Local legislators stand with taxpayers on fight to repeal Cook County sales tax

Two legislators stood by taxpayers and voted to repeal the repressive 1 percent Todd Stroger Cook County Sales Tax. That's the tax that Cook County Commissioner Elizabeth "Liz" Doody Gorman has been fighting to lift off the backs of taxpayers. Without Gorman's campaign and repeated attempts to repeal the tax, that fell short on the county board, the issue would not have made it to the agenda of the Illinois House of Representatives.

Two legislators in particular stood out, State Rep. Renee Kosel (R-New Lenox) and State Rep. Kevin McCarthy (D-Orland Park) both voted to repeal the sales tax in Wednesday's (Oct. 14) vote in the Illinois General Assembly.

Here's an overview of all the legislative skanks though who stuck it to the taxpayers. The vote was SIX (6) VOTES shy of passing and relieving you of the oppressive Stroger 1 Percent Sales Tax and several Cook County Legislators were responsible for keeping it in place.

Click here to read the full story and see the list of how your legislator voted.

Although McCarthy voted to repeal the sales tax, his critics said he was given a pass by Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan who ordered the failure of the repeal. His army of legislators, who rely on his for campaign funding to win re-election, include McCarthy who may or may not be facing a challenge from Orland Fire Protection District Trustee James Hickey (who has been trying to solicit signatures on his petitions. Click here to read story.) McCarthy was told he could vote "for the repeal by Madigan to protect his re-election bid. McCarthy would dispute that but he doesn't talk that much with the local news media, so who knows?

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19th Ward targets Madigan's legislative soft spots in February primary: Hickey goes after McCarthy

Newly elected Orland Fire Protection District Trustee and home mortgage broker James P. Hickey apparently is changing his focus from the Orland Fire Protection District and now its his political agenda that is on the fast track. He has set aside the ambitious agenda he once set out to help improve the OFPD and has his sights on something bigger and better.

Hickey, who just won election to the OFPD, has his petitions on the street seeking nomination in the Democratic Primary against one of House Speaker Michael J. Madigan's stalwarts, Kevin McCarthy, who has represented the 37th District since 1997. (I haven't had a chance to speak with Hickey to find out if he is circulating them or if backers are trying to draft him.)

It's amazing how political egos go right to the top and public service goes right out the window in cases like this. Sources say Hickey is boasting, accurately, that his huge win in the OFPD race this past Spring shows how "powerful" he is.

Hickey's term in office at the controversy-plagued OFPD runs until 2015. I am not sure if this is some kind of twisted strategy to help Pat Maher -- who IS related to Orland Village Clerk David Maher (the Maher's are very sensitive to people claiming to be relatives as we saw recently) -- by fielding candidates and bringing out the Democratic vote in the 17th District where Maher apparently is running against Cook County Commissioner Liz Gorman? Maher has to first defeat Dr. Victor Forys who has a knack of raising huge funds. He did respectfully in the recent race for Rahm Emanuel's vacated Congressional seat which was won by independent County Commissioner Mike Quigley.

Are Maher and Hickey are working together? Their petitions are being circulated together.

But maybe Hickey and Maher don't understand the Madigan powerhouse. The fact is Mike Madigan doesn't take challenges like this lightly. While I have hammered Madigan in the past, the fact is Madigan is tight with Gov. Pat Quinn who succeeded impeached former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Hickey is being backed by the 19th Ward which has its tentacles all over Orland Park and Orland Township and were rock-solid behind the candidacy of another recent victor, Paul O'Grady in the surprise Orland Township election victory.

But it's Hickey, a young recent entrant who has been fired up by his election victory who is promoting himself as the future of Orland Park and its ties to the 19th ward. (The Maher's, who backed Hickey, are related to 19th Ward honchoes including the one I have always admired the most, Tom Hynes. Hynes' son, Dan Hynes, now the Illinois Comptroller, is running for governor against Pat Quinn, Madigan's candidate.)

Is the Hickey candidacy a subtle message to Madigan from the 19th Ward because Madigan is not backing Hynes?

Madigan doesn't need any subtle messages. The guy is supremo when it comes to politics and strategy. You don't go up against him and expect to have a future in politics, if you are smart.

The protagonists will all be together at the Tinley Park parade today. Gorman has been invited by Tinley Mayor Ed Zabrocki to walk with his government officials. Maher is expected to be there and watch for Hickey's petitions to be circulating. 

Here's the vote turnout for the OFPD elections. Despite a big ego, Hickey barely won 50 percent of the district vote. Cindy Nelson Katsenes, a former OFPD trustee who has challenged Maher's rule there, came second.

James P. Hickey 3958 49.57%

Cynthia Nelson Katsenes 1539 19.28%
Robert K. Brennan 1119 14.02%
Christopher Ciciora 959 12.01%
John Jacobsma 409 5.12%

-- Ray Hanania

http://www.radiochicagoland.com/

Lisa Madigan says she's not a candidate and that's big news: what does it say about those left who are running?

It's big news that Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced yesterday that she is not running for either the office of Illinois Governor or U.S. Senator for the former Barack Obama seat in Washington.

If that's big news, what does it say about all the candidates who are running for those offices. Yikes!

Here's what all the players in this drama want:

Mike Madigan, the Illinois House Speaker: Found himself in a dilemma. He wants his daughter to become Governor, or possibly now US Senator -- Senators do become presidents -- but he also wants to maintain his iron fist majority rule in the Illinois House and the battle over the budget could jeopardize that. He's held back on an income tax increase to protect his daughter and to protect the many spineless legislators who don't want to say if they will support an income tax increase until they know for sure no one of substance will be running against them in this Spring primary.

Gov. Pat Quinn: The deer in the lights. He can't balance his promises of reform against the need to play tough politics. Inept in political diplomacy, Quinn's only talent is to lead often but not always losing campaigns for reform. This time, Quinn was able to reverse course and do nothing to push reform while the wolves ripped the reform chicken to pieces. With Lisa Madigan "in" the race, he could blame everything on Mike Madigan. Now that she is out of the race, he has to blame everything on his pathetic lack of leadership and his hypocrisy.

Senate President john Cullerton: It makes it easier for him to take marching orders from Mike Madigan, who is the defacto governor.

Democratic, spineless legislators: They are falling to their knees crying and yelling "Hail Marys" for their great fortune that they don't have to worry about anything any more. no more important decisions. No more possibilities they will get beat and lose all the perqs and clout and jobs they've gotten their families. And now they don't even have to work. Mike Madigan will do all the thinking for them.

State Republicans: They are in total disarray and divided into two messed up camps. Despite some good leaders, they can't get their act together. Lisa Madigan removing herself from the race allows mediocracy to rule again and anyone can run for office to get a good headline, like Sen Kirk Dillard, who has done what in the past decade? At least Dan Proft, the ultra conservative candidate for Governor, has some good ideas.

News media: We wanted Lisa Madigan to run for either office. She great news. And the dilemma it would cause in Springfield over the budget battle only becomes more dramatic as a news story.

Alexi Giannoulias: Who?

Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich: With all the reality shows out of the way, he's left with fighting the U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald who is out to get him with a vengeance. And all he can do is appear on a morning radio talks how that hammers him when he's not looking.

The public: They are left out in the cold.

-- Ray Hanania

www.RadioChicagoland.com

In praise of Gov. Blagojevich -- AllKids Healthcare covers 1.3 million kids, plus one more

A family I know has been without health insurance for the past seven months. They have one child. The wife has asthma and the son has ADHD.

I don’t want to name them because it is embarrassing not being able to get insurance. There is a stigma attached to it.

This week, they just got their notice from Gov. Rod Blagojevich that their son will finally be able to afford his monthly medication, and even see a dentist and an eye doctor.

Thanks to the Governor, Illinois has a program called All Kids. What that means is that the family is now able to purchase insurance for their seven year old. Get him his medications. And not have the parents dote over him when he wants to play with the other kids because the parents are worried he might trip and fall.

You may not know this if you have insurance coverage, but one trip to the emergency room can cost more than $1,000, not including the ambulance costs, and the costs of things like X-rays, medication and an examination.

Part of the problem for the family is that they lost their company health insurance because of an employment change. When they went to the same insurance company, Humana, they were denied coverage because of the medication needs of the son and the wife.

Ironically, after they were denied health insurance by Humana, Humana sent the family a letter stating that they had "pre-existing conditions," which means that those conditions cannot be used to deny them insurance within 60 days of having had insurance coverage. I know. It's laughable. The letter was sent within three weeks of the family losing insurance and one week after Human denied them insurance.

You can imagine, the family is upset with Humana, which collected thousands of dollars from them while they were covered, and then arbitrarily decided not to give the family health coverage under a “family plan.” By the time they got around to applying elsewhere, the 60-days had elapsed and Blue Cross/Blue Shield denied them coverage, too. For the same reasons. The asthma medication and the ADHD medication are not covered, they said.

A letter from the family to Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan went unanswered. Of course.

Let’s face it, when it comes to the concerns of families, Lisa is too busy worrying about her own family, and her father, who happens to be the mean old Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives who stubbornly refuses to work with Gov. Blagojevich to address statewide needs like, family insurance.

Lisa Madigan is planning to run for governor, probably against Governor Blagojevich, whom her father has been undermining in Springfield.

This sounds a little harsh, but in reviewing the family’s problems, it is real clear that Gov. Blagojevich cares about families and children, and Lisa Madigan and Mike Madigan don’t care about families and children.

Why isn’t Lisa Madigan filing lawsuits against insurance companies like Humana, holding them accountable for their refusal to cover families that they already covered but are anxious to remove from their coverage rolls in order to save money.

The cost of ADHD medicine is about $140, compared to the $40 when purchased under an insurance prescription plan.

Why isn’t Lisa Madigan filing lawsuits to force the medicine companies to force them to make medicine affordable?

Millions of people in Illinois do not have health insurance, mainly because like the family I am writing about, they are self-employed. Or, they have erratic income that varies from month to month.

Or, they have been bounced from a company health plan and abused by the insurance companies that seek to insure only those people who don’t need expensive medical needs so they can profit.

In a way, the insurance companies are much like the oil companies that Lisa Madigan has targeted in a high profile publicity stunt to give her good PR so she can make herself look good when she does announce later this year her candidacy for governor.

But if Lisa Madigan really wants to be governor, maybe she should focus more on the healthcare needs of the people in Illinois, rather than on the politically charged issue of whether we have affordable gas to pump into our Hummers and luxury cadillacs and limousines.

She might figure out a way to help all of the other children who still need help to join those children who are now benefiting from basic health care, thanks to Gov. Blagojevich.

The seasoned politicians and the political pundits in the media – who all have comprehensive healthcare and could “care less” (no pun intended) about issues like health care – are all mocking and criticizing governor Blagojevich.

They say the Governor is not like all of the other politicians in Illinois.

He certainly is NOT like them.

He’s better.

Well, at least that’s the feeling of the one family that finally was told today that they can worry just a little bit less about the health concerns of their son.

Good job governor. There are more than 1.3 million other children who also have healthcare, thanks to Governor Blagojevich.

That’s worth celebrating.

Visit All Kids on the internet for more information if your child is not covered at AllKids.com.