Dave McSweeney
It takes 60 to pass a bill.
That means 60 votes can kill a bill.
State Rep. David McSweeney has crusaded against the proposed retirement tax being seriously considered by Springfield biggies.
When last checked, he had 56 signed up on a resolution (HR 890) against taxing pensions and Social Security.
Now the number is up to 59. Their names follow:
Rep. David McSweeney – Brandon W. Phelps – Jeanne M Ives – Martin J. Moylan – Mark Batinick, Margo McDermed, Steven Andersson, Jack D. Franks, Sue Scherer, Deborah Conroy, Jerry F. Costello, II, Anna Moeller, Katherine Cloonen, Daniel V. Beiser, Mike Smiddy, Natalie A. Manley, Sam Yingling, Stephanie A. Kifowit, C.D. Davidsmeyer, Reginald Phillips, Thomas Morrison, Bill Mitchell, Adam Brown, Avery Bourne, Dwight Kay, John M. Cabello, Ron Sandack, Terri Bryant, Christine Winger, Michael P. McAuliffe, Randy Frese, Joe Sosnowski, John D. Anthony, Anthony DeLuca, Patrick J. Verschoore, John D. Cavaletto, Sheri L Jesiel, Jay Hoffman, Tom Demmer, Andrew F Skoog, Frances Ann Hurley, David Reis, Rita Mayfield, Norine Hammond, Jaime M. Andrade, Jr., Camille Y. Lilly, Kenneth Dunkin, Donald L. Moffitt, Mary E. Flowers, John D’Amico, Linda Chapa LaVia, Emanuel Chris Welch, Peter Breen, Cynthia Soto, Sonya M. Harper, Monique D. Davis, Thaddeus Jones, Marcus C. Evans, Jr. and Silvana Tabares
My State Representative Barbara Wheeler is not among them.
Neither is retiring State Rep. Mike Tryon.
Barb Wheeler
Tryon’s numbers are
- (217) 782-0432
- (815) 459-6453
Barb Wheeler Wheeler can be contacted at
- (217) 782-1664
- (847) 973-0064
Or one can email her here: wheelsback@aol.com
I hope Barb Wheeler makes 60.
Sure would be nice if we had all the state reps from McHenry County working together on this.
You do realize that 118-59 = 59 right?
Already not enough to pass.
Hmmm.
I’ve been gone a long time.
Exactly who says — other than McSweeney and Cal — that there’s a “proposed retirement tax being seriously considered by Springfield biggies.”
What’s the bill number and who’s the sponsor?
In fact, cite one name or a source other than the aforementioned or this is much to do about nothing.
By the way, what McSweeney proposes is a Resolution that has not been released from the Rules Committee.
So … his Resolution is as meaningless as the non-existent retirement tax he’s trying to scare everyone with.
Northwest Herald
McHenry County lawmakers talk potential Illinois retirement income tax
December 28, 2015
By Caitlin Swieca
“Wheeler, who included pension reform in her election platform, said leaders have discussed taxing public pensions over a certain dollar amount, likely a six-figure number.”
http://www.nwherald.com/2015/12/23/mchenry-county-lawmakers-talk-potential-illinois-retirement-income-tax/a9dqoua
The fact that we have “Public employees” making over “Six Figures” in retirement alone and then on top of that not being taxed is a double vulgar blow to every single tax payer in Illinois..
And for teachers we the tax payer have paid in 55% of the pension in the first place..
This is the NEW AMERICAN MAFIA….
Those doubting the topic of a retirement tax is being discussed at top levels should read this article, which links to a Chicago Tribune web site October 22, 2015, article about a speech by Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno:
http://mchenrycountyblog.com/2015/10/22/republican-leader-pushes-retirement-tax/
Hey, Cal Rep. Wheeler is not being kind to you on social media.
Wonder if Joe, Ron or Ed are writing her posts.
https://www.facebook.com/barbara.salviwheeler/posts/1209115365769356?pnref=story
Cynthia for sure!
This is disgusting.
Taxing pensions and SS is a stab in the back!
But receiving a 6 figure pension is criminal!
Link doesn’t work for me.
Barbara Salvi Wheeler
6 hrs ·
Re:
Translation? But, any public sector pension greater than $99,999 will?
Remember folks, the VOTERS are responsible for this mess! The VOTERS approved the Constitutional amendment!
Why is Wheeler not out promoting a change to the Constitution instead of making snide remarks on her Facebook page?
The time has come to prep a candidate to replace Wheeler and her taxpayer funded salary!
Barb Wheeler — petulant lap dog of the establishment.
And if you elect Schofield, you will get the same thing.
Carolyn Schofield has a robo-call going, stating:
“My opponents are distorting my voting record, because they don’t have good records themselves.” She goes on to state “but, isn’t this the kind of bad politics that got Illinois into the mess we’re in?”
How can she look herself in the mirror each morning?
Chicago Tribune
Tax hike likely to solve state budget woes, La Grange leaders told
by Jane Michaels
Pioneer Press
October 21, 2015
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/la-grange/news/ct-dlg-business-outlook-tl-1029-20151021-story.html
“Radogno said lawmakers likely will consider hiking the state income tax or taxing retirement income, rather than increasing the state sales tax or instituting a tax on services.”
Hiking pension and retiree healthcare benefits, and hiking salaries, caused hiked pension and retiree healthcare payouts, which are the biggest need for hiked taxes.
Go back to the inception of the 20 pension systems in Illinois.
Since their inception, most have been underfunded, some more so than others, IMRF being one that is on average much better funded than the rest.
Legislative benefit hikes should not have occurred while pensions were underfunded.
Pay hikes should have been held in check until pensions were fully funded.
That’s the scam.
The scam escalated after one sentence was added to the Illinois State Constitution on December 15, 1970 as part of the constitutional rewrite approved by voters that resulted from the 1970 Constitutional Convention.
That sentence allows UNLIMITED legislative benefit hikes and UNLIMITED salary hikes, to pensions that are ALREADY underfunded, the result being hiked underfunded pensions.
The best long term solution to the inequity is to repeal in its entirety the pension sentence.
The process is to for the General Assembly to pass a House Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment (HJRCA) or Senate Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment (SJRCA).
The Governor signs.
The measure goes on an election ballot.
The voter approves.
The sentence is repealed.
Then measures can be taken to reign in the pensions.
It’s politically very difficult at this point due to all the special interest groups that benefit from the pensions and the misinformation that has been spread, the case needs to be made.
Obligating taxpayers to such a financial scheme is outrageous.
There are all sorts of consequences of hiked pensions.
The purpose of government is not hiked pensions.
Many will totally ignore this comment as being “tin foil”.
Agenda 21 calls for depopulation of Illinois to support more food production.
Has the failure of an economic rebound in Illinois been predetermined?
Why else is there no serious attempt to eliminate the Constitutional guarantee for increases in public pensions but there is an ongoing attempt to tax pension income?
Imagine what would happen to real estate values in Del Webb.
There is an enormous effort ongoing for legislation relative to have term limits. Why no effort to petition for a change to the Constitution relative to guaranteed pensions?
As some say: Just asking.
There is so much farmland in Illinois relative to the population, the percentage increase in food production would probably not be that great?
What has happened is a lot of marshy areas have been drained and converted to crops.
Representative Sosnowski is in the Rockford area, 69th District which is partially in Boone County and Winnebago County.
Rockford has huge financial difficulties including pensions.
Representative Tom Morrison is in the Palatine area, 54th District which is in Cook County.
No McHenry County state legislator has signed onto HJRCA 9 Repeal the Pension Sentence.
That may be because they feel it has no chances of passing this General Assembly.
But that conversation has to start somewhere.
We are getting nowhere fast and mired in a dysfunctional unsustainable culture of government.
Culture has a lot to do with our predicament.
Monkey see, monkey do.
My W-2 says my pension was $88,542.54 last year.
Thank you, Cal for being a tax fighter!
Too bad Rep. Wheeler is listening more to Ron these days and not to good fiscal conservatives like her former adviser Randy Donley.
Okay, back to the post and back to reality.
The fact is, there is no retirement tax bill filed by anyone, not even Radogno.
McSweeney’s Resolution is, therefore, empty ceremony at best.
It may be empty ceremony, for the present time …..
Just because nothing is filed means nothing.
The entire contents of bills are routinely stripped and replaced with an entirely different subject matter than the title indicates.
Remember the 327 page pension reform bill, Senate Bill 1 (SB 1), Public Act 98-0599 (PA 98-599) which was presented to legislators on December 2, 2013.
Voted on December 3, 2013.
Signed by Governor Pat Quinn December 4, 2013.
Overturned by Doris Heaton v Pat Quinn in May 2015 because of the pension sentence (entirely predictable the whole thing was a charade).
Springfield can move lightning fast if they so desire.
The place is dysfunctional and not taxpayer friendly.
Repeal the pension sentence so we can get something done and move on.
“Just because nothing is filed means nothing.” — Mark
Right.
But then you go on to try, I think, to substantiate the filing of a meaningless Resolution — because things can move fast in Springfield. But using your interesting logic, Springfield should then be awash in “defensive” Resolutions like: “No New Taxes Ever!”; “Let’s Really Balance the Budget This Time” and other self-serving, yet empty things.
In sum, meaningless Resolutions are … meaningless.
Springfield can move fast near the end of session, not in January.
And Mark, repeal the pension “sentence” requires a Constitutional Amendment.
That takes a totally different kind of effort.
Shell bills are routinely filed.
Contents of the shell bill changed, while shell bill title remains the same.
Happens constantly.
Should be illegal.
Madigan can move fast whenever Madigan wants to move fast, he is in power, he has been in power a long time, he has lots of money, he has a Super Majority in both Chambers….although apparently now some are starting to buck the status quo.
Obviously bills typically move fast near the end of a session because of an impending deadline.
The process of repealing the pension sentence via constitutional amendment is listed in comments above.
The main reason we are in this mess is listed above.
The threat of a tax hike is serious and real.
So if history is any indication, that is most likely to happen at the end of May (end of the session).
The state finances are in shambles.
Madigan can move fast and has in the past with the help of his Senate Pres. partners.
But … there’s a Republican Governor now and he’s not playing along and is instead demanding reforms.
That’s why things are at a stalemate.
And that’s exactly why defensive and empty Resolutions are meaningless.
The dynamic has been fundamentally changed, and that’s a very good thing.
Here is how it’s meaningful.
Those Representatives are on the record for their constituents and legislative leaders to see they are against taxing pensions and Social Security.
Taxing pensions and Social Security is one of the items being discussed by legislative leaders.
Thus it’s a meaningful part of the debate going on in Springfield.
Debate is not meaningless it’s a necessary part of arriving at an agreement.
I hope Wheeler makes it 60.
Having McHenry County supprt this would demonstrate that OUR county is leading the effort to return OUR state to cating for OUR people and managing both cost and tax revenue
Mark I’m sure you know as well as anyone else that just because they put their name on a resolution does not mean that when it comes down to an actual bill, they won’t vote for it anyway if their campaign funding is threatened.
John Radke, even should what I said above be not true, 59 votes kills a bill, not 60.
I am disappointed that Cal hasn’t edited his post from saying “That means 60 votes can kill a bill”.
Obviously this is true, 60 votes does kill a bill.
However, it seems an awful lot like we’re trying to paint Wheeler in whatever bad light we can here…..