Michael Noland on Budget Transparency
From his mailing list:
February 14, 2010
Each week that the legislature is in session I will be updating you on progress being made in Springfield on behalf of the 22nd District and the State of Illinois.
The General Assembly has now convened, and lawmakers are busy working on solutions to our current budget crisis and rebuilding Illinois’ economy.
As we all know, for decades the state budget has been a source of frustration for the people of Illinois. Yet, little is known about our state’s budget process. This past week I voted to support legislation that will shed light on how the budget is put together.
House Bill 2240 requires that the General Assembly be informed of the state’s fiscal status and then make recommendations to the Governor while the proposed budget is still being drafted.
This is an historic step for state government in Illinois. For the first time ever the state’s budget process is truly open to the public, the media and to legislators on both sides of the aisle. This new measure will provide transparency, accountability and move us forward to a sustainable budget in Illinois.
I will continue to fight for more reforms that bring Illinois’ legislative process out into the open.
Sincerely,
Senator Michael Noland
Illinois’ 22nd Legislative District
The photograph below of Senator Michael Noland, Elgin Mayor Ed Schock and Illinois Senate President John Cullerton is from Senator Noland’s Flickr page. More photographs of his recent fundraising event can be viewed there.
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And it looks like it’s Dave Kaptain in the corner looking around for a way of avoiding coming into physical contact with Noland. Perhaps Dave had to watch - or should I say “hear” - Noland drink a beverage and would prefer to keep his ever-present blue blazer dry.
I tried to instill some common sense in Elgin’s Mayor and his informal majority who in 2004 were considering hiring Futterman law firm to consider suing OUR OWN SCHOOL DISTRICT over newly created boundaries.
My letter of common sense as to why it made sense to send more students to local neighborhood schools was under the Mayor’s letter with his reasons why he was doing what he proposed. Shortly after that letter of mine one of the informal majority changed sides and so their was an informal tie and the formal vote was tabled.
Unfortunately this spark of litigation talk by the Mayor and his informal majority spread like an out of control, roaring, California forest fire of class action litigation that so far has cost the taxpayers 8.2 million dollars to defend against with no end in sight when the parents group took off where the mayor left off and hired Futterman law firm.
I helped the informal majority that was up for reelection to the council as incumbents get defeated at the last city election by reminding voters of this foolish litigation talk every chance I got.
You don’t talk about suing your own school district. It was STUPID.
Mr. Mayor, U46 sure could use that 8.2 million dollars that went to the lawyers.
Common Sense, Independent, Clarence Hayward
Yeah! We need that money to seperate our combined sewers! We can only be irresponsible with our money if it helps a handful of private citizens and not the future of our children.
It is hard to take anonymous comments seriously when the writer is not willing to back up their post with their real name in my opinion.
Then 99% of this site isn’t to be taken seriously?
Maybe 99% of this site doesn’t have a starved ego.
Would anyone like to explain why they don’t back up their posts with their legal name?
What’s in a name? Is my opinion not valid because I stand behind a curtain and wish to be heard and not seen? What if Woodward and Bernstein had the same philosophy as you? Would Felt Sr. have come forward? Sometimes the comments that need to be taken seriously are the ones that are anonymous.
Also valid is the reason that some use their name for the rush of feeling popular, if for just a minute. Like seeing your name in lights.
Soon after, it becomes apparent that the content of the post is not the significant portion. Rather, it’s the branding of the name that becomes important followed by the need to spout off the topic and focuis more on the writer than the topic.
I shamefully refer to it as the Oprah Syndrome.
Upon reflection, I realized the above photo is much more than the typical Illinois Democratic party shot where three white men are smiling over the non-white poverty that fuels their political agenda.
This is one of the most historic photos in Elgin’s history. If Elgin has some kind of historical society, they really need this shot. To understand its significance you have to know the man on the right, John Cullerton. Cullerton is the living embodiment of the Chicago Machine. White guy, Loyola lawyer practicing in all the clout areas of “government relations,” zoning, licensing and real estate assessments, he also passes his time as a registered lobbyist. All the basic activities commonly found among the Chicago-style “public servant.” But that’s not all,… Mr. Cullerton also maintains business relationships with State Sen. Jimmy DeLeo, who managed to avoid any hard time and got probation in the fallout from the Operation Greylord scandal (refresh your memory on that scandal if you are thinking of putting a Democrat on the Kane Co. judiciary). You can almost feel the warm pleasure radiating from the shining faces of Mike Noland and Ed Schock at their good favor at falling within the presence of such a man.
But the historical character of this photo does not lie in its showing the normally sullen and thuggish Noland with a smile. It lies in capturing the moment when Mayor Ed Schock beamingly surrenders Elgin to the Chicago Machine’s emissary. Here we have the culmination of Ed’s busy life and commitment to making Elgin just another Chicago “neighborhood” like Englewood, Pilsen, Humboldt Park… Of course, Ed would graciously concede that he could not have done it alone and would generously point to all those names endorsing John G. Dalton and Michael Noland as vital to the project. Let’s just credit them all for meeting the Machine prerequsites. Destroyed public schools? Check. Illegal alien sanctuary? Check. Huge unemployment? Check. Massive, ethnically-divided non-white poverty? Check. Violent gang activity? Check. Empty storefronts? Check. All the pieces in place for Elgin to move from an independent American community to just another ghetto cog in the Chicago Machine. And to think that the moment was recorded here on the Elginite blog.
rm, with all due respect, I’ve known Senator Noland for many years and I think your characterizations of him are inaccurate, over the top and really not the kind of comments we want on this site. By all means disagree with his politics, but the personal bashing is unnecessary. Your comments are most effective and persuasive when you stick to the facts and analysis at which you excel. I hope you can keep that in mind when you post in the future. Thanks.
rm, I think what rs didn’t say but what he might be implying is you might be close to going to the Purgatoreum. My apologies if my analysis is flawed.
I don’t agree with Mike’s politics a lot of the time but I too like him as a person.
Mike stuck up for me one time when Tom Sandor tried to muzzle me after a council meeting so to speak after I spoke at a council meeting taking the city council to task.
Peace to all.
Clarence: I have finally gotten tired of you trotting out a long ago incident at a city council meeting without telling the full story. You might remember that for a period of time you attended council meetings , not to address the council on any issue, but to play to the TV cameras recording the meeting. You deliberately moved the podium to face the camera rather than the council,and greeted the audience, including those that would watch the replays, rather than speak to the council directly. On the evening in question, you proceeded to move the podium and sang to the audience a song expressing your displeasure with a certain ordinance. This behavior shows a repeated lack of respect for the institution of city government as well as your overwhelming need to feel important.
I did come up to you and told you to cut it out, to stop acting like a buffoon. In the future, tell the whole story.
Tom, I don’t appreciate being called a name by you or anyone. There is a Purgatorium in the elginite.org if you can’t be civil. Mike Noland stuck up for me that night and told me to stick to my guns because I have good ideas.
If I want to look into the camera and talk to the people I can do that. My concern for using my toy poodle and the other dogs of Elgin as a revenue generator has helped keep the council from taxing our dogs.
They could have used the pit bull incident as an excuse to tax all dogs but they know how much I am opposed and how I would remind all the voters before the election of who wanted to tax our dogs.
You are a much better person when you are helping the family of that soldier who had a bathroom that needed repairing. I would urge you to do more of that type of service rather than trying to criticize me for singing against taxing our dogs with George Harrison’s The Tax Man lines and looking out into the crowd and the camera.
Peace to all.