Mike Lawrence
Lawrence: Avoiding the next Ryan, Blagojevich
By Mike Lawrence, Director (retired), Paul Simon Public Policy Institute
The following is an excerpt from Mike Lawrence’s weekly syndicated column.
Tens of thousands of Illinoisans in cities and hamlets throughout the state relish the intellectual stimulation, companionship and shared humanity of book clubs. Why not voter clubs?
They could use the dung of the George Ryan-Rod Blagojevich era to fertilize grassroots energy and empowerment. They could galvanize voter remorse over helping to elect one or both of the disgraced governors in a resurgence of responsible citizenship. They could engage the outraged. They could convert anger, exasperation and frustration into action, enlightenment and fulfillment.
Folks could gather in living rooms, in coffee houses and online.
Lawrence: Illinois continues its tax holiday from reality
By Mike Lawrence, Director (retired), Paul Simon Public Policy Institute
The following is an excerpt from Mike Lawrence’s weekly syndicated column.
We need to scrutinize the gifts Illinois’ elected officials bestow as well as those they improperly accept or extort.
Greedy governors have embarrassed us. Pandering politicians have buried us – with our acquiescence if not our blessings.
Each day Illinois sinks deeper into smothering quicksand. A report issued this month by Comptroller Dan Hynes concluded Illinois has never been as fiscally frail. The state has built a backlog of nearly $5 billion in unpaid bills. Gov. Pat Quinn proposes still more borrowing as our credit rating tanks.
Yet, the Democratic chief executive and bipartisan majorities in the General Assembly have declared a sales-tax holiday from Aug. 6 through Aug. 15 on back-to-school purchases.
It could slice state income by $60 million, but what the heck?
Lawrence: Less talk, more action earns political respect
By Mike Lawrence, Director (retired), Paul Simon Public Policy Institute
The following is an excerpt from Mike Lawrence’s weekly syndicated column.
Soon after taking the reins as Illinois’ 40th chief executive, Rod Blagojevich outed and ousted dozens who had been embedded in state jobs through the shenanigans of the 39th.
Blagojevich named and nailed his targets as he condemned George Ryan’s administration for flouting personnel rules in a vain attempt to shield loyalists from the incoming governor’s firing squad.
“This is the type of backroom, underhanded deal that has marked state government in recent years. It’s a business as usual approach that has been winked at and allowed to go unchecked but will not be allowed in my administration,” Blagojevich declared.
“Judicial” Review – Mike Lawrence, April 11, 2010
Justice Thomas Kilbride won his Illinois Supreme Court seat a decade ago as an underdog who surged while the other side snoozed, but he won’t keep it the same way.
Kilbride almost certainly will come under siege this fall in his western Illinois district – and so might three fellow justices from the Chicago metropolitan area – as leading advocates for curbing litigation seize a rare opportunity.
To garner new 10-year terms, Kilbride, Thomas Fitzgerald, Charles Freeman and Robert Thomas must gain 60 percent approval from voters casting “yes” or “no” verdicts on retaining them. All except Thomas recently joined a bare majority on the seven-member court to overturn medical malpractice award limits that were assailed by victims of physician errors but hailed by others as halting an exodus of doctors from Illinois. By capitalizing on that volatile opinion and a possible wave of anti-incumbent sentiment among disgruntled Illinoisans, activists from the business and medical sectors could make a realistic run at the relatively low threshold required to jettison a judge. › Continue reading
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