Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Belleville Township trustee resigns; no decision from Rauner on township dissolution bill | Belleville News-Democrat

 

By Mike Koziatek

News-Democrat

While Gov. Bruce Rauner considers legislation that would allow for the dissolution of Belleville Township, the board of trustees on Tuesday accepted the resignation of Trustee Joyce Laux.

Laux said in an email that she is resigning for health reasons.

“It is with a heavy heart that I submit my resignation as senior township trustee because of recent health reasons,” Laux said in her email. “I want to thank the residents of Belleville Township for voting me into office. It has been a pleasure serving the public for the past seven years.”

Laux did not attend the board of trustees meeting Tuesday afternoon and could not be reached for further comment.

Township Supervisor Dennis Korte and City Clerk Dallas Cook, who also serves as clerk for the township, said they appreciated Laux’s service to the board.

Korte said the board will appoint a new board member but a candidate has not yet been announced.

“With all this going on with the governor, we don’t even know if we’ll be here,” Korte said when asked about a new board member being named to replace Laux.

End in sight?

Township officials are still waiting to hear from Rauner on whether he will sign legislation that would allow the township to dissolve.

Earlier this year, the House and Senate passed House Bill 3693 that would allow the township board to pass an ordinance to dissolve the township. State Rep. Jay Hoffman, D-Swansea, sponsored the bill. Rep. Dwight Kay, R-Glen Carbon, later joined as a co-sponsor to give the bill bipartisan support.

“The governor is supportive of local government consolidation and reform, because it helps give taxpayers a better value for their money, and the governor will carefully consider any legislation that crosses his desk,” Rauner spokeswoman Catherine Kelly said in a statement.

The legislation was sent to Rauner on June 29.

The township is tasked with providing general assistance to needy individuals in Belleville, but critics of the system say the township spends too much on overhead and people could be helped more efficiently if the township was dissolved. The township has the same borders as the city of Belleville.

Belleville Township trustee resigns; no decision from Rauner on township dissolution bill | Belleville News-Democrat

Letter: Governor needs to compromise | The Herald-News

 

Published: Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2015 11:08 p.m. CDT

 

To the Editor:

  • As I speak with local families who are feeling the impact of Gov. Bruce Rauner’s reckless government shutdown, it is clear those who can least afford it are bearing the brunt of the pain and suffering.

    As we enter the hot days of August, many low income families in Will County face dangerous conditions because of the slashing of the Low Income Energy Assistance Program and the termination of their utilities.

    I am disappointed Governor Rauner and his allies are refusing to negotiate in good faith and work toward passing a fair and responsible budget. His decision to hold the entire budgetary process hostage is putting thousands of lives at risk.

    Furthermore, the proposals put forth by the governor would be disastrous for residents across Illinois. Workers would not only face reduced wages, but also be one injury away from poverty. I cannot support these radical proposals and I will continue fighting to protect the rights that helped build our middle-class.

    As the Legislature continues to debate a full budget, I recently joined with my colleagues to pass a short-term budget to fund services that are essential for Illinois’ most vulnerable citizens. This spending plan will ensure the disabled and elderly continue to receive home services, keep public safety officials on the job, and provide health care for veterans who live in our Veteran’s Homes.

    I will continue working towards passing a full budget and I hope the governor compromises before irreparable harm is done to our most fragile residents.

    Larry Walsh Jr.,

    State Representative, 86th District

  • Letter: Governor needs to compromise | The Herald-News

    Rauner asserts his control of Illinois GOP - Daily Southtown

     

    there were any doubt before last week, there's zero uncertainty now. Gov. Bruce Rauner won't allow anyone else to interfere with his dominance of the Illinois Republican Party.

    When the party was out of power for 12 years, several independent actors were always trying to influence elections from behind the scenes, elbowing people out, putting people in. This is a diverse state, and the party has numerous factions, both economic and social. All of those factions have de facto leaders.

    Rauner ignores Mike Madigan's advice

     

    One of those independent actors has been Ron Gidwitz, a moderate, wealthy business executive and one-time gubernatorial candidate with a network that includes lots of rich friends. He ran the monied wing of the party.

    Gidwitz used his and his friends' money to boost candidates who were to his liking. He backed Sen. Kirk Dillard for governor in 2010, for instance, then switched his allegiance to Bruce Rauner four years later.

    That move did more to hurt Dillard than it did to help the mainly self-funding Rauner because it dried up Dillard's money, leaving him unable to effectively compete until organized labor finally entered the race on his behalf.

    d Kadner: School reform bill threatens to 'crash' system

     

    After months of public silence, Gidwitz re-emerged last week. Sources say he has been bad-mouthing U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk behind the scenes for quite a while. A recent Michael Sneed column item in the Chicago Sun-Times about an anonymous top Republican who wanted Kirk to step down from the Senate was widely pinned on him.

    Kirk has had his problems of late, forced to apologize for, or at least back away from ,some racially charged and just plain weird remarks. Numerous Republican leaders have privately expressed shock at the bad press that he has generated for himself. Kirk has had to fight off rampant speculation about his future ever since his severe stroke, and his oddball statements during the past few months have kept the rumor mill flowing.

    Kirk also faces the fight of his political career next year, running statewide in a presidential election year when Democratic turnout will likely be much stronger than during his off-year 2010 victory. National political pundit Larry Sabato's much-watched "Crystal Ball" publication recently moved Kirk's race from "Toss-up" to "Leans Democratic."

    So, it wasn't exactly a surprise when Gidwitz told Greg Hinz of Crain's Chicago Business last week that Kirk ought to let somebody else run.

    "I do not believe he will be a U.S. senator in 2017 and, as top of the ticket, he could cause collateral damage (to other Republican candidates)," Gidwitz told Hinz. "I call on him to step aside and allow other Republicans to seek his seat."

    If that reads like a prepared script, it's because it was. These weren't off-the- cuff remarks. It was a carefully planned hit. Well, perhaps "carefully" is the wrong word here.

    If you hadn't noticed, Rauner is a bit of a control freak, to say the least, and he has taken full command of the Republican Party's power and money structure here.

    "I'm the head of the Republican Party," the governor firmly declared in a radio interview the other day.

    He allows little to no independence. Republican legislators grumble about him in private (boy, do they ever), but they toe the Rauner line when it comes time to vote on the House and Senate floors. Only one legislator, Rep. Raymond Poe, R-Springfield, has had the temerity to vote against the governor's commands, and that only happened once.

    The state Republican chairman is a Rauner guy, as is the Cook County chairman. Much of Rauner's top staff came out of Kirk's Senate office and Kirk's campaigns. Those high-level staffers still have a strong loyalty to their former boss, and Team Rauner is fully behind the incumbent senator.

    So, not long after Hinz called the Kirk campaign for comment about Gidwitz's statement, Gidwitz himself got a call. And it wasn't a nice one, either.

    "He sounded like a beaten man" after Rauner's forceful message was relayed to him, according to one GOP source later that evening.

    Soon after, Gidwitz called Hinz to retract his comments and endorse Kirk's re-election.

    I've always liked Gidwitz and respected him, but the days of him and others acting independently within the state party are over.

    His complete backtrack was one of the more humiliating scenes politically that I've witnessed in quite a while. Others most surely took notice.

    We all live in Rauner World now. Get used to it.

    Rich Miller also publishes Capitol Fax, a daily political newsletter, and CapitolFax

    Rauner asserts his control of Illinois GOP - Daily Southtown