Serwatka WIND Ad

Driving to dinner Friday I heard an ad for State Rep. candidate Paul Serwatka on WIND radio just after right after the 6:30 news.

It was during the Joe Walsh radio show.

I asked for cost details, but didn’t get them.

Here is the text of the ad, however:

Female Voice Over:

Springfield has become a machine that has enriched and empowered a handful of career politicians at the expense of the hard working men and women of Illinois.

We can’t continue to send politicians to Springfield and expect things to change. We need someone with courage, Someone with principles, someone willing to take a stand and fight,, for the people of Illinois

Paul:

Paul Serwatka

Paul Serwatka

I’m Paul Serwatka, as a father of four, I have real concerns about the direction of our state and what the future holds for our children.Our representatives in Springfield have failed us.

For decades now, they knew the issues we faced and, out of fear, neglect or self-serving interest, they refused to make the critical decisions necessary to address them.

As a former firefighter/paramedic and in my service as a village trustee I’ve proven my commitment to make the kinds of tough decisions needed to get Illinois out of the grips of the machine

This is our state! This is our home. Now is the time to Take Back Illinois

Male Voice Over:

Visit paul serwatka dot com and join the fight to take back our state
Paid for by Take Back Illinois with Paul Serwatka


Comments

Serwatka WIND Ad — 7 Comments

  1. It was far too easy to legislatively hike underfunded pension benefits.

    It was far too easy to hike retiree healthcare benefits when there was no plan to pay for the benefits already in place.

    It was far too easy to hike pay.

    It was far too easy to hike current benefits.

    It was far too easy to issue bonds without referendums.

    It was far to easy to issue non referendum bonds.

    Now the damage is done.

    Even with reforms we are in big trouble.

    You cannot undo 45 years of damage in a way that makes everyone happy.

    The whole cartel is to blame from state representatives, state senators, Governors, local boards and trustees, union bosses, lobbyists, etc.

    A whole host of characters gained in various ways at current and future taxpayer expense as money flowed every which way from state to federal to local, from property taxes and income taxes and sales taxes and this tax and that fee, state passing pension and retiree healthcare benefit hikes and local has to figure out how to fund them, it goes on and on.

    We can even blame union members who went along with the game without making too big of a fuss, although going against the status quo might result in retribution.

    We can blame the public and taxpayers for not paying close enough attention and organizing, no taxpayer watchdogs, although the political players sure made it difficult for the public to decipher what was occurring, and the boards and trustees too often play games with taxpayer watchdogs.

    Now how to divvy up the carnage with pension cuts, retiree healthcare cuts, default on bonds, hike taxes, cut services, etc unfolds at a painfully slow pace.

    Kick the can, hide and seek, catch me if you can, the games continue.

    One thing is for sure.

    Repealing the pension sentence added to the Illinois State Constitution on December 15, 1970 will help level the playing field.

    That sentence did not result in better funded pensions.

    That sentence resulted in legislative pension benefit hikes, retiree healthcare pay hikes, hiked pay (which hikes pensions), hiked current benefits (if you don’t have to make the proper pension payment, there’s more money to hike current benefits and pay).

    Now the game players are retired or retiring and laughing their way to the pension bank, pointing to the state constitution that their pensions cannot be diminished or impaired, as the sucker taxpayer has to fund hiked public sector pensions and figure out how to retire on a less lucrative retirement plan be in Social Security, 401K, most other private pensions, etc.

    Gotta love those public sector pensioners who retire out of state on the Illinois taxpayer dime, after all, why should retirees stay here and pay hiked taxes to fund their pensions, it’s a free country, they can move wherever they want.

    They just have to hope enough taxpayers stay in Illinois or the pension sentence does not get repealed in its entirety.

  2. It’s far to easy to issue referendum bonds too.

    The taxpayer is mislead in many bond referendums

    Many bond referendums resulted in ever increasing bond payments, including newly issued debt and existing debt.

    Often those future higher payments are not disclosed to taxpayers, in a way the average taxpayer can easily understand.

    We definitely need better disclosure to taxpayers for bond referendums and non referendum bond issuances.

    The anticipated principal, interest, and total should be listed for every year of future taxpayer debt payments.

    And the bond payments are almost always outside the tax cap.

    That’s some of the ways the cup of coffee a day for a bond referendum becomes so expensive.

  3. Thank you Mark.

    Sure wish voters would pay attention.

    The Constitution was approved by ignorant voters who were never told that if we had a shrinkage in economic growth or even a slow down in inflation, THEY would still have to ‘pony’ up the money to support a THREE PERCENT annual increase in pensions for thousands of public employees.

    Just like the current effort to consolidate townships, I hear not one elected official talk about the potential for increases in Township levies if Townships consolidate.

    All I hear from the supporters of Township consolidators is “Let the voters decide” – do not inform the voters of the downsides.

    I call it the “Pelosi rule’.

  4. Read the paper or watch the news.

    Illinois is a disaster.

    Families and businesses are fleeing the declining, over spending, school systems and exorbitant taxes.

    The quandaries in Springfield are rampant and epidemic, and the current regime shows nothing but negligence and indecisiveness.

    Our Capitol is overrun by a dishonest, criminal machine that augments and emboldens the pockets of its politicians, while the families of Illinois struggle and suffer.

    We CANNOT endure this political failure; we call Springfield, much longer.

    District 66 deserves a Representative with resolute fortitude, with proven community ethical merits and the ever important, family values.

    Someone, who will, TAKE BACK ILLINOIS!

    That man must be Paul Serwatka.

    With a self-funded campaign and an honest God-fearing heart, Paul Serwatka is beholden to no man.

    He will do what is right and needed for you, because he is just like you, a citizen.

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