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CHICAGO—High taxes and corruption go hand-in-hand in Illinois, according to Jim Tobin, President of Taxpayers United of America (TUA).
“Illinois is easily the most corrupt state in the union,” said Tobin. “The previous front-runner, Louisiana, is now a distant second. And the mother-lode of corruption is the Democrat machine of Cook County, which runs roughshod over the entire state.”
“Illinois’ high taxes are driving small and medium businesses out of the state. But the Springfield Democrats don’t care; all they care about is pampering the unions who are their financial benefactors and who own these legislators in the General Assembly.”
“Brian Costin, writing in the May 16 issue of Illinois Corruption Watch, put it well when he wrote:”
When it rains it pours in Illinois. We found 45 different news stories relating to Illinois corruption in just the month of April. They continue to pile up in the first half of May, with 28 new news stories on corruption already. This includes tales of patronage hiring (again), using public resources for political campaigns (again), a politician who has to pay a $550,000 federal corruption fine and a story about secret waitlists on veterans at an Illinois VA Hospital.
“The so-called pension reform bills passed by the Ill. General Assembly are just window-dressing, and even these ‘reforms’ are being challenged. A coalition of labor unions asked a court in Springfield to prevent a new state law aimed at curbing Illinois’ public employee pension debt from taking effect next month until questions about its ‘constitutionality’ have been resolved.”
“According to St. Rep. Michael W. Tryon (R-66, Crystal Lake), Article VIII of the Illinois Constitution is clear in its mandate that appropriations for a fiscal year shall not exceed funds estimated by the General Assembly to be available during that year. In February, the House unanimously adopted House Joint Resolution 80, which set the FY15 revenue estimate at $34.5 billion. The total appropriations approved on Thursday exceeded that estimate by close to $3 billion.”
“Illinois has over $187 billion in unfunded government-employee pensions, some of the highest taxes in the country, and is run like a banana republic by machine bosses, Michael J. Madigan (D), House Speaker, and John J. Cullerton (D), Senate President. Until these leaders and their minions in the House and Senate are thrown from office, Illinois will continue to spiral around the drain and some day will literally go bankrupt.”
“How many elected and appointed Illinois politicians have to go to jail before we learn that we can’t send unchecked, copious amounts of cash to be administered by these criminals? As taxpayers, we must stop the life-blood that perpetuates the Illinois cartel; we must cut off the money supply and demand sane and moral tax policies that respect the taxpayers’ right to keep their own money and make their own decisions about how it is spent….or not.”
“And we start by firing every politician from Gov. Patrick Quinn down to every village administrator who thinks taxpayer money is theirs for the taking.”
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Taxpayers United of America (TUA) recognizes outstanding journalists who shed light on the ongoing, difficult process of true reform in the government pension and compensation systems.
“Reform isn’t a one step process, and in order to keep the government bureaucrats moving in the right direction, it takes strong leadership, profound activism, and responsible journalists to keep the pressure on,” said Jim Tobin, president of TUA.
“Please view the excellent report from Diane Moca of CBS 58 in Milwaukee on the convenient loopholes in the government pension double dipping ‘reforms’ that features interview excerpts of me and our executive director, Rae Ann McNeilly.”
“In his article with Rae Ann’s comments, Wisconsin Reporter, Ryan Ekvall, investigates the empire-building of state-level government bureaucrats siphoning hard-earned tax dollars from local control to enrich a bloated team of cronies, whose role or accountabilities are generally unknown.”
“We must never let up on the pressure. Your support of our work and the journalists who continue to take our work to taxpayers are key to continued success.”
“Please attend the May 15th meeting of the Brown County Taxpayers Association where I will be speaking on the ongoing need for reforms in Wisconsin.”
Thursday, May 15, 2014
12 noon to 1:30 PM
Titletown Brewery
200 Dousman Street, Green Bay, WI
This is on the west side of the river and right across the street from the Neville museum, in the old Northwestern Railroad Station. Map is available HERE.
Jim Tobin
TUA Executive Director Rae Ann McNeilly was quoted by the Wisconsin Reporter about the highest compensated public employees within the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
By Ryan Ekvall | Wisconsin Reporter
MADISON, Wis. — The past two years have been good to high-level administrators in state Superintendent Tony Evers’ Department of Public Instruction.
More than half of the employees working in Evers’ office received bonuses in the past two years, while less than a quarter of all other DPI employees received bonus compensation, according to records obtained by Wisconsin Reporter through an open records request.
The state calls these pay raises discretionary merit, equity or retention compensation awards. It’s how government employers increase workers’ pay beyond the salary adjustment for all state employees, which is set by the Legislature.
Since June 2012, the department has handed out bonuses to 117 employees. The department employs 487 people, according to the staff directory. Four employees received two bonuses in the past two years.
In total, the department handed out $398,140 in permanent pay increases and $63,700 in one-time cash payments, records showed.
While most state employees received raises of 1 percent pay, it was best to be in Evers’ inner circle. Seven of 11 in Evers’ cabinet, who already make more in annual salary than 95 percent of Wisconsin workers, received an additional $30,230 in bonus compensation in the past two years.
- Michael Thompson, deputy superintendent, received a $2.36-hourly raise in October 2013, bringing his salary to $125,735, from $120,807. Thompson now earns more than Evers, who makes $120,111 a year.
- Carolyn Stanford Taylor, assistant state superintendent, received a $2.152-hourly raise to $114,475.
- Lynette Russell, an assistant state superintendent, received a raise of $2 an hour to $115,258.
- Sheila Briggs, assistant state superintendent, received a $2 an hour raise, bringing her salary to $115,258.
- Kurt Kiefer, assistant state superintendent, received a $1.991 an hour raise to $115,258.
- Brian Pahnke, assistant state superintendent, received a $2.152 an hour raise to $114,475.
- John Johnson, a spokesman for the agency, received a $1.893 an hour raise to $94,906.
Several other employees in the Office of State Superintendent also received bonuses.
- Jennifer Kammerud, a legislative liaison, received a $1 an hour raise to $73,658.
- Karen Nowakowski, another Evers’ assistant, received a $1 an hour raise to $59,193.
- Mary Jo Christiansen, an assistant to Evers, received a $1 an hour raise to $53,714.
- Rebecca Hannah, another Evers’ assistant, received a $1 an hour raise to $50,488.
Click here to see the full data.
Technically, the department doesn’t grant bonuses, DPI told Wisconsin Reporter when it fulfilled the open records request, “but rather the ability to grant increases pursuant to the Compensation Plan.”
The Legislature sets the state employee Compensation Plan, which is then published by the Office of State Employment Relations.
Personnel evaluations, which are required for state agencies to award merit, equity or retention pay raises, are not subject to the public records law. The Office of State Employment Relations does not review the evaluations before approving compensation awards.
“We’re sucking up money from poor, rural farming communities and giving it to handpicked administrators on criteria that isn’t even articulated to the public,” said Rae Ann McNeilly, executive director of Taxpayers United of America, a government watchdog organization which works in Illinois and Wisconsin. “The money goes into this big money pot and the bureaucracy grows.”
According to the compensation plan, state agencies must develop procedures to grant discretionary merit compensation and equity and retention adjustments in compliance with OSER directives. OSER must approve these payments unless they delegate the authority to the state agency.
Stephanie Marquis, spokeswoman for the Department of Administration, said that while DPI has not been granted delegation authority, OSER has approved DPI’s plan to award merit, equity and retention awards. Merit awards, she said, are to recognize employees for outstanding performance. Equity and retention awards are to retain employees or get their pay equitable with counterparts.
“Taxpayers need to be aware of where their money is going,” McNeilly said. “The bureaucrats don’t want you to see it. This is the problem with removing local control in education. We are siphoning money away from taxpayers up to a bureaucracy and removing it from the students DPI purports to be collecting it on behalf of.”
