Totaling the unsustainable tax increases and windfall revenue during Pritzker Administration – Wirepoints
May 26, 2026
23 Comments
With $162 billion more from taxpayers, couldn’t you deliver a few bond upgrades, too
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A largely unasked question is becoming glaring: Is Illinois doing all it should to use artificial intelligence to make government cost less and work better? So far, the evidence says no.
Chicago teachers really are stupid. Their union dues go into political campaign funds, not representing teachers or education. Stacy sends her kid to a private school, not CPS. Speaks volumes.
It would seem inconceivable that a mayor with such low approval ratings could be re-elected, but with his Boss Stacey firmly in power, he will get CTU and Democratic party machine backing. Throw in an unhealthy dose of blame Trump/ Springfield/ disinvestment/ LaSalle St/ Nixon, and I think Brandon could see another term. Stacey’s job security is the most important anchor for his campaign.
Can CPS independently file for bankruptcy?
Legislature would have to approve it.
Stacy’s report card: an F for educating Chicago students and an A+ for raping taxpayers.
Sure wish she could be expelled.
Many times people come to the defense of the rank and file teachers and say that the problem and corruption is at the union leadership level. To the two-thirds that voted for this tax cheat criminal, I ask the same question Jenny asked Forrest Gump, “Are you stupid or something?”
Let it burn to the ground… In a world that is struggling to return to merit as the defining characteristic, the “graduates” of this failed system are (mostly) facing a future where they will struggle to advance.
The greatest failure of our society is the abdication of ownership evidenced by our voters. Only they, us, have the capacity to demand performance and function as the catalyst for change.
Instead, they chose the sugar-high of freebies and victimhood. Let it burn.
Well said.
I understand where you are coming from but others on this site have taught me that it’s unfair to blame the voters. You are asking voters to change their voting habits instead of elected leaders just doing the right thing. Don’t blame the victim. The voters can’t be expected to demand better. They are helpless in this matter.
There are elections and there are elections. The voters in most blue states are, it has been said, being held hostage by the urban areas and gerrymandering to achieve a desired result. That would seem to be the case in IL. This CTU election really can’t blame its result on anything but the rank and file being happy with the job Gates is doing. So the systems woes are in fact on the teachers themselves. I noticed when a union( I’ve forgotten which one) didn’t want to follow their head honcho’s suggestion that they back Biden, they endorsed no one.… Read more »
“being held hostage by the urban areas” Aren’t the “urban” voters holding the state hostage from the same area as those CTU voters? So union voters should be held accountable for their voting but other people from the very same geography shouldn’t be held accountable for their votes? Now I know that union members can make a difference with their vote but the rest of the urban voters are helpless and unable to change their vote. It’s not their fault that they are unable to make the correct decision on Election Day. It’s hard to keep track of these special… Read more »
Maybe Mike Madigan’s legal team can hire you to explain the voter theory of culpability to the appeals court. You have certainly spilled gallons of virtual ink explaining it here.
You might be Madigan’s best option.
Poor Mike Madigan! He won every election over 40 years, so surely the voters were responsible for what he did!
I hope his lawyers can explain the theory of “it’s all the voters’ fault”at his appeal. I’m sure he will be absolved of everything, since it was clearly what the voters wanted.
Are you comparing elected leaders that break the law with elected leaders that raise taxes and increase spending? I’m not sure I’m fully understanding the comparison. My old way of thinking would have told you that Madigan is responsible for his actions if he breaks the law and the voters are responsible for their actions of choosing a criminal or any other awful candidate. Madigan should do the time for his crimes and the voters should suffer the consequences of their vote. Now I know that the voters can’t be expected to make the correct choice and only Madigan should… Read more »
Madigan should have made sure he was covered before he embarked on his self-enrichment campaign. Everyone knows you just have to pass a law to make whatever you do OK. He should have made sure to pass an amendment to the IL Constitution. The Keeping Politics Out of Government amendment. “Elected officials, having received the approval of the voters, should be allowed to conduct government business in whatever manner they see fit. Their ability to do whatever they deem appropriate cannot be impaired, for they clearly express the will of the voters.” Maybe all the voters in his district should… Read more »
Madigan took very good care of his district. They love him.
What’s the over/under in years until Davis Gates is in prison? Like all IL Democrats you know that she considers herself entitled and above the law, thus is running multiple corrupt and criminal scams and certainly has her hand in the till of CTU dues and campaign funds. Considering her publicly known grifting, with certainty there are dozens of other still concealed crimes. I say six years. By June 2031 Davis Gates will be in prison.
Now that elections over, the scary part for ST/WBEZ, Chalkbeat, S. Karp, etc, is what are they going to do for ratings without being able to count on Stacy’s bombastic equity hustle blather to boost rating for their ever shrinking lib-tard reader base???
(https://www.ctulocal1.org/posts/core-re-elected-2025/)
She brings home the money.
Will the union members ever figure out that she is killing the goose that lays their golden eggs? Probably not.
Especially the trade unions. Why they put up with the crazies in the public unions is beyond me.
Taxpayers have no advocate at the table. We are the tenants (serfs) where the landlord sets the rent in situations of apartment shortages. Sometimes markets and other factors intervene (e.g. emergency decrees) but where the “sovereign” itself does not advocate for the people, government of, by and for the people isn’t working. Is there a constitutional issue lurking in this disordered wood pile?
They put up with crazies because the crazies are pit bulls willing to take the heat for them, another example being FOP has John Catanzara.
No and even if they did they just do not care about anyone but themselves. PPF tells it like it is and most people on here do not like what he says, but he speaks the truth.
PPF cries about people trying to steal pensioners money, but has no problem with public unions grabbing every possible dollar out of the public trough. He practices selective outrage. Somehow he imagines that people like Stacy Davis Gates are his friends who will help him confiscate every last dollar from the taxpayers’ pocket.
Bacon is a more apt word in this context.