Consent of the governed? In Illinois?

January 14, 2011

Queen for a week; Just long enough to sink Illinois

Phil Boehmke
17 Comments

As a life-long Illinois resident I should never be surprised by anything that the Democrat Party does, and yet in the aftermath of their recent victory over representative government I tripped across a story that really makes my blood boil. From Andy Shaw at the Better Government Association comes a tale that is beyond belief, call it the Chicago Way on steroids. http://shawblog.bettergov.org/2011/01/1 ... nary-tale/

In November incumbent state representative, Democrat John Fritchey from Chicago’s 11th district was elected to a seat on the Cook County Board. When Fritchey sworn in and settled into his new office in December it was assumed that the newly elected representative, fellow Democrat Ann Williams would fill out the remaining few days of her predecessor’s term. However one should never assume that the normal political process applies in the deep blue state of Illinois.

With every single vote (literally as it turns out) taking on monumental significance as the Democrats prepared to ram through their toxic new tax hike, filling Fritchey’s place at the trough became critical. The party leadership needed to be sure of Ann Williams.

But there were questions about how she would vote if a tax plan was on the lame-duck agenda. Williams claims that local Democrat leaders, including Fritchey and Senate President John Cullerton, wanted her commitment to support the tax hike before arranging for her to be sworn in. They say she got cold feet and decided not to start early--choosing instead to wait until Wednesday, when the rest of the freshman class was sworn in.

Williams decision not to be seated immediately left a temporary opening which the Democrat leadership could use to help secure their monstrous tax hike. Enter Kathy Moore from Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood. Kathy is a former public school teacher and the wife of well connected zoning lawyer Tom Moore. According to Andy Shaw, last week Mrs. Moore confessed that “they tell me what (voting) button to push and I push it.â€