Farrell’s column merits further discussion

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Dear Citizens of Grundy County:

Mike Farrell made an important point in his Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009 editorial “Politics, Taxes and Unemployment” that merits emphasis and further discussion, wherein Mr. Farrell’s stated:

“Considering its location, population and diverse economy, Illinois should be doing much better. Any serious businessman looking at dtate government in Illinois would have to think twice about coming here. No one wants to be shaken down in what is called pay to play politics.”

Ethics in government really does matter and unethical behavior significantly affects the lives of each and every citizen of our state. There is a direct correlation between the level of fraud, corruption and pay to play politics and the willingness of the legitimate business persons to invest capital in businesses and participate in government. The more corrupt Illinois government is, the less investment that is made in Illinois, which results in fewer jobs, less tax base (and correspondingly higher taxes), less commerce and less money in the pockets of people.

Ethics in government is not an abstract theory or goal without consequences. It is important for us to recognize that there are real consequences that affect each of us when our elected officials act unethically.

Mr. Farrell accurately asserted that Chicago’s long standing reputation for pay to play is now being duplicated at the state level and the state budget is such a mess. The lack of a coherent state fiscal policy coupled with unethical behavior is driving business from the state.

Unfortunately, State Rep. Careen Gordon (D-Coal City) has failed us by her steadfast support for the Chicago Democrats. Despite Ms. Gordon’s three political campaigns touting her experience as a criminal prosecutor, there is no objective evidence of what Ms. Gordon has done or what she is doing to stop the fraud, corruption and pay-to-play politics rampant in Illinois. She and her Chicago Democrat allies have utterly failed us.

The one exception to this is when Ms. Gordon helped to impeach Governor Blagojevich (D-Chicago), but those actions were only taken after the federal prosecutors and the FBI led Gov. Blagojevich from his home in handcuffs based on allegations of violation of federal laws.

To this date, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan (D-Chicago), who is the daughter of Illinois Speaker of the House Michael Madigan (D-Chicago), has failed to bring any charges for violations of Illinois law against Gov. Blagojevich and his co-conspirators.

The recent so called “Landmark Ethics Reform” touted and supported by Ms. Gordon was a sham. Only after considerable public pressure, did Gov. Quinn veto that insulting farce. In more than six years, Ms. Gordon and her fellow Democrats have not passed any meaningful campaign finance or ethics reform legislation, all the while raising hundreds of millions of dollars for their collective campaign war chests.

The Democrats continue to make plenty of promises during the election cycle, collect campaign contributions and then take little or no positive action once the ballot boxes are put away.

There is much work to do to make Illinois economically competitive again. One key factor towards that goal is real ethics reform coupled with vigorous enforcement. Ethics in government really does matter.

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