McHenry County Blog

The centrifugal force evident in the Illinois body politic today is stunning.

Liberals are leaving incumbent Governor Rod Blagojevich because he won't raise taxes. Conservatives are leaving Republican Judy Topinka because she celebrates homosexuality. Where's a middle-of-the-roader to end up?

Is Chicken Little right? Is the sky falling?

First, while getting in the car during his re-announcement tour, Democratic Party Governor Rod Blagojevich said he would stick to his pledge not to raise income or sales taxes. Slip of the tongue then or deliberately left out of his announcement speech is irrelevant?

Republican Party candidate Judy Topinka won’t take the same pledge. Even fiscally conservative Republicans who think social issues are irrelevant have to be nervous about that omission. The older ones will remember that it was moderate Republican Governors Richard Ogilvie, Jim Thompson and Jim Edgar who imposed and raised the income tax.

Talk about confusing fiscal conservatives.

Neither power party candidates are on the right side of the issue of gay rights for social conservatives.

First comes Randall Stufflebeam of the newly emerging Constitution Party with a conservative social and tax message.

Now, the Rev. James Meeks of Chicago’s South Side threatens to run for Governor.

It could just be a prelude to bring a black mayor back to control in Chicago, but State Senator and, more importantly, mega-church Pastor James Meeks’ announcement that he will run for governor got me thinking.

He says he is running because Chicago schools do not get enough state aid to education. He claims we are 49th, although that figure refers to the state’s ranking in state aid to education, not money actually spent on a per pupil basis. On the more relevant measure, Illinois ranked in the middle of the states the last time I checked. (We rank in the top ten, as far as teachers’ salaries go. Details that are about a year out-of-date are here.)

If Meeks runs, he will obviously coalesce black voters as they have not been since State Senator Harold Washington ran for Mayor. He will run for governor with a “Where’s mine?” theme, but, unfortunately for truth in politics, will not call his effort “The Tax Hike Party.”

And, he has a smattering of ready-made supporters throughout Illinois for his “let’s hike taxes” message. The messenger who prepared the way was Ralph Martire of the union-financed Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, playing the "John, the Baptist," role.

Mayors in Southern Illinois and the Chicago suburbs (the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus) have endorsed his idea. Educational Funding Task Force Chairman Elgin Mayor Ed Shock led the charge in 2003.

The two teachers unions endorsed Blagojevich in 2002 because they thought a Democrat would sign a tax increase. The Illinois Education Association has its power base Downstate.

Tax hike proponents in schools throughout Illinois have complained that the state was not paying its fair share.

Locally, Carpentersville District 300 and Huntley District 158 tax hikers supported the so-called “tax swap” in Senate Bill 750. Would they wonder out of the closet again for Meeks’ siren song of getting more money from Springfield? (No matter, that our area would pay far more than it could ever expect to receive in return. Rhetoric trumps logic in politics. Although, one of the District 158 B.E.S.T. leaders did back her support off at the last minute last year.)

The Farm Bureau has chapters in every county, which regularly vote in favor of higher income taxes. Of course, farmers don’t pay a whole lot of income taxes.

And, what about those Democrats I playfully call the “Leftie Liberals.” They opposed John Stroeger’s re-election to the Cook County Board, but they—sometimes quite openly—push for higher income taxes. And, they can’t stand Blagojevich.

And, poor Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn. He favors Meeks’ position, but loses his job, if he supports him. He supported a constitutional amendment to hike income taxes on high earners.

And what would now-organization player Cook County Assessor Jim Houlihan do? He has been pushing a “tax swap” plan for years, but aspires to succeed Cook County Board Chairman John Stroeger.

In any event, it is not obvious that Meeks couldn’t put together a respectable campaign organization.

And, Meeks is on the conservative’s side on gay rights.

Blame this analysis on the theme song of the Disney movie, “Chicken Little,” whose theme song is “The End of the World, As We Know It.” We bought the DVD last Tuesday and the 1987 song by REM has been playing a lot.

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Labels: Chicken Little, Distrcit 300. Ralph Matire, Ed Schock, James Meeks, Jim Edgar, Jim Thompson, Judy Baar Topinka, Randall Stufflebeam, Richard Ogilvie, Rod Blagojevich, Senate Bill 750, Tax Hike