An Open Letter to the Illinois General Assembly about the Federal Highway Match

Hi, Guys-

Got an idea that might be worth some consideration.

Even though I thought your imposition of the quarter of one percent sales tax on me and other collar county residents was a really bad idea, maybe there is a way you can turn this lemon into lemonade.

Could the federal transportation dollars be matched by the new collar county share of the "RTA" half percent sales tax money?

You know, like you used Cook County Hospital revenue to capture federal Medicaid money?

My guess is that with state roads being the responsibility of, well, you guys, collar county governments would be unwilling to use the new RTA local sales tax dollars to repair them.

Even though state roads like Route 31 between Crystal Lake and McHenry look like the Valley of the Potholes, the McHenry County Board wouldn't want to repair it...

Unless it got “free money” from using the $9 million or so a year from its share of the new RTA sales tax.

Come to think of it, McHenry and some other collar counties levy their own Motor Fuel Taxes.

Why not use that to match the federal money, too?

Now, I'm sure that Downstate counties will cry that they are being left out.

Authorize them to levy a local gas tax. Then, they can qualify for the new source of funds as well.

Even Cook County levies a local MFT, but I think it used to go to the Cook County Jail. I am sure Todd's budget folks are creative enough to figure out how to use that gas tax to capture the federal money, if you buy my idea.

In the process, they might even make that currently misdirected tax logical.

Let them use it to fix highways or the Chicago Transit Authority. Either would be more local than using it to pay prison guards.

This might be an appropriate time to bring up something I discovered when I applied for the job of county manager in Janesville, Wisconsin. Back then, county governments built the state roads, as well as their county roads.

It seems to me that might be one reason that Wisconsin roads are generally, but not always , better than those in Illinois.

Put the McHenry County Board in charge of re-building Route 31 and I'll bet there will be a better road than if the folks in Schaumburg are in charge.

Why?

For the same reason that Valley Hi, the county nursing home, is better than the Woodstock Residence (of “Angel of Death” infamy). If someone has a complaint, they actually might be able to affect whether the county board member stays in office.

No similar threat to IDOT bureaucrats.

cal

P.S. Here's what the RTA quarter of one percent tax would have brought in last year for the collar counties:

* DuPage - $45 million
* Kane - $15.5 million
* Lake- $28.1 million
* McHenry - $9.2 million
* Will - $19.2 million

That totals $117 million

DuPage, Kane and McHenry Counties have local Motor Fuel Taxes. Here's what they brought in last year:

* DuPage - $20.8 million
* Kane - $7.6 million
* McHenry - $4.7 million

for a total of $33.1 million.

Add the two together and you have in the neighborhood of $150 million a year. You'd have to subtract the part of the new local “RTA” sales tax that is drained off for law enforcement, but whatever the amount, it's not on the table as matching money now.

It's certainly not enough to capture all the federal funds. But, as the old saying goes, "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush."

And it could get some highway projects off the ground.

Posted first on McHenry County Blog.

Read more...

Crystal Lake To Lose Low Sales Tax Reputation

Last Sunday, the Chicago Tribune featured Crystal Lake's sales tax rate on its front page.

While it is currently 6.5%, on April 1st it jumps to 7%, compliments of Democrats in the Illinois General Assembly and Republican state senators in DuPage County.

If that were not high enough, now comes the Crystal Lake city council hell bent on killing Crystal Lake's sales tax shopping advantage by increasing its present 1 percentage point sales tax by a whopping 75%.

Let me repeat that.

Mayor Aaron Shepley with, apparently all but Councilman Jeff Thorsen on board, is set to raise Crystal Lake's sales tax to

7.75%.

Next Tuesday night.

They have given Crystal Lake voters only one week to provide them with feedback.

You can email them (see link below) or you call them or you can show up at the meeting in person.

If you do nothing, don't be surprised when your taxes go up in July.

Those of us who do not live in Crystal Lake, can provide feedback with our feet.

The Woodstock Super Walmart is closer to my Lakewood home than is the one on Route 14.

The traffic is a lot better if I take the back roads than it is on Route 14.

= = = = =
Images may be enlarged by clicking on them.

If you want to make your views known, emails may be sent to

• Ralph Dawson,
• Cathy Ferguson,
• Dave Goss,
• Brett Hopkins,
• Ellen Brady Mueller,
• Aaron Shepley, and
• Jeff Thorsen

at
comments@crystallake.org

If you don't want the city council to raise your city sales tax 75%, you might want to email each of them. Put their names in the subject line.

Published first on McHenry County Blog. And, yes, I know of no Democrats on the Crystal Lake City Council. Appropriate comments welcomed.

Read more...

Tribune Enters into Front Page Advocacy Journalism

Must saves the bus and train seats of Tribune readers.

How else can one explain the huge front page story on today’s Chicago Tribune?

It's not Monday.

Monday is transportation reporter Jon Hilkevitch’s day to shine.

Most of his stories are not time sensitive, so that’s when the Tribune usually runs them.

This one comes on a Wednesday, though.

One day before the Illinois House is scheduled to vote on Governor Rod Blagojevich’s amendatory veto to give me a free ride anytime I want to take the train to Chicago.

And, it's only going to cost one half a billion dollars a year. I note that little tidbit is not in the Tribune editorial.

It gives legislators another chance to save collar county residents from a 200% increase of the RTA sales tax in the collar counties while Cook’s County’s hike is only 25%.

And, yes, I know that the collar county boards have been bribed with half of the increase.

Yesterday, the Tribune asked for the veto to be overridden.

I wrote a story entitled,

"A third rail on transit"

"Hey, you Republicans" the Tribune urges.

"Jump on board."

Do more to damage your anti-tax brand that State Senators Dan Cronin, Kirk Dillard and Dave Millner already have.

Right.

Give the Democrats more targets than they already have in Beth Coulson, Rosemary Mulligan and Sid Mathias.

Got to congratulate Democratic Party State Representative Julie Hamos.

She certainly has stuck it to the collar counties.

Posted first on McHenry County Blog.

Read more...

Mass transit compromise begs questions

Two major questions remain unanswered after House Speaker Michael Madigan issued a letter pledging support for a mass transit compromise. The plan would prevent drastic service cuts in the Chicago area and boost funding for downstate services (it would increase the state assistance for downstate transit agencies from 55 percent of operating costs to 70 percent. See my November article for more on that).

Hot-button questions for Wednesday’s special session:

1) Madigan agreed to the general idea of diverting the state’s portion of the sales tax on gasoline in Cook County to meet the region’s transit needs, but here's the question: How will the state plug the estimated $385 million hole in the general revenue fund, which is like the state’s main checkbook?

2) How likely are downstate lawmakers to support this newfound compromise if it isn’t coupled with a long-awaited capital plan to address mass transit, roads, bridges and schools?

Madigan’s letter cited a “genuine crisis,” and said, “This compromise will put an end to the piecemeal cash infusions, months of anxiety for transit riders and workers, and the incessant, and unfortunate, legislative drama that has surrounded this issue for the past several months.”

That would be the day, but the compromise will include changes and will open the door for more troublesome negotiations in the future.

According to Madigan, the House will advance the legislation supported by Gov. Rod Blagojevich and House Minority Leader Tom Cross, but it’ll include amendments. The speaker vowed those changes would not increase the general sales tax in the Chicago region or allow the Chicago City Council raise its real estate transfer tax, as proposed in Rep. Julie Hamos’ legislation. Blagojevich opposes that plan. According to the letter, the compromise legislation will include such pension reforms as requiring higher employee contributions, increasing the retirement age and limiting some health care benefits.

As far as plugging the hole in the state’s general fund, Madigan’s spokesman, Steve Brown, mentioned the governor’s proposal to end some corporate tax breaks. “The speaker has been supportive of closing corporate loopholes in the past,” Brown said. “I suspect it’ll be something that will be addressed down the road. I don’t envision that being addressed this week.” He said the state Constitution limits the legislature to discussing a specific topic designated by the special session.

According to Cross’ spokesman, David Dring, the House Republican Caucus perceives Madigan’s letter as a positive step, but members hope the speaker won’t stop working with them on a capital plan. Dring said the House GOP Caucus also will discuss Wednesday how members feel about ways to plug the general revenue hole. Previous ideas have included increasing the tax on cigarettes, which Dring said wasn’t so popular. But there’s also transferring money from other state funds or slightly increasing fares for the CTA, Metra and Pace services.

Either way, Wednesday could generate more questions than answers.

Read more...

200% RTA Sales Tax Hike

I was struck by the number 266% in last Wednesday's Chicago Sun-Times columnist Mark Brown’s headline.

The incredible Chicago Democratic Party tax hiking machine, this time embodied by Cook County Board President Todd Stroger, wants to impose another two percentage point sales tax hike.

That would bring in about $1 billion.

Put in percentage terms, it’s a 266% hike.

While opposing this 266% sales tax increase, Brown has endorsed the RTA sales tax hike proposal. The Cook County proposal to hike the sales tax from 1/4 of one percent to 2.75 percent is taking flak, but the RTA one keeps chugging along, powered now by visions of casino donations in legislators heads.

In McHenry and other collar counties, that plan would increase sales taxes from 1/4 of one percent to 3/4 of one percent.

Yes, I know that 1/4 of one percentage point will be for road improvements, but there is already a law on the books that allows the imposition of such taxes after passage of a referendum. If McHenry County Board members wants that tax, let them ask for it. Instead of bringing up that topic, they are discussing revising the county's seal.

Do the math.

Dividing 1/4 of one percent into the proposed 1/2 of one percent increase gives us a 200% RTA sales tax increase doesn’t it?

= = = = =
Previously published on McHenry County Blog.

Read more...

Mike Tryon on CTA-Roads Deal

"No Capital? No CTA!" reads the headline on State Rep. Mike Tryon's "legislative update."

It has a wonderful train analogy to describe the effect on McHenry County of the bill to bail out the Chicago Transit Authority under consideration:

"on a fast track to nowhere."

It points out that "less than one percent of those in McHenry County use mass transit."

Then Tryon writes,

"If the sponsors of Senate Bill 572 are not willing to talk about the overall transportation needs of McHenry County, I cannot support their legislation."

Is that a hint he can vote for the half percentage point sales tax increase?

A 7.7 percent increase in McHenry County's sales tax, half of which would go to the RTA (read mainly the CTA) and half to the McHenry County Board with which to build roads.

Let's read the sentence again:

"If the sponsors of Senate Bill 572 are not willing to talk about the overall transportation needs of McHenry County, I cannot support their legislation."

And, here's another hint for you to interpret at your leisure:

"I am committed to working with the sponsors of Senate Bill 572 to create a plan that addresses both mass transit and roads."

This reminds me so, so much of how an eastern Illinois ex-sheriff state representative agreed to vote for the creation of the RTA when Dave Caravello, one of Governor Dan Walker's legislative people, offered not to fire one of the Republican's road worker buddies, if he'd vote for the RTA bill.

The price is bigger here. I'll grant that.

But we had state approval to build the Western Bypass and Governor Rod Blagojevich took it away. It's a congressional earmark. When the last time IDOT didn't build a congressional earmark?

Now, it sounds as if Tryon is willing to vote for higher taxes in order to get back what was already ours.

The legislative update does not mention how more roads will be financed, but increased gambling has been mentioned widely elsewhere.

The only specific road improvement mentioned is the Western Bypass (to ease the traffic flow at Routes 62 and 31 in Algonquin). There is no mention of the Bolz Road bridge, in southern Algonquin and Carpentersville, without which the Western Bypass will not work. Local municipal and county officials seem intent on making people pay a toll to use the Bolz Road bridge (see Please Make Me Pay Twice), which means, of course, that those who don't want to pay a toll will continue to cross the Fox River at Route 62.

You can read Tryon's whole press release on McHenry County Blog. I wonder if it is a prototype for suburban Republican state representatives to use to justify voting for the deal.

And, speaking of roads, 8th congressional district Republican primary candidate Ken Arnold from Gurnee has made three interesting road proposals, two to save money and one to build a causeway across Lake Michigan. This is a man into policy.

Read more...

Jones may back tax hike to fund CTA

From today's Sun-Times...

The head of the Illinois Senate for the first time is indicating he might stomach a sales-tax hike to bail out the Chicago area's mass transit systems -- a potential step toward ending CTA threats of fare hikes and service cuts.

"I don't like a sales tax because it's so regressive, but I have voted for taxes in the past and will support them again," Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago) said during a Friday taping of WBBM-AM 780's "At Issue."

Jones also said "we intend to pass a version" of a transit bailout bill in the Senate when lawmakers return to Springfield next month. Two such proposals are on the table; both include a quarter-percent sales-tax increase in Cook and the collar counties to help provide long-term funding for the CTA, Metra and Pace.
A transit solution is by no means assured, though.

Jones would run the risk of angering one of his closest political allies, Gov. Blagojevich, if Jones shepherded a sales-tax hike through the Senate.

Abby Ottenhoff, a Blagojevich spokeswoman, said the governor continues to oppose "raising sales taxes to fund a transit bill. We are working on other options."

Among other hurdles is Jones' contentious relationship with House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) on a host of budget matters this year. Jones and Madigan appear to remain at odds over a Senate plan to finance $25 billion in state infrastructure projects based on revenues from three new casinos, including one in Chicago.

Should the House not approve a version of the infrastructure plan, Jones could stymie the transit-funding legislation in the Senate.

I've frequently saw the increase of a sales tax. Often this sales tax is a regional sales tax good for the Chicagoland area. Anyway this sales tax is heralded as a solution to the funding issues of the CTA and other RTA agencies.

I'm not a big fan of taxes but I don't want the CTA to increase their fares and cut services. Then again some would say CTA needs to manage their money better. Hopefully the personality clash in Springfield won't affect those individuals who rely on public transportation in the city of Chicago.

Read more...

More Mass Transit Thoughts from Overtaxed Suburbia

Some have suggested that I have merely re-fighting a battle I lost in 1974.

Whatever the reason, mass transit thoughts keep rising to the surface of my consciousness.

Today I offer three ideas, one political and two substantive.

The political thought is

Governor Rod Blagojevich has handed the General Assembly a strategy to raise sales taxes over his veto in which those casting the crucial final votes can escape political punishment at the polls.

The deadline for passage as far as the Chicago Transit Authority is concerned is now November 4th.

Know what day November 5th is?

It’s the filing deadline for state representative and state senator.

If the General Assembly can stall that long, marginal members may be convinced to vote for the bill knowing that the odds of an outraged potential challenger getting 500 (state rep.) or 1,000 (state senate) signatures within a day are slim.

And they can vote to override the Governor's veto after the end of filing.

The first substantive suggestion is

a logical way to finance whatever deficit the CTA has.

A property tax.

Before you beat me about the head with aluminum bats, consider that that the value of property in Chicago is largely dependent on its access to mass transit. Certainly, that is a major reason, if not the primary reason, that property value in and near the Loop is so high.

Likewise, real estate in poorly served parts of the city is less valuable.

So, those who receive the most value from mass transit would pay the most; those receiving the least value, the least.

I am certain the fact that more Metra trains stop at Crystal Lake than anywhere else in McHenry County makes local property values higher than they would be otherwise.

Now, my preference would be the unrefined approach of 19th Century economist Henry George, that is, a tax on only the land. (This approach has the result of encouraging maximum development of land, since the tax on a particular parcel would be the same whether an empty lot or a high rise. Think of all the problems that could be avoided with such a tax system in Chicago or anywhere else.)

One final thought.

Residential property taxes in Chicago are about the lowest in all of Illinois.

My information comes from the Illinois Department of Revenue’s Property Tax Statistics. It has information on “effective tax rates” that show Chicago about as low as one can go in Illinois.

An “effective tax rate” is defined as one’s tax bill divided by what one could sell one’s house for.

Figure out your own by getting the value of your home from Zillow.com. Divide the number there by your annual real estate tax bill.

Not a big surprise, but the Illinois Revenue Department stopped calculating effective tax rates about the time Democrat Rod Blagojevich took office. There is a couple of year lag time, so the most recent and, sorrowfully, the last comparisons of relative property tax burdens throughout Illinois is for the 2000 tax year.

I found Chicago’s effective tax rate for residential property on page 46 of that year’s Illinois Property Tax Statistics. (You’ll have to scroll down to Table 10. You can find what the effective tax rate is for your town, if it is large enough. This is a double-sided table, so it's a bit tricky.)

Chicago homeowners paid 1.1% of the value of their homes in real estate taxes for the 2000 tax year payable in 2001. That ranks 521st lowest out of 533 Illinois communities for which the effective tax rate was calculated.

So, don't tell me Chicago property taxes are too high unless you can produce an up-to-date effective tax rate for the city.

Most of Crystal Lake (the Algonquin Township part) the effective tax rate is 2.05%--ranking 203rd. The Village of Algonquin in McHenry County and Algonquin Township was 1.89%, ranking 286. McHenry was ranked 251 at 1.96% in McHenry Township.

The second substantive suggestion is

allowing legalized jitney cabs to take up the slack.

I think I had a bill drafted to allow jitneys passing a safety inspection and proper insurance for a group of conservative legislators whom I was helping in the late 1980's or early 1990's. The idea is still a good one.

Not just where the Chicago Transit Authority finds it uneconomical to run buses, but anywhere in Chicago.

I know that the “powers that be” would favor this no more than they would a property tax to finance the CTA, but it also makes all kinds of sense.

Look at the price of taxi medallions.

Clearly there is room in the market for more cab-like transportation.

Of course, bailing out the CTA is not about logic or even transpiration.

It is about patronage and forcing suburbanites to subsidize downtown office buildings.

And you can read more of some of that here.

Always more on the weekend on McHenry County Blog.

Read more...

So Much Heat Over RTA Sales Tax Hike Plan from a Typo

I see my typo generated a lot of heat yesterday on Illinoize while I was occupied elsewhere. From the comments, I sense that not a lot of people linked to McHenry County Blog's original story.

My calculations indicate that the RTA tax hike proposed by Democrat State Rep. Julie Hamos will cost McHenry County families about $200 a year, not the "$200 a month" that I mistakenly typed in yesterday's article.

That may be chump change to the folks in Chicago that want to pick suburbanites' pockets yet again, but out here we fight major battles when local tax districts want to raise our taxes $200 a year.

One other comment I found laughable.

It was about collar county residents should be happy that half of the tax hike will be be earmarked for our county boards to spend on highways. That's about $9 million for that square on the upper left hand corner of the Chicago TV's weather map.

If we want to raise our sales taxes by one quarter of one percent and earmark it for highways, we can follow Rockford's example and VOTE on that idea in a referendum. It might even pass.

I know Chicago-centric Illinoize commenters may be unfamiliar with the concept of people actually voting on tax hikes. But, you did it once way back in 1974. The official results show you won that RTA referendum, but there was demonstrable vote fraud and the timid new State Board of Elections would not allow a recount. You won by under 12,000 votes using paper ballots.

If you advocate increasing RTA taxes again, why not be big and bold and put your idea on the ballot?

But, you're not that bold, are you?

We in the collar counties don't need Chicago Democrats doing us the big favor of forcing our sales taxes up $100 a year to pay for roads the state has woefully neglected. (The potholes are on McHenry County's main north-south road, Route 31.)

Not that some of our local county board members wouldn't be delighted to have state legislators take the fall for raising taxes and giving them $9 million a year to spend on asphalt. (Or does the bill require the county board to vote to impose the tax?)

What follows is how I got to the $200 per year. If you want to challenge my logic, have at it. But have the decency to use source date from the Illinois Department of Revenue, as I did.

And, if you can find anyone else who has brought the price of this legislation down to what it would cost a local family, please tell me where to find the story or the analysis.

It's at least $18 million that will be picked out the pockets of McHenry County shoppers every 12 months if the General Assembly passes the half percentage point RTA-Road Sales Tax Hike.

To put that in perspective, $207 million was collected in sales taxes throughout the county this past year. So, the proposed sales tax increase would hike sales taxes 8.7%.

Previously, I estimated the increase would be at least 7.6% and pointed out how a local newspaper was helping the RTA to raise taxes with its headline. That calculation was based on using the tax rates. This one uses actual dollars.

If only the 89,403 McHenry County households paid the tax, it would amount to $231 a family. But, since businesses pay some sales tax, the figure per household will actually be less.

Maybe local folks won't care.

That’s certainly what the legislators behind this tax hike are hoping.

If the legislation becomes law, the Regional Transportation Authority will get another $9 million. About $100 per McHenry County family.

Almost half of the RTA’s McHenry County $9 million will go to the Chicago Transit Authority, according to Kevin Craver’s Northwest Herald article.

And the county board will get the same amount--$9 million--to spend, apparently as it wishes, on roads it wants to improve. That’s almost twice as much as $4.6 million collected in McHenry County Motor Fuel Taxes this past year.

The county board just decided to borrow $50 million to improve roads. If the $9 million per year were similarly bonded, an extra, what, almost $100 million could be spent on roads.

Read more...

Mass Transit Tax Eaters Spend $3 Million to Convince Legislators to Hike Your Taxes

If it were not bad enough that State Rep. Julie Hamos’ House Bill 572 will double collar county RTA sales taxes and give precious little in return, the Daily Herald’s Joseph Ryan has found this out.

The mass transit tax eaters have spent $3 million to convince legislators to vote “Yes.”

The goal?

To increase the average collar county family's sales tax by about $200 a year.

It would have been cheaper in the old days when bribes were paid directly to legislators.

And, such a deal this bill offers those living in the suburbs.

Take a look at this graphic of costs and benefits.

If you can’t figure it out, you can find my analysis on McHenry County Blog. The story is entitled,

Suburban Legislators with a Cost-Benefit Analysis Impairment

Read more...

RTA Sales Tax Hike Deal Quantified in Collar Counites

If there were ever an instance where the bias in favor of tax hikes was evident in the Northwest Herald, it is evidenced in the headline covering the top of the front page on Wednesday,

RTA: Don't forget about us

It’s not that the article by Kevin Craver is unbalanced.

It does report Crystal Lake Republican State Rep. Mike Tryon’s opposition to the “sales-tax increase.”

No word in the article on how State Rep. Jack Franks (D-Bull Valley) and State Sen. Pam Althoff (R-McHenry) will vote.

And, Craver does something I have seen no other reporter do.

He actually points out that the RTA wants to DOUBLE its sales tax take.

And, Craver pulls out a detail that I have not seen elsewhere.

Included in the deal is another tax of the same amount--¼ of 1%--to pay for local road projects collar counties think are important.

That will be a total sales tax hike of 7.7%!

That’s 7.7%!

How do I get that?

The tax hike proposal is for an addition one-half of one-percent.

The sales tax rate now in most of McHenry County is now 6.5%, with Algonquin at 7.25% and Lake in the Hills is at 7%.

Do the division on the base rate of 6.5%, which is what shoppers are charged in the rest of McHenry County.

One-half of a percentage point divided by 6.5 percentage points is 7.7%.

Now that’s not as large an increase as the income tax hikers want—66 2/3 percent—but it is a big hike.

I’m think it’s about for a headline that says,

Taxpayers: Don’t forget about us.

But, of course, taxpayers don’t have tax paid lobbyists and publicists to initiate a story in newspapers like the Northwest Herald.

Published first on McHenry County Blog, where liberals think the writer is too interested in tax hikes. And, after tomorrow, they will be certain.

Read more...

RTA Wants To Double Suburban County Sales Tax

It’s “Hold on to you hats” or more appropriately “pocket book” time in Springfield.

The latest to want to filch some of our money is the Regional Transportation Authority.

It only wants to double our current one-quarter of cent on every dollar sales tax.

Eric Krol and John Patterson of the Daily Herald raise the alarm that CTA-centric Chicago papers won’t. The Daily Herald’s story is headlined,

Why suburban residents could be bailing out CTA

They report the picking of suburban Cook and collar county pockets could be “$280 million a year.”

Although it is always possible that Downstate Republicans will cut a deal with Chicago Democrats to take money out of suburban pockets, there probably would be a resurrection of the 1974 coalition of suburban Republicans and Democrats.

Even if that happens, however, guess who the Daily Herald reporters say would ride to the rescue.

That’s right.

Governor Rod Blagojevich.

"I don't support sales tax increases on people and that's consistent with where I've been for the last four years," Blagojevich told the Daily Herald when asked about the RTA plan.

On May 5th, Dennis Byrne, a reporter who covered the RTA fight for the Chicago Daily News wrote an insightful Chicago Tribune column.

It was entitled,

Transit ‘reform,’ yet again

He points out that “duplicate, contracting and administrative functions didn’t end” with the RTA’s creation.

“Mass transit was underfunded, thanks in part to the reluctance to charge riders what they should be paying (more than what they are now), generous CTA labor contracts and high CTA absenteeism, among other systemic problems…

“There is no one willing to crack down on the CTA—the main source of the RTA’s problems—because no one dares take on the city’s power, meaning Richard M. Daley’s power.

“…will a Democratic governor and a Democratic legislature really be willing to step over the line and crack down on the CTA, especially in light of Daley’s landslide re-election?

“Or will the legislature again just reshuffle the organization chart to make it look like something has happened, while continuing business as usual?”

He has many more details, of course.

And, this was posted first on McHenry County Blog.

Read more...