Vote Voltair.com

Breaking News!!!

Our current representative is being financed by the banking and mortgage industry. As home values decline and foreclosures continue, our current state representative is accepting campaign donations from the Illinois Bankers Association (Bankpac) and the Illinois Association of Mortgage Brokers Political Action Committee. Despite running unopposed in 2008, she accepted donations from these groups. In 2010, the bankers and mortgage brokers continue their friendly relations with the incumbent and supported her during the primary. The bankers and mortgage brokers are giving themselves tax-payer subsidized bonuses because they have purchased the cooperation our elected officials.

Informed citizens make the best decisions. Here are some things you should know about the current state of affairs in Illinois.

The number of homeless students in Lake County has increased by 79% in the past two years.
20,000 teachers in Illinois are expected to lose their jobs. This will result in larger class sizes and overcrowding.
80,000 Lake County residents don't have health insurance.
70% of Metra bridges are past their useful life.
An additional 240,000 people in Illinois fell below the poverty line in the past two years.
The Illinois unemployment rate is the highest it's been in more than 25 years at almost 11%.
Some parts of the 62nd District have 20% unemployment.
Home values in the area have declined 30% to 40%.

Campaign Finance Reform

The legislature passed campaign finance reform that limits the amount of money that individuals, unions, businesses, and special interests can donate to politicians. This is a good thing. The Illinois Campaign for Political Reform supports this plan, but our current representative voted against it. The incumbent has received campaign contributions from AT&T, Comcast, Com Ed, the Illinois Mortgage Brokers PAC, the Illinois Bankers Association, and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. Your cable and utility bills are too high, the mortgage bankers gambled with and lost your home equity, prescription drugs cost too much, and some of your money ended up financing the incumbent who voted against reform.

The Budget Disaster

Our current representative supported last year's state budget. What did that budget do?

Refused to pay $1.25 billion of promised funding to local school districts. This includes $3.8 million owed to Round Lake schools.
Forced 16 teachers to be laid off from the Woodland School District in Gurnee.
Forced 10 teachers and 15 staff members to be laid off from Round Lake schools.
Cut funding for 140,000 Illinois college students.
Cut funding for the College of Lake County resulting in a 12% jump in tuition.
Stopped payment of $436 million to the University of Illinois. As a result the University is raising tuition by 9.5% to cover operating expenses.
Stopped payment to the Inter-library loans program serving Lake County libraries.
Refused to pay the Village of Grayslake $406,000 in back tax revenue.
1,000 inmates were released early.
30,000 children were denied pre-school.
Cut funding for English classes for foreign-born U.S. citizens.
Delayed payment on medical expenses. The state should pay for its medical claims in 15 days, in order to push the debt into next year's budget it now takes 212 days to pay.

Even with these cuts the 2009 budget was $12 billion short. The state has $116 billion in total unfunded debts, this is money we are obligated to pay back (with interest). According to some estimates we could release 40,000 prisoners, cut all funding for abused children, cut all funding for disabled and mentally ill residents, close all the state parks and still be more than $8 billion short in 2010. The state has already cut more than 14,000 employees (a 22% reduction) and has the fewest number of state employees per capita than any other state in the union. You don't need a Ph.D. to figure out that the math doesn't work even with additional budget cuts. We can continue to cut our spending and still be short because of our overdue payments and accumulated interest. Sometimes people cut their spending and still can't make their mortgage payments. The George Ryan Republicans and Rod Blagojevich Democrats are equally to blame for this mess.

The incumbent has held public office for 14 years. You can't elect the same people over and over again and expect different results. Grab your torch and pitch fork. Vote Voltair and Change Springfield!