In Case You Missed It: Meeks Acknowledges Democrat Party Failing Illinois

Meeks Acknowledges Democrat Party Failing Illinois Southtown Star - 6/24/09 Democrats don't deserve to be re-elected in Illinois. No politician should serve more than eight years in office. It's time to let the entire state government collapse to force a voter rebellion. Those aren't the thoughts of a Republican looking to gain political advantage or some political commentator seeking to generate controversy. They're the comments of state Sen. James Meeks (D-Chicago) who said Tuesday the state's leaders "have failed the people." "It's unfortunate and wrong for us to be playing on people's emotions like this," Meeks said of the state's threats to cut social service funding to the neediest people in Illinois by as much as 50 percent because of the Legislature's failure to pass a budget. "It's our fault," Meeks continued. "The Democrats control both chambers and the governor's mansion. We asked the people to send us here and we've failed to do the job. I don't see how any of us can go back to the voters and ask to be re-elected after this. "This is a failure of the Democratic Party, no doubt about it." The Legislature is meeting in special session in Springfield in order to pass a budget, but Meeks said there's no reason it should have taken this long. "What were we doing here (in Springfield) from January to May 31?" Meeks asked. "What were we being paid for if it wasn't to pass a budget? "You know what they want to do now? They (legislative leaders) want to hand the governor a month-by-month budget and let the state operate that way. That's unfair to social service providers who have to sign leases and hire employees. It's unfair to the governor to make him come back to us each month for money to run the state." Meeks is the chief sponsor of a Senate bill that would have raised the state income tax from 3 percent to 5 percent. The measure passed the Senate this spring but never made it out of House committee. "Senate President (John) Cullerton just held a news conference down here saying the Senate passed a budget bill and as far as we're concerned we've done our job," Meeks said, referring to the measure he sponsored. "The governor is still trying to pass his 1.5 percent income tax hike as a two-year temporary measure, but the House doesn't even want to vote on that. They need Republicans to support it at this point and the Republicans aren't going to do it. "As far as Cullerton and the Senate Democrats are concerned that doesn't do enough. It doesn't provide enough money for all the things this state needs to do. If we're going to pass an income tax hike, if we're going to take the heat from voters, let's pass something we can be proud of and defend." Meeks said the Democrats should have never allowed the state to reach the point where it was running out of money. "We didn't need any Republican votes to pass a budget bill during the regular session," Meeks said. "We could have done that ourselves. The Democrats had enough votes because the people put their faith in us." Meeks said he has told the governor to "let the whole thing collapse. Force the state to shut down." That seemed to contradict his concerns about social service providers who need money to help some of the most vulnerable people in the state, such as the developmentally disabled, children in day care programs, homebound elderly and mentally handicapped. "There would be very short term suffering but long-term solutions," Meeks said. "In the long run all of those people would get the help they need because legislators would be forced to work 24/7 to get the job done. "We would have to solve the problem because the people of Illinois would demand it and all the elected officials would be worried that they would lose their jobs. "There would be an uprising by people all across the state, and that's what we need at this point. We need pressure to bring true reform to Illinois government." Meeks said the problem now is that too many legislators have no fear of a backlash at the voting booth. "This is the best argument ever for term limits," Meeks said. "The president of the United States, the most powerful government official on earth, serves for only 8 years. That's enough time to do your job. "We have people here who have been in office 28, 30 years and that's too long. We need people who come here to do a job and leave." Meeks has been campaigning for an income tax increase to provide money for public school funding reform since he first ran for the Senate as an independent in 2002. I believe his frustration over the failure of Democrats to pass the reforms they've been promising in political campaigns for decades is genuine. I'm not sure I want to see the "whole thing collapse." But maybe that's what it will take to really bring about change in government. Throwing governors in prison certainly doesn't seem to do the job.