Scheurer Beans Bean

Here is a press release McHenry County Blog got from 8th congressional district Moderate Party candidate Bill Scheurer in which the anti-war candidate attacks incumbent Democratic Party member Melissa Bean. I wonder if it will be used.

To the best of my knowledge, no one picked up on his donkephant idea. He named it "McBeaney." It reminded me of JimRod from my 2002 campaign.

Scheurer challenges Bean on ‘omnibus’ estate tax bill

(LINDENHURST, IL)—While favoring increasing the minimum wage, Bill Scheurer, Moderate Party candidate in the IL 8th U.S. Congressional District, spoke out today against the recent 230-180 House vote for a bill which increases the minimum wage while cutting estate taxes.

Rep. Melissa Bean (D-Barrington) was one of only 34 Democrats to vote for the bill.

“The vast majority of all Democrats, including nearly every member of the progressive caucus, handily voted against this bill,” Scheurer said. “They know a ‘donkephant’ when they see one.”

The “omnibus” bill stacks two nearly opposing issues together. It forced those who favor raising the minimum wage from $5.15 per hour to $7.25 per hour to vote to exempt from taxation estates worth as much as $5 million (or $10 million for a married couple). Similarly, it enticed those who favor relief for estate taxes to vote for the bill, even under pressure from business interests that oppose increasing the minimum wage.

The estate tax relief would cost more than $300 billion over the next 10 years.

The minimum wage increase would be phased in over three years. It would allow tips to be counted toward minimum wage increases in states where that is now prohibited, a provision Democrats said would cut wages for thousands of workers in those states.

When asked if this kind of linked bill put Democratic legislators like Bean in a tight spot, Scheurer said, “Bean was not between the proverbial ‘rock and a hard place,’ unless you mean it the other way around. She had to vote for the minimum wage, so she could vote for the estate tax cut.”

Scheurer noted that Bean’s voting record favored such tax breaks for those who, he believes, least need them.

“If the bills were severed, she would have voted for the estate tax cut anyway,” he said. “She has done so before. Who knows how she would vote on the minimum wage?”

Scheurer’s “Working Families” platform is detailed on his web site, at www.winwithbill.com.

Let the games begin. My guess is that Mike Madigan/Rahm Emanuel will rue the day he did not challenge Scheurer's petitons.