Illinois Lawmakers Take Governor Quinn To Court To Receive Paychecks

As Rome burns . . . .The state of Illinois is teetering on bankruptcy after running up unsustainable debt and deficits for years now under one party rule by the Democratic Party despite a constitutional prohibition that its state budget be balanced every year. The latest financial crisis revolves around the state's inability to come to grips with its unfunded pension liabilities, which now top $100 billion. After lawmakers failed to deal with a long-term solution to the pension crisis, Gov. Pat Quinn used his line-item reduction veto to eliminate $13.8 million in state appropriations for lawmakers' salaries. The state's Comptroller has been unable to issue lawmakers' paychecks after July 1 due to the lack of an appropriation. House Speaker for Life Michael "The Mad" Madigan (D-Chicago) and Senate President Johnny "The Dog Face" Cullerton (D-Chicago) have hired the same law firm that defended Rahm Emanuel in the challenge to his residency when he ran for Chicago mayor to file a lawsuit in Crook County against Gov. Quinn.

It's rather ironic that the legislative leaders rely on the Illinois Constitution, to which they have demonstrated absolutely no interest in adhering, as the basis for their lawsuit. The leaders claim the state's constitution protects them from a change in salary during their terms, and that the governor's elimination of their pay as a means of coercing them into doing the job they were elected to do is a violation of the separation of powers doctrine. Of course, they could end the entire ordeal by simply overriding the vote in the two legislative bodies overwhelmingly controlled by Democrats, but they would rather use taxpayer dollars to pay a politically-connected law firm big bucks to smack down the governor of their own party they've decided has to go. Waiting in the wings to take his place as the state's next Democratic governor is the brother of former Chicago Mayor "Dirty Little Richie" Daley, William Daley, who has become a multimillionaire from insider deals courtesy of his political connections to the corrupt Chicago Machine. Why anyone would voluntarily open up a business and live in Illinois is beyond me. The only way out of this financial mess the Democratic Party has created for Illinois is for gigantic tax increases on every business, man, woman and child living in the Land of Lincoln.