McHenry County Blog

Well, of course, we live in a nanny state.

And, if I gave it some thought I probably could come up with some examples of Governor Pat Quinn’s showing he is in step with the concept of thinking government is better able

• to handle our money (now that I verbalize that concept, the Democrats’ 67% income tax hike comes to mind–surely Springfield knows how to spend our money better than we do; if you think of other Nanny State laws, please share them in the comment section) and
• directing our behavior than we can

As one who has driven across the state twice while running for State Comptroller on the Republican ticket in 1982 and Governor on the Libertarian ticket in 2002, I can tell you that hardly anyone drives the current 65 miles per hour speed limit.

Just last weekend, we drove to Springfield for the Old Capitol Art Fair and observed the same on Interstates 39 and 55.

So now State Senator Jim Oberwies’ bill to raise the speed limit to 70 MPH has passed and the Chicago Tribune rightly puts the story on its front page.

On its jump page, the Tribune asks,

Is Illinois geared up to go 70 MPH?

The real question is will Governor Quinn, who flies over Interstate highways most of the time, be able to relate to the common folk who have to drive.

Then, again, maybe it won’t matter anymore than Quinn’s veto of the Com Ed/Ameren rate hike bill…which both houses of the Illinois General Assembly overrode this week.

= = = = =

See House and Senate roll calls here.

Jim Oberweis and probably the majority of those voting to raise the speed limit on Interstate highways in Illinois drive to Springfield.

Today the Illinois House joined the Illinois Senate in approving Jim Oberweis’ bill to raise the Interstate speed limit to 70 miles per hour.

Those supporting the measure in the Senate follow:

The roll call in the Illinois House follows:

Now we’ll see if our nanny state governor will sign or veto the bill.

As I mentioned in my first story, Jim Edgar unilaterally cut the speed limit on the tollway from 70 to 65 MPH.

Back when Governor Dan Walker was in office, the gas crisis was in full swing.

One day while the General Assembly was in session, he ordered the speed limit in Illinois to be dropped to 55 miles per hour.

On the way home, I was dutifully driving 55 MPH and a State Police car whizzed past me.

Though some sense of perverse duty I caught up to him flashed my lights and he pulled over.

“Did you know Governor Walker has lowered the speed limit to 55?” I asked.

He didn’t, so I suggested he check it out and drove on.

Now State Senator Jim Oberweis has passed a bill through the State Senate that would set the speed limit on Interstates to 70 MPH.

And it’s on the House floor.

The Chicago Tribune’s Editorial Board members editorialized against it after an article about Oberweis’ accomplishment made the front page.

I have to wonder if any those Board members drive outside of the Chicago metropolitan area.

But, it’s not just Chicago influencials who don’t want people driving at a legal 70 miles per hour on Illinois’ boring interstates.

Back when Governor Jim Edgar was in office, the speed limit on Tollways outside of the six-county area was 70 MPH.

That didn’t satisfy Edgar, who did very little traveling on interstates. (He flew in state planes.)

Without asking the General Assembly, he lowed that speed limit to 65 MPH.

After all, he did appoint the members of the Toll Highway Authority and, when a Governor asks for something, he usually gets it.

At least the Tribune admits, “To an extent, Illinois would be playing catch-up. More than 30 states already allow motorists to travel 70 or 75 mph. Utah allows 80 mph.” It also notes that Texas is at 85 MPH.

One can understand why the Tribune would like to make is harder to get out of Illinois. After all, it sells few papers along Interstates leading to places better to live.

Oberweis had been luck promoting a 70 mile per hour speed limit than I did when I advanced it as part of my campaign for Governor on the Libertarian Party slate in 2002.

Maybe it’s been enough years that common sense will prevail.

He came in second for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in both 2002 and 2004. His second place finish in 2004 to Jack Ryan was not rewarded with a spot on the ballot when Ryan dropped out.

Instead, the GOP State Central Committee imported Alan Keyes recruited from my home state of Maryland. Keyes lost to Barack Obama.

In 2006, Oberweis ran for Governor, running second and losing to Judy Baar Topinka, who lost to Rod Blagojevich.

When Dennis Hastert decided to step down from Congress after he lost the Speakership when the Democrats took control under Nancy Pelosi, Oberweis won the primary election over Chris Lauzen and Ethan Hastert to fill the short-term vacancy and the full term. He lost to Bill Foster.

Now, having been elected State Central Committeeman by party officials, Oberweis is running for the State Senate.

This time he may win.

The massive television advertising for his campaigns and his dairy have given him a high name identification.

In the We Ask America poll last week, he was leading his two opponents about three to one.

Freshman State Senator Dan Duffy, a businessman from Lake Barrington in Lake County, was touted for governor in Chicago Sun-Times columnist Steven Huntley’s column yesterday.

In an piece entitled,

Duffy’s name pops up in the middle of the column, right after the self-dismissals of

• Illinois Supreme Court Justice Bob Thomas,
• Bush HUD Secretary Steve Preston (who?),
• Chicago equity fund chairman Bruce Rauner,
• Congressmen Mark Kirk and
• Peter Roskam, and
• U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.

Here’s what Huntley wrote:

“State Sen. Dan Duffy of Barrington, a Legislative newcomer, impresses many in the party. He acknowledges hearing suggestions he run, but no one in the party leadership has approached him.

“The party is now evaluating a lot of people and that’s a good thing,” he says. “If party leaders aid, ‘You’re that person,’ I’d have to have a serious conversation with my family and find out if this is the right time for me. Bit we’re not there yet.”

“A jump from newly minted legislator to governor in just two years would be quite a challenge.”

The column continues with former candidates for governor, State Senator Bill Brady, who ran third in the 2006 gubernatorial primary, Ron Gidwitz (4th) and Jim Oberweis, who ran second.

DuPage County Board Republicans, Chairman Bob Schillerstrom and State’s Attorney Joe Birkett, they of the tripling of the RTA sales tax.

Doug Whitley is also mentioned…more favorably than others actively seeking the office.

With Bill Foster, the man who beat him in a special election to replace former House Speaker Denny Hastert having voted for the financial bailout, Jim Oberweis, who has a background in investments, as well as milk, has issued the following statement. The congressional district being contested, the 14th, lies just south of the McHenry County line in Kane County.

OBERWEIS OFFERS ALTERNATIVES TO
WALL STREET BAILOUT

Jim Oberweis – reacting to turmoil in the financial markets and related Congressional action – today released the following statement:

Two days ago, the House of Representatives rejected a flawed bailout plan – a plan that would have put taxpayers on the hook for $700 billion to buy bad assets from Wall Street investors. We should all be glad that 228 Members of Congress from both parties had the courage to stand up to their party leaders and instead do what they believed was right for their constituents. THAT, in my view, is REAL bipartisanship, and real LEADERSHIP. As a result of their courage, Congress now has an opportunity to revisit the issue and get it right. I’m hopeful that they will do just that.

First, I would raise the limits on federal deposit insurance. The current limit is $100,000 for individual accounts and $250,000 for IRAs. The $100,000 limit hasn’t been changed since 1980, almost 30 years ago. Since then, according to the Consumer Price Index maintained by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, inflation has risen significantly — $100,000 in 1980 would be equivalent to $265,000 today. So I would raise those limits to at least $250,000.

Second, I would temporarily suspend an accounting standard known as “mark to market.” While mark to market offers investors a clear look at a company’s balance sheets, it can also have a significantly negative effect in an illiquid market such as the one we’re currently experiencing – it artificially and arbitrarily forces companies to downgrade the value of certain assets, and that can lead to market distortions.

Third, in an effort to infuse new capital into the economy, I would support legislation that would allow for the issuance of a new class of stock that was capital gains tax-free – that is, companies could issue new stock that wouldn’t be subject to the capital gains tax when it was sold later. This could unlock tens of billions of dollars of private equity capital and provide a real shot in the arm to the economy.

Over the longer term, of course, we’re going to need more fundamental reform to make sure we don’t go through this again.

What we’re seeing in Washington right now is disturbing. For five years, we’ve heard from the President’s political opponents that the nation was “rushed” into a war we didn’t need to get into. That so-called “rush” to war took place over a period of about nine or ten months, as I recall. And at the time, every intelligence agency in the world agreed on the data. Even the President’s political opponents agreed on the need for action. It was only AFTER the fact that we learned the data was wrong, and we did not have to take that action.

Compare that situation to today, where there isn’t even agreement over the data, and yet Congress is being asked to rush to action in nine or ten DAYS. This rush to action is worse than what happened with the rush to war five years ago. It should be a matter of concern to all of us that in its determination to act quickly, Congress could act unwisely.

Einstein famously remarked that the definition of insanity is the repetition of the same action with an expectation of different results. Apparently, he never visited the Congress, where the repetition of the same action with the expectation of different results is called “Wednesday.”

To read the entire statement, click here.

With Bill Foster, the man who beat him in a special election to replace former House Speaker Denny Hastert having voted for the financial bailout, Jim Oberweis, who has a background in investments, as well as milk, has issued the following statement. The congressional district being contested, the 14th, lies just south of the McHenry County line in Kane County.

OBERWEIS OFFERS ALTERNATIVES TO
WALL STREET BAILOUT

Jim Oberweis – reacting to turmoil in the financial markets and related Congressional action – today released the following statement:

Two days ago, the House of Representatives rejected a flawed bailout plan – a plan that would have put taxpayers on the hook for $700 billion to buy bad assets from Wall Street investors. We should all be glad that 228 Members of Congress from both parties had the courage to stand up to their party leaders and instead do what they believed was right for their constituents. THAT, in my view, is REAL bipartisanship, and real LEADERSHIP. As a result of their courage, Congress now has an opportunity to revisit the issue and get it right. I’m hopeful that they will do just that.

First, I would raise the limits on federal deposit insurance. The current limit is $100,000 for individual accounts and $250,000 for IRAs. The $100,000 limit hasn’t been changed since 1980, almost 30 years ago. Since then, according to the Consumer Price Index maintained by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, inflation has risen significantly — $100,000 in 1980 would be equivalent to $265,000 today. So I would raise those limits to at least $250,000.

Second, I would temporarily suspend an accounting standard known as “mark to market.” While mark to market offers investors a clear look at a company’s balance sheets, it can also have a significantly negative effect in an illiquid market such as the one we’re currently experiencing – it artificially and arbitrarily forces companies to downgrade the value of certain assets, and that can lead to market distortions.

Third, in an effort to infuse new capital into the economy, I would support legislation that would allow for the issuance of a new class of stock that was capital gains tax-free – that is, companies could issue new stock that wouldn’t be subject to the capital gains tax when it was sold later. This could unlock tens of billions of dollars of private equity capital and provide a real shot in the arm to the economy.

Over the longer term, of course, we’re going to need more fundamental reform to make sure we don’t go through this again.

What we’re seeing in Washington right now is disturbing. For five years, we’ve heard from the President’s political opponents that the nation was “rushed” into a war we didn’t need to get into. That so-called “rush” to war took place over a period of about nine or ten months, as I recall. And at the time, every intelligence agency in the world agreed on the data. Even the President’s political opponents agreed on the need for action. It was only AFTER the fact that we learned the data was wrong, and we did not have to take that action.

Compare that situation to today, where there isn’t even agreement over the data, and yet Congress is being asked to rush to action in nine or ten DAYS. This rush to action is worse than what happened with the rush to war five years ago. It should be a matter of concern to all of us that in its determination to act quickly, Congress could act unwisely.

Einstein famously remarked that the definition of insanity is the repetition of the same action with an expectation of different results. Apparently, he never visited the Congress, where the repetition of the same action with the expectation of different results is called “Wednesday.”

To read the entire statement, click here.

14th congressional district Republican candidate Jim Oberweis delivered a blow to the intolerance of academia Tuesday night.

It was on the Family PAC cruise when he handed DePaul University Conservative Coalition Vice President Nick Hahn a check for $1,000 to help defray the $2,500 cost of security required by university officials before co-founder of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps Chris Simcox was allowed to talk, according to Justine Perry.

Hahn’s group suffered what Peter Labarbera calls “the hecklers’ veto.”

We saw it at the Holiday Inn when Rosanna Pulido’s Illinois Minuteman Project tried to bring Allen County Ohio Sheriff Daniel Beck Crystal Lake. Crystal Lake Police wanted the Minutemen to pay for security it thought was needed for a planned demonstration against the meeting on Route 31.

Go figure the logic behind such a decision.

I can’t.

Pulido finally got a venue at McHenry County College and didn’t have to pay for security, although there was plenty of it. Potential demonstrators were isolated.

There’s more information about Hahn’s accomplishments at the very, very liberal DePaul, nominally a Catholic university, in this Wanderer article by Tom Roeser.

He’s obviously having a ball!

14th congressional district Republican candidate Jim Oberweis delivered a blow to the intolerance of academia Tuesday night.

It was on the Family PAC cruise when he handed DePaul University Conservative Coalition Vice President Nick Hahn a check for $1,000 to help defray the $2,500 cost of security required by university officials before co-founder of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps Chris Simcox was allowed to talk, according to Justine Perry.

Hahn’s group suffered what Peter Labarbera calls “the hecklers’ veto.”

We saw it at the Holiday Inn when Rosanna Pulido’s Illinois Minuteman Project tried to bring Allen County Ohio Sheriff Daniel Beck Crystal Lake. Crystal Lake Police wanted the Minutemen to pay for security it thought was needed for a planned demonstration against the meeting on Route 31.

Go figure the logic behind such a decision.

I can’t.

Pulido finally got a venue at McHenry County College and didn’t have to pay for security, although there was plenty of it. Potential demonstrators were isolated.

There’s more information about Hahn’s accomplishments at the very, very liberal DePaul, nominally a Catholic university, in this Wanderer article by Tom Roeser.

He’s obviously having a ball!

Yesterday, I put up an article about Phyllis Schlafly’s receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award on Paul Caprio’s Family PAC cruise.

It was pretty late when I finished it and I promised to do a piece on the candidates working the crowd on the cruise.

There were plenty there.

Schlafly said they were the generation who would reform the Illinois Republican Party.

I know I won’t do them justice, but here goes.

There were two congressional candidates.

Jim Oberweis gave me hope that he might reverse the special election results. He did that by pointing out the extremely low turn out this spring, compared with the numbers who will vote this fall.

Oberweis explained that 100,000 people voted in the special election, while 300,000 will troop to the polls in this traditionally Republican 14th congressional district at this fall’s presidential election.

That is reason for optimism, it seems to me.

Antoine Members, the Republican Party candidate opposing 1st congressional district Congressman Bobby Rush

Republican Cook County State’s Attorney candidate Tony Peraica also was on the cruise, as he has been before.

There were two incumbent state senators, Bill Brady and Randy Hultgen. You can see Brady below, but, unfortunately, my best shot of Hultgren has his tongue out. (No, not like my son likes to do when I take his picture; more a indication of concentration, I think.)

Brady and Oberweis spent a lot of time talking to each other. You’ll remember that they were opponents during the 2006 GOP gubernatorial primary election. (Charlie Watts can be seen standing between the two.)

There were three Republican state senators, if you count Carol Pankau, who isn’t a big boat person.

She mingled with people before the Lake Michigan cruise.

As I’m told did former Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron Gidwitz did as well.

More tomorrow.