My Tea Party Comments Still Ring True
As we approach Independence Day, the words I spoke in the below video at the April Tea Party in Lisle still ring truer than ever:
Joe Birkett at the Lisle Tea Party from Joe Birkett on Vimeo.
We Can Learn from Iran’s Heroes
As we speak, reformers in Iran are showing us what it means to treasure the right to vote and protest government . In the wake of questionable election results in which Iranian despot Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was “re-elected” …. Iranian students and reformers have taken to the streets to protest.
Despite a media blackout, Iranian citizens are risking their lives to use online tools like You
Tube and Twitter to tell their story to the rest of the world. Some of these protesters have been beaten, jailed or killed for their efforts.
It is a stark reminder that we should never take for granted our right to vote – and that we should avoid becoming apathetic amid our distrust of the corruption-plagued government that has inflicted Illinois for the past six years.
It is a reminder that change in Illinois starts with you – not the politicians.
About a month ago, I asked you to submit your ideas for reforming Illinois – and the response was overwhelming. We received hundreds of ideas and thousands of votes.
Today, we ask you again to view this list, add your reform ideas and vote on the ideas you think most important to reforming our state:
We should never become apathetic about sharing our ideas, and we must always remember that the politicians and elected officials work for us — not the other way around.
Thank you for sharing your reform ideas, and for taking time out of your day to read this message.
Together, we can reform Illinois. We just need to keep on fighting the good fight.
Shame On You, Governor Quinn
Last night, a friend (who is an early childhood therapist) forwarded me an email that is circulating among other therapists regarding the stopgap budget recently passed in Springfield.
The theme of the email is simple and urgent: to stop the proposed budget cuts for early childhood therapy.
This, unfortunately, is the dishonest choice that Governor Quinn has chosen to make in his campaign for massive Illinois tax increases.
Shame on you, Governor Quinn.
Let’s make one thing very clear: Pat Quinn and Illinois Democrats are the only ones making the choice between tax hikes and cuts to vital services.
They refuse to even discuss the possibility of cutting the massive state political bureaucracy created during six years of Rod Blagojevich.
As I wrote in our previous post, they choose to ignore the no-bid contracts, the corruption, the millions in waste, fraud and abuse that pads our huge state budget.
In fact, they are working to protect the special interests at the expense of Illinois workers, families and children.
Are we going to accept this? Or are we going to hold these politicians accountable for their continue failures in 2010?
How About We Force Government to ‘Sacrifice’?
As the Chicago Tribune reports today, Governor Quinn took his tax hike campaign to church today — preaching “the virtues of a balanced budget — and the sacrifices it would require — Sunday morning to a packed congregation at Chicago’s Apostolic Church of God.”
We’ve all seen this before — it’s a tactic out of the Obama-Stroger-Blagojevich playbook. Make the issue of taxes about class warfare. About rich vs. poor.
Ignore the no-bid contracts, the corruption, the millions in waste, fraud and abuse that pads our huge state budget.
Let’s not talk about starving state government and the politicians and special interests in Springfield. Let’s talk about starving the taxpayers.
Is this the “new kind of politics” we were promised last year?
We deserve better.
We deserve a government that takes less of our money and spends it wisely.
We deserve a government that gets out of the way of job creation and lets our employers prosper.
We deserve leadership that says “No” to the special interests so that government serves the taxpayers.
And we deserve a governor who, once and for all, rejects the Blagojevich politics of the last six years in favor of honest, effective leadership that restores integrity to the state of Illinois.
Help me spread the word so that the voters of Illinois are led through this smokescreen of class warfare and cheap political talking points and together, we can make change and real reform a reality at the polling booths next year.
Answers from the Madigans on Possible Blago Deal?
The Illinois GOP is demanding answers from the Madigans regarding a reported deal with Blagojevich for the U.S. Senate seat.
Let’s Show ‘Em Illinois is No Longer for Sale
For the past six years, Illinois Democrats have sold our state government to the highest bidder.
Now it’s time to take it back.
Many are urging me to run statewide to help restore integrity and honesty to Illinois government.
They are doing so because they know I’ve been there all along fighting for reform, good government and our time-tested Republican principles.
They know I have a history of fighting corruption — prosecuting more than 40 public corruption cases in my career.
And they know my strong Illinois roots and midwestern work ethic have allowed me to build the strongest statewide grassroots network of any Republican in the state.
Can you help jump-start our campaign by providing us the financial resources to win?
During the last six years, the Democrats, with the help of the illegal fundraising machine of Rod Blagojevich, have dominated the message and the media.
They drowned us out.
No longer. They are back on their heels and people are listening to us again.
They are listening to us expose the Democrats’ horrendous record in Illinois.
They will listen to us as we bring them a Republican vision of reform.
It is time for us to re-assert our time-tested principles:
We are the party of Lincoln.
We are the party of limited government.
We are the party of effective government.
We are the party of clean government.
We are the party of low taxes.
We are the party of innovation and entrepreneurship.
We are the party of opportunity and hope.
Together, we can reform Illinois and show the political insiders, once and for all, that our state is no longer for sale.
Joe on Prosecuting Corruption
Joe is quoted in this Tribune story about our tollway corruption prosecutions and the need for added wiretap powers:
The public corruption case brought by DuPage County prosecutors in connection with a tainted Illinois tollway land deal ended with the convictions of two officials. Yet more than a decade later, it still nags at State’s Atty. Joseph Birkett that prosecutors never learned the full scale of the conspiracy at the heart of the case.
A wiretap on a phone, he said, might have opened up other avenues of investigation.
“I believe to this day there were more people involved in that conspiracy,” Birkett said.
Birkett may get the tools he wished for. Under sweeping changes proposed last week by the Illinois Reform Commission, state and local law enforcement agencies would obtain powers similar to their federal counterparts, closing a gap they say has hindered their pursuit of public corruption cases.
Lisa Madigan: Friend of Blago
The Illinois Republican Party today helps Illinois voters connect the dots between Attorney General Lisa Madigan and the corrupt former governor she helped enable: Rod Blagojevich.
As we recently posted here and here, Lisa Madigan was one of the “big three” Blagojevich enablers that include her, Mike Madigan (her father), and Governor Pat Quinn.
She ran silently on the same statewide ticket with Blagojevich in 2006 — back when many of us were warning the voters about the corruption in the Blagojevich Administration.
The Illinois GOP is spot on in adding Lisa Madigan to its FriendsofBlago.com Web site to show the tangled Web between Blagojevich and the many enablers who stood silently while he enaged in his (to quote U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald) “political corruption crime spree.”
Write a Letter to the Editor: Hold the Enablers Accountable
In recent weeks, it seems as Illinois’ media organizations have forgotten about these Blagojevich enablers — heralding Quinn’s “reform” proposals and failing to hold any of them accountable.
It’s up to you to hold these enablers accountable by writing a letter to the editor of your local newspaper.
How to Submit a Letter to the Editor:
Draft up a letter to the editor using our talking points below and send it to your local newspaper (contact information for Illinois newspapers listed below).
Quick tips:
- Make it your own – you can use the sample talking points below, but put the letter in your own voice.
- Keep it short – Most papers have a 150 to 250 word limit.
- Include your name, hometown and phone number (they won’t print it – but will use to confirm that you wrote the letter.)
Possible Letter to the Editor Talking Points:
- Much coverage has been given recently to Governor Pat Quinn’s “reform commission” proposals – but Pat Quinn failed to stop the Blagojevich corruption back in 2006 when he ran as Blagojevich’s running mate.
- While the newspapers and some elected officials, like DuPage County State’s Attorney Joe Birkett, warned of the corruption, politicians like Pat Quinn, Lisa Madigan and Mike Madigan did nothing to stop it.
- Remember – Pat Quinn ran as Blagojevich’s Lt. Governor mate; Lisa Madigan was on the same statewide ticket; and Mike Madigan served as Blagojevich’s campaign co-chair.
- As the 2010 elections near, it’s important that we remember who these Blagojevich enablers are — and hold them accountable at the polling booth.
Contact Information for Newspaper Editors:
Following is contact information for Illinois newspaper editors. Simply write your letter in the body of an email, put “Letter to the Editor” in the subject line, and email your letter to one of the addresses listed below:
Chicago Tribune: ctc-tribletter@tribune.com
Chicago Sun-Times: letters@suntimes.com
The Daily Herald: fencepost@dailyherald.com
SouthtownStar: letters@southtownstar.com
The Pantagraph: letters@pantagraph.com
Peoria Journal-Star: forum@pjstar.com
Springfield State Journal-Register: voice@sj-r.com
Belleville News-Democrat: letters@bnd.com
The Southern Illinoisan: letters@thesouthern.com
Rockford Register-Star: opinions@rrstar.com
Champaign News-Gazette: letters@news-gazette.com
Morris Daily Herald: letters@morrisdailyherald.com
Joliet Herald-News: heraldnews@scn1.com
Aurora Beacon News: beaconviewpoint@scn1.com
Elgin Courier News: couriernews@scn1.com
Rock Island Argus/Moline Dispatch: letters@qconline.com
Kankakee Daily Journal:letters@daily-journal.com
Ottawa Daily Times: newsroom@mywebtimes.com
LaSalle News-Tribune: ntnews@newstrib.com
Marion Daily Republican: editor@mariondaily.com
Amboy News: editor@mendotareporter.com
Bureau County Republican: opinion@bcrnews.com
Cambridge Chronicle: editor@geneseorepublic.com
Courier News: Courier.Viewpoint@scn1.com
Daily Chronicle: chroniclenews@daily-chronicle.com
Elburn Herald: info@elburnherald.com
Examiner Newspapers: news@examinerpublications.com
Fox Valley Labor News: info@foxvalleylabornews.com
Geneseo Republic: editor@geneseorepublic.com
Kane County Chronicle: letters@kcchronicle.com
Midweek Newspaper: readit@midweeknews.com
Northern Star: editorinchief@northernstar.info
Orion Gazette: editor@geneseorepublic.com
Oswego Ledger-Sentinel: LedgerSentinel@sbcglobal.net
Press Republican: news@press-repub.com
Star Courier: editor@starcourier.com
Telegraph: news@svnmail.com
Quincy Herald-Whig: whig@whig.com
Newspaper not listed? Email us here and we’ll send you the correct contact information for your newspaper.
Too Little, Too Late
It appears that Pat Quinn is not only governor of Illinois … he is now “Master of the Obvious.”
During today’s taping of his appearance on ABC 7 Chicago’s “News Views”, Governor Quinn told host Alan Krashesky that Illinoisans are “sick and tired of corruption.”
No kidding.
Note to Pat Quinn: They were sick and tired of corruption back in 2006, while you remained silent as Rod Blagojevich’s loyal running mate.
The list of the enablers is long: Both Quinn and Lisa Madigan ran on the same ticket as Blagojevich – and Mike Madigan served as Blago’s campaign co-chair.
While some of us signaled the warning flares … others remained silent. It’s time to hold those politicians accountable.