.

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PDA IL: John Laesch on austerity measures in Illinois

by , posted on Thursday, July 19th, 2012 at 9:51 am

from PDA-IL

John Laesch of Northern Illinois Jobs With Justice (NIJWJ.org) speaks about austerity measures in Illinois.

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“Corporations are People, Teachers are Not. Fix That!”

by , posted on Sunday, May 20th, 2012 at 7:29 pm

A five-year-old girl sitting in a wagon held a sign that read, “How can this be my fault? Tax the 1%”

Her mother, Dr. Annette DeAngelis-Marshall, who came to the teachers’ rally in Naperville this past Thursday,

May 17th, was pulling her. Dr. DeAngelis-Marshall is a special education teacher consultant and advocate who came to the rally as a citizen, taxpayer, and teacher to demand attention from politicians enacting pension changes for Illinois teachers.

“I’ve tried to speak to Darlene Senger but she doesn’t listen to me.” DeAngelis-Marshall said.

Senger is on Governor Pat Quinn’s task force charged with the job of changing the teachers’ pension system. Frustration with Senger was echoed by dozens of other people attending the rally. Approximately two hundred people were there. While most were teachers, some were union workers, college students, Occupiers, retired teachers, and just plain parents. All were taxpayers with a stake in good public schools.

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TRS Townhall in Naperville

by , posted on Saturday, April 28th, 2012 at 12:24 pm

Teachers and retired teachers filled a school cafeteria in Naperville, IL to hear a presentation from Dick Ingram, the Executive Director of the Teachers Retirement System (TRS) on Thursday, April 26th.

The staff at the high school had to set up extra seats to accommodate an estimated 300-400 people.

The presentation itself was very “matter of fact” and seemed to be a part of a PR effort to let teachers know that Governor Quinn and the Illinois General Assembly were about to deliver a hard-hitting punch. Most of the information presented was not new, but the use of multiple events and participation by the news media re-enforced the message, “the sky is falling and teachers have to make concessions.” Before delivering the bad news, Ingram did talk about how great it was that teachers had lived up to their responsibility by paying into the retirement system all of these years. He also acknowledged that teachers are not eligible for Social Security (a point that is often missed by the public and seems to be ignored by lawmakers).

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AFSCME Rally: Governor Quinn, Keep Your Word!

by , posted on Tuesday, July 12th, 2011 at 6:16 pm

During a tough 2010 political campaign, Governor Quinn negotiated raises with members of the American Federation State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) union.  On July 1, 2011, Governor Quinn cancelled those raises for more than 30,000 state workers.

This afternoon, fifty to seventy-five citizens rallied in Aurora, IL to call on Governor Pat Quinn to keep his word and honor long overdue wage increases for state

workers.  The Aurora event was part of a statewide, 75-rally day of action and a majority of the participants were AFSCME members.  Representatives from other unions and local businesses also participated in the action. 

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Welcome to Snowpocalypse 2011

by , posted on Tuesday, February 1st, 2011 at 1:32 pm

It hasn’t even started snowing yet (well, a few flurries, a dusting overnight last night) and already there is an enormous reaction to the blizzard-to-be.

O’Hare has pre-emptively cancelled 1,100 flights (for those of you who were passing through: Welcome to Chicago!)

Quinn has called out the Natiional Guard.

A co-worker reported circling the parking lot at the grocery store several times last night, only to be shoved out of the way by a man reaching for bread once she actually managed to find a parking space and get inside.

The library is frantically busy, with patrons reporting they have stocked up on food and are now after books and dvds.

I finished working at 11 today – not an early departure for me, but a regular time – stopped by Starbucks on my way home to spend a Christmas gift card on bag of whole bean French Roast (call it my version of a Snowpocalypse Emergency Kit).

The grandkids are in school, most schools, libraries, businesses, offices, etc, are open today, and no doubt most of them will be closed tomorrow. By the way, here’s a great website to check Chicagoland emergency closings.

The hour-by-hour forecast on weather.com calls for “severe weather” to kick in at 3 p.m. (at my zip code-60174) and that is sustained through most of rush hour and the evening, with a lull from 6-10 p.m. (a lull in terms of it not being encased in a red warning bars that state “severe weather”) and “blizzard” kicking in at 11 p.m. and predicted to last through 7 a.m. tomorrow.

So it’s an overnight blizzard. Oh, sure, snow will continue to fall through most of the day tomorrow, and driving will no doubt be disastrous starting with this afternoon’s commute and lasting through tomorrow, but the worst of it seems to be overnight.

All of which leads me to wonder why people around me are so panicked. We are too far west to see lake-effect snow (could and undoubtedly will be, much, much worse in the city). Really, its not like we’ve never had a blizzard before – come on people, this is Illinois!

So Happy Snowpocalypse: for all of you to whom this entire event will amount to getting a day off tomorrow, and that will probably be most of us, enjoy!

For the rest of you, all of you emergency and public service workers and first-responders out there: thank you! Sorry you will not get the day off, but we appreciate you doing all the heavy lifting on and during this one. I figure the best thing we can do to thank you is go home and stay there, safely out of your way.

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