Monday, June 27, 2011

Pay Increases for State Staffers

While Governor Quinn talks about needing additional funds for the recently passed state budget, he fails to mention the salary increases he has given his staff.

Gov. Pat Quinn's budget office spokeswoman will be making nearly 50 percent more money after receiving an additional job title this spring.

Kelly Ann Krapf, a former broadcast reporter, received a salary boost from about $71,000 to more than $105,000.

Krapf, 38, joined the budget office in 2009. Quinn spokeswoman Annie Thompson said Krapf now holds a dual position of communications director and assistant director of the office.

"In her new role, Kelly formally combines the communications role with the fiscal one to create a seamless position that helps to ensure that the complex issues surrounding the budget are articulated effectively to decision makers and Illinois residents alike," Thompson wrote in an email to the Bloomington Pantagraph.

Last year, an Associated Press analysis revealed that Quinn had given 43 salary increases averaging 11.4 percent to 35 staffers over the previous 15 months. The raises were handed out at the same time Quinn was proclaiming a message of "shared sacrifice" and calling for deep spending cuts because of the state's financial crisis.

The Pantagraph reported that Krapf's new salary is similar to what Quinn was paying former associate budget director Malcolm Weems, who recently left to oversee the Illinois Department of Central Management Services.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Obama vs the Truth



Congressman Joe Walsh shows the President is not telling the whole truth about the economy.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

State Rep. Mark Beaubien


State Rep. Mark Beaubien, Jr., who represented the Barrington area in the state legislature for nearly 15 years, died Sunday after suffering an apparent heart attack at a GOP event in Arlington Heights. He was 68.
Beaubien, of Barrington Hills, suddenly collapsed while attending a House Republican fundraiser at Arlington Park racetrack with his wife and several other suburban political leaders. Paramedics’ efforts to revive him were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead at 5:10 p.m. at the scene, Arlington Heights police said.



Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Business as Usual

Just before the ending days of the State Legislature budget session speaker of the House, Michael J. Madigan held his annual Island Bay Yacht Club fundraiser in Springfield.

There were many people in attendance, all wanting to support the Speaker and get his attention for their own cause. The Laborers' International Union, tobacco company R.J. Reynolds, electrical utility Ameren, Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, The Chicago Federation of Labor, Operating Engineers Local 150, and many more. All this made for a very merry night and brought in $109,000 for the Speaker.

The Speaker is a very powerful person in Illinois government and has been for decades. Mike Madigan and his friend Sen. Terry Link have power over how the State spends its money. They also bear much responsibility for the massive debt the State has. The State cannot pay its bills, but as far as the Cook County Democratic Party is concerned, it is business as usual.

We will continue to have business as usual, as long as we have only one party in control of our State Government.