Month: February 2011

Kirk, Schilling to hold town hall meeting

Posted by dwilson – February 24, 2011

U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk and U.S. Rep. Bobby Schilling will hold a joint town hall meeting at John Wood Community College auditorium at 2 p.m. Saturday.

The two Republicans expect to speak and take questions from audience members for about an hour. Recent events in Congress will be among the topics discussed by both men.

Schilling, a freshman House member from Colonoa, recently voted not to extend some parts of the U.S. Patriot Act. Kirk, a former House member who was elected to the Senate last November, voted for the extension.

Tea party members recently expressed concern that Schilling voted against the bill that stripped more than $480 million from this year’s budget for a backup engine for the F-35 fighter jet. The backups were to be built in Speaker of the House John Boehner’s district and many Republicans fought the elimination in spite of the budget savings it offered.

Town hall meetings can be prickly events for some politicians. Former U.S. Rep. Phil Hare, D-Rock Island, held his first Quincy town hall meeting of 2010 at the JWCC auditorium and faced a front-row questioner who shouted.

Schilling and Kirk are expected to face less volume, after soundly winning a majority of local votes last year.

Illinois treasurer’s office could be eliminated

Posted by dwilson – February 15, 2011

One effort to cut the cost of Illinois government that appears headed for approval by the Legislature is probably the consolidation of the Illinois comptroller’s and treasurer’s offices.

Dan Rutherford and Judy Baar Topinka campaigned successfully last year for those offices and promised to seek the consolidation of those two constitutional offices. Rutherford, now the treasurer, and Topinka, the comptroller, are Republicans who said operating a single office could save taxpayers $12 million a year.

Sen. Kwame Raoul, D-Chicago, announced Monday his resolution to allow voters to decide whether to amend the Illinois Constitution. Raoul had proposed a similar plan in the last legislative session, but did not get support in the Illinois House.

“There is a lot of crossover between the offices (of comptroller and treasurer), and this measure provides needed consolidation in Illinois government,” Raoul said.

With Topinka and Rutherford the only Republicans holding state constitutional offices, siding with Raoul, a Democrat, there should be a good chance for passage of this legislation.

Those who oppose consolidation often say there need to be checks and balances between the comptroller, who handles incoming bills and payments, and the treasurer, who invests funds and works with banks and loan programs.

Consolidation supporters say there are lots of checks and balances with an auditor general, several legislative appropriation committees, a budget offices, an attorney general and several inspectors general.

If the resolution gets the required three-fifths majority, it would be placed on ballots in 2012. If voters approve the change it would take effect after the 2014 election. If Raoul’s wishes are met, the new constitutional officer would be known as the “comptroller of the treasury.”

Let’s hope any squabbles about the name do not derail this government efficiency effort.

Minimum wage supporters seek higher rate

Posted by dwilson – February 9, 2011

Illinois Sen. Kimberly Lightford, D-Chicago, will hold a press conference in Springfield Thursday afternoon to unveil her plan to raise the minimum wage.

Lightford’s proposal would raise the minimum wage to $10.65 per hour over the next four years. The “Raise the Minimum Wage” coalition said although Illinois has a minimum wage that is $1 higher than the national rate of $7.25 per hour, it is too low.

“The minimum wage was $1.60 per hour in 1968, which in today’s dollars … would amount to $10 per hour,” reads a coalition press release.

Many other lawmakers, including some of Lightford’s fellow Democrats, say this bill will be a non-starter in 2011. Business owners are angry after the corporate income tax rate was hiked 67 percent last month. Republican lawmakers have sought assurances that the state minimum wage will not rise until the federal rate catches up.

Missouri initiative petitions approved for circulation

Posted by dwilson – February 8, 2011

Initiative petitions related to early voting and reducing the size of the Missouri House have met state standards that will allow them to be circulated as for inclusion on 2012 ballots.

Releases from Secretary of State Robin Carnahan indicate that petition organizers will have until May 6, 2012 to obtain enough signatures to equal 8 percent of the total votes cast in the 2008 governor’s election — from six of the nine congressional districts.

Early voting would be allowed prior to federal general elections, under one of the proposals. The other calls for trimming the size of the Missouri House from the current 163 districts to 103 districts starting in 2023.

In the financial impact statement released by Carnahan’s office, the early voting and procedures related to voter identification could cost $974,000 to $1.2 million. By trimming the size of the General Assembly, Carnahan said the state government would be saved at least $4.7 million.