The Invisible Man

Posted on 16/01/2018 by Grumpa Joe

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The only time I ever see my Senator on the news is when he is running for re-election. Senator Tricky Dicky Durbin is usually missing in action until it is time to turn on campaign mode. This time it started when President Trump seated Tricky next to him in the highly visible immigration meeting. Then, the next day Tricky made headlines by accusing Trump of saying why do we want to keep bringing people into this country from shithole countries. Every liberal journalist is now spreading the horror of the words shithole, while the rest of us nod our heads in assent saying “yes why would we?”

What Tricky Dicky does not recognize is that he is responsible for making his home state the shithole of the fifty. We rank second only to San Francisco. Illinois is a blue state, a very, very deep blue state. Even the Republicans on our ballots are RINO’s. One of Tricky’s buddies is a State representative named Mike Madigan. Madigan has been Speaker of the House for more than thirty years.  Four years ago we elected Bruce Rauner a conservative governor and Madigan and the majority democrats have stalled and denied any cooperation. Does that sound familiar? Illinois has operated on continuing resolutions instead of a budget for the past four years even though it is against the law to run that way. The governor refuses to sign a budget that does not include some modicum of pension reforms for pensions. We the people of Illinois pay heavy taxes to fund public sector union pension funds. Unions vote democrat, and there in lies our problem. Which unions are responsible: State workers, Chicago Teachers Union, Police Union, Fire Fighters Union. They all know how to play the media and the politicians at contract time. Absolutely no one wants to fight these unions for reform. Instead of reforming, the unions get raises and more perks.

What does this have to do with Tricky? He is as invisible as the comic character The Invisible Man. Never have I heard him comment positively about reform in his home state. I don’t expect Tricky to waver on any subject close to a leftist’s heart like unlimited immigration, wide open borders, election control, you name it Tricky is all for it and brands anyone who opposes his agenda as racist, da-da-da-da da. His agenda is to make the USA look like Chicago and Illinois. He is blind to the fact that small businesses are flocking to neighboring states for relief. Citizens are moving in droves to states with low income-taxes, property taxes, and low cost state schools. Yes, a vote for Tricky is a vote to turn Illinois, and the USA into a Socialist State.

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Governor Rauner Speaks Out

Posted on 18/05/2016 by Grumpa Joe

TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2016

RAUNER: DEAR STATE EMPLOYEES, THE TRUTH IS ILLINOIS IS BROKE

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SPRINGFIELD – Governor Bruce Rauner penned the following public letter to the state’s employees, explaining his reasoning for vetoing HB 580 Monday:

OPEN LETTER TO STATE EMPLOYEES:

For too many years, Illinoisans have been misled. Each of you in state government has been misled. Taxpayers who fund government have been misled. Recipients of public services, including our most vulnerable residents, have also been misled. The consequences are before us, and they are dire.

I ran for office to right these wrongs. I believe that solving our state’s crisis requires a simple first step – for someone to tell the truth. So here it is.

The truth is that Illinois is broke. Our taxpayers, who pay the highest property taxes in the nation, are maxed out and local governments continue to raise property taxes.

Expanding the size of government faster than middle-class paychecks are growing is a failing strategy. That is why I have no choice but to veto AFSCME’s arbitration bill, HB580.

It’s not because I don’t want to see you earn a better living today. I do. I veto HB580 because I want to protect the pension system that you are counting on for your retirement.

If I signed this bill, I would be subjecting all taxpayers to another $3 billion in higher taxes. That makes no sense when too many jobs have been leaving Illinois, and those hardworking Illinoisans that remain see their incomes falling.

We can make Illinois a state where our employees receive the pension benefits they were promised, where our budget is truly balanced through strong economic growth rather than destructive tax hikes, and where our state workers are not forced to work in decaying buildings with technology that is older than my children and furniture that is older than me.

I pledged on my first day in office to build a partnership with state employees, and that is exactly what we have done. Our 1970s computers are being replaced with next generation technology. With the General Assembly’s help, I pledged to put the Thompson Center up for sale and move employees to more modern space. We pushed for more flexible scheduling and ended Rod Blagojevich’s corrupt hiring system.

When Attorney General Madigan sought to shut off pay, Comptroller Munger and I defeated that misguided attack on state employees. And I have called on the General Assembly to honor Governor Quinn’s failed promise of wage increases from 2011. We must respect our commitments and not make new commitments that we cannot afford.

We also sought employees’ ideas for improvements and savings, prompting us to send out the first-ever state employee survey. The results were eye-opening.

You told me that promotions and compensation are not based on merit. You told me that agencies don’t reward creativity and innovation. I want to reward hard work and ingenuity. Unfortunately, union leadership is blocking many of these common sense ideas – ideas that you want. Rest assured, I heard your desire for these reforms loud and clear.

So my administration took action. We launched a truly meaningful merit pay program. We started a gainsharing program that will reward state employees for helping save taxpayers’ money. We implemented a “rapid results” system that removes obstacles to employee innovation and allows employees to personally change processes that impede good customer service.

But as I have noted, with a truly historic budget deficit and skyrocketing debt, our taxpayers cannot afford the added spending pressure of huge wage and health insurance increases. That is why I must veto HB580, ensuring that the legal process agreed to with AFSCME leaders and currently underway before the Labor Board, is allowed to proceed and fairly resolve any outstanding issues.

But I make this pledge: The State will honor its promises to you. We will continue to listen and build a workplace that values and rewards hard work, innovation, and creativity, all in a welcoming work environment. We will keep fighting to get you paid in full and on time. And we will continue to stand for fiscal discipline so that you and your families can again know you are, finally, being told the truth.

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Illinois is broke because it has the most corrupt Democrat government, and has had it for the longest time. State politicians work diligently to get re-elected. Most consider their offices as a profession that belongs to them. Many pass their posts to their children to keep the family business running. They cleverly manipulate State workers with perks and money to insure they help to get them re-elected year after year. Illinois is as close to being a socialist state as one can get. We are an example to the rest of the country. Look at us and ask, do I want to be a tax-slave working to line the pockets of the faithful dominions of elites who are running our state?

GJP

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Charity Begins At Home

Posted on 03/04/2009 by Grumpa Joe

My Flag Cries EverydayA very good friend of mine sent this to me today. I have to share it with you. I checked out the links they are legitimate.

Why doesn’t Rahm Emanuel pay property taxes???

According to the Cook County Assessor’s website, the Chicago home of four-term Democrat Congressman and new White House Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, DOESN’T EXIST.  While the address of 4228 North Hermitage is listed as Emanuel’s residence on the Illinois State Board of Elections’ website, there seems to be no public record of Emanuel ever paying property taxes on this home.

The Cook County Assessor’s and Cook County Treasurer’s online records indicate that Emanuel’s Chicago neighbors pay between $3,500 and $7,000 annually. However,  Illinois Review has been unable to locate any evidence that the former Clinton advisor and investment banker is paying his fair share of Cook County’s notoriously high tax burden.

 

Why wouldn’t 4228 North Hermitage property owners  Rahm Emanuel and wife Amy Rule pay property taxes?  One reason may be because Emanuel and Rule declared their 4228 North Hermitage home as the office location for their personal non-profit foundation called the “Rahm Emanuel and Amy Rule Charitable Foundation“.  As the “non-profit foundation’s” headquarters, their home could be exempt from paying property taxes!  Get a load of this . . .

 

 

In January 2007, “USA Today” reported on Emanuel’s foundation:
The “Rahm Emanuel and Amy Rule Charitable Trust” was formed in 2002, when the Chicago lawmaker was first elected. The former Clinton White House aide and his wife, Amy Rule, ARE ITS ONLY DONORS!  Emanuel was an investment banker after serving in the White House.  The trust reported having $2,900 on hand at the end of 2005, after receiving $34,000 from Emanuel and donating more than $31,000.
During the past three years, Emanuel’s “charity” gave nearly $25,000 to the Anshe Emet Synagogue (a private school that the Rahm/Rule children attend), and $15,000 to the foundation run by former president Bill Clinton. It also gave $14,000 to Marwen, a Chicago charity that provides art classes and other educational help to low-income children.  AMY RULE IS ON MARWEN’S BOARD.
So what does this mean?  It means he doesn’t pay any property taxes and he gets income tax write-offs by donating $25,000 to the synagogue and other amounts of money to his “Foundation”.  This allows HIS KIDS TO ATTEND SCHOOL TUITION-FREE and allows him to write off a lot of person expenses.  What a racket!  Take all your income and donate it back to yourself via tax exempt organizations where you can spend it as expenses to operate your car, pay the electric and water bills, etc.  I guess if you are a hypocritical liberal Democrat who advocates raising taxes on everyone else, this is all permissible. 
Emanuel’s home at 4228 is one of the largest in the neighborhood, with a side yard that appears to be a vacant lot, making the Emanuels’ property the largest portion on the block.  Other North Hermitage Avenue homes on Emanuel’s block are valued in the $500,000+ range . . . his home is valued at OVER A MILLION TAX-FREE DOLLARS (see it here at Zillow:  Zillow Real Estate Search Results: 4228 North Hermitage.

 According to the Cook County Treasurer’s web site, the Chicago owners of nearby 118-year old 4222 North Hermitage pay almost $6,800 in real estate taxes annually.  The family at 4224 North Hermitage pays $6,000 each year in property taxes.  But the Rahm/Rule family and their bogus “foundation” pay NO PROPERTY TAXES AT ALL!
President Obama – himself a connected, Chicago insider who has benefited from questionable land deals (i.e., his Chicago home in Hyde Park, which was acquired with a little help from his buddy Tony Rezko) – may find it difficult to explain why his very own Chicago-based Chief of Staff doesn’t pay property taxes like the “little guys”.  Or perhaps allowing his wealthy friends to avoid taxes is part of Obama’s trickle down redistribution economics.  It’s certainly the kind of “change” we Illinoisians can believe in.  We’re quite familiar with it here in the federal indictment land of Blagojevich, Madigan, Jones, Cellini, Rezko, Kerner, Walker, Ryan, etc.

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This may be legal, but is it ethical?

 

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