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Summary and audio linked here.
If this bill passes, say goodbye to local control over all Illinois parks and expect to see open drug and alcohol use, needles, no sanitation and fire hazards, but no ordinary park users.
Summary and audio linked here.
Chicago’s political leadership is floating a pension buyout program as evidence it is seriously addressing the city’s thirty-six-billion-dollar unfunded pension liability, but Mark Glennon, founder of the Illinois policy research organization Wirepoints, said that the proposal moves debt from one column to another rather than reducing it, and that the broader fiscal picture facing the city continues to deteriorate across every measurable dimension. Audio here.
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Audio and summary
The first Shakman decree acquired “force” in 1972 but has yet to abolish patronage in Illinois. Still awaiting effective enforcement. Just because something is or becomes illegal does not mean our elected leaders will change practice to obey the law or that the voting public will punish them for ignoring the law. Far from it. One of the system’s key characteristics is that it insulates the various layers of the political system from the need to obey inconvenient laws. Peripheral members can get traffic tickets fixed. The innermost layer can ignore the rulings of federal judges. So everybody votes Democratic… Read more »