Readers of this blog know that one of our go-to quotes about government incompetence and stupidity is Einstein’s definition of insanity: “Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
For all but 2 (1995-97) of the past 31 years the voters of Illinois have given control of the Illinois House of Representatives to a collection of mopes, opportunists, carpetbaggers and scalawags that can get away with calling themselves a “political party” only in a state as politically, financially and ethically bankrupt as Illinois: the Illinois Democratic Party.
And for 29 of those 31 years, that Democratic majority of the House has ceded absolute power and authority over the House to the “human” embodiment of everything that’s wrong with this state, House Speaker Michael Madigan.
Our state has suffered horribly for it, becoming a national joke for its chronically unpaid bills, its unfunded pensions, its banana republic credit rating, and so much institutionalized corruption that its two most recent former governors were in federal prison at the same time!
Yet Illinois voters have done their best since 1983 to prove the truth of Winston Churchill’s observation that “the best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter.”
As we made clear in our 10.20.14 post, you 55th House District voters have an unacceptable choice between incumbent Marty Moylan (D. Madigan) and challenger Mel Thlliens (R. Buffoon). A vote for Moylan, however, is a vote for another two years of Madigan’s disastrous control of the State House, while a vote for Thillens is not.
Neither Moylan nor Thillens deserves your vote, but Thillens deserves it far more than Madigan does.
You 20th District voters on the east side of Park Ridge have a better choice, because the incumbent is Michael P. McAuliffe, a go-along-to-get-along mope who basically inherited the seat when his father, Roger McAuliffe, died in 1996. But at least he’s a Republican and unlikely to vote for Madigan as Speaker. Democrat Mo Khan, on the other hand, will be an automatic Madigan vote if needed.
Abraham Lincoln said that while elections belong to the people, “[i]f they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.”
If you vote for Moylan or Khan you are voting for two more years of irresponsible and corrupt Madigan rule.
Unfortunately, we’ll all be stuck sitting on those blisters.
UPDATE (11.05.14)
In case you haven’t heard, Rep. Marty Moylan-Madigan defeated challenger Mel Thillens by a vote of 14,219 (52.2%) to 13,020 (47.8%). Moylan-Madigan’s win/Thillens’ loss, along with several other Republican losses in contested House contests, means that Speaker Madigan will remain Speaker Madigan for another two years, virtually ensuring that Illinois’ 30-year decline will continue despite the election of Bruce Rauner as governor.
But more importantly, and far more worse for Illinois citizens who actually care about their state’s continuing decline for the personal and political enrichment of Madigan and his ilk, Moylan-Madigan’s win/Thillens’ loss – standing alone – was enough to enable Speaker Madigan to retain his veto-proof majority in the House.
So for any of you who voted for Rauner and Moylan-Madigan, your schizophrenia helped ensure that the Speaker will remain the single most powerful elected official in the State of Illinois for at least another two years.
In that regard, we have to give a big shout-out to that gang of entrenched RINO (Republican In Name Only) opportunists that hold all the Maine Twp. elected offices: Carol Teschky, Bob Provenzano, Gary Warner, Walter Kazmierczak, Laura Morask (and relative newcomer trustees Peter Gialamas and Kimberly Jones). According to an article in last week’s edition of their unofficial newsletter, the Journal (“Off The Record: Township GOP Slate Won’t Endorse Thillens,” October 31) they refused to endorse fellow Republican Thillens over Democrat Moylan-Madigan.
According to Bobby Pro, the Maine Twp. RINOs’ main man notwithstanding Teschky’s “Supervisor” title:
“I’m neutral in this race. There’s no way I can take sides,” said Provenzano last week. “Marty’s (Moylan) still one of my best friends. Thillens understands that.”
In other words, folks, the Maine Twp. branch of the “Illinois Combine” that Tribune columnist John Kass identified and named years ago – that cozy you-scratch-my-back-and-I’ll-scratch-yours partnership between Illinois’ RINOs and the Dems that have run Illinois into the ground for the last 30 years – is clearly alive and well, despite Char Foss-Eggemann’s thrashing of Teschky in last March’s hotly-contested Maine Twp. Republican committeeman’s race.
So for as long as the Maine Twp. Combine is in control of Maine Twp. government, it would appear that – to paraphrase the late and terminally-corrupt Dem Chicago alderman, Paddy Bauler – “Maine Twp. ain’t ready for reform.” Or at least not when there are Dem backs to be scratched.
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