Can we suburbanite taxpayers sit back and do nothing?

Can we suburbanite taxpayers afford to sit back and do nothing?

We are facing a tsunami of tax increases from Chicago, Cook County, and the State of Illinois. At a time when we, the taxpayers, have to tighten our belts to make ends meet -- cutting back on family travel, working more, trimming back on meals, savings, new cloths, and trying to cover the basics of life, the politicians are doing just the opposite.

They get their top-notch healthcare. They get their steadily increasing salaries and benefits. They get their perqs, including bodyguards and chauffeurs like Mayor Daley, Alderman Burke and other big shot politicians who don't feel they have to answer to our needs.

They get their family members jobs. Their friends jobs.

And they do it with our money. taxpayer money.

Gov. Pat Quinn, a patsy for Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan, is proposing a whopping 50 percent increase in the Illinois Income Tax. Quin didn't start out by saying he planned to tighten the state's fat, obese, overweight belt. No. He started by saying we have to raise taxes.

They said the alleged corruption of disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich cost us millions. But have the losses stopped? No. Blagojevich was a distraction, to take our eyes off the ball. Our money and the elected officials failure to do their jobs.

Mayor Daley, who lies about his office indiscretions taking free jet rides from contributors and pals who put his wife to work, wants the suburbanites to pay more to bail out the inefficient, waste-bloated CTA. They keep saying how it will help the suburbs, but the fact is the suburbs get bones while Chicago gets the cash. Chicago doesn't get good service. Don't misunderstand what I am saying. They get lousy transportation service just like the suburbs. But Chicago gets the jobs. Well, pals of the mayor and his top aides and the alderman and the politicians, get the jobs.

And then there is County Board President Todd Stroger. He zapped up the sales tax with out even a blink of the eye. Oh, the politicians who were running for higher office, like larry Suffredin, screamed in taxpayer agony. And then when they lost and went back to the County "Bored" room, they flipflopped and supported th etax increase.

Now Quinn wants to jack up taxes.

And what are you going to do about it?

On Monday, March 30, Palatine Mayor Rita Mullins will keynote a community forum to fight increased local, county and state taxes. Mullins has proposed seceding Palatine Township from Cook County. It's not easy to do, but the proposal has caught the attention of the lazy politicians who tax and tax and then lie.

The forum is at the Orland Park Civic Center, 14750 S. Ravinia Road (1 block west of LaGrange/Mannheim Road). Doors open at 6 PM. The fight the taxes revolution starts at 6:30.

Be there. It's free.

Go to www.RadioChicagoland.com and check out the activism page and read about more steps you can take to fight the tax increases.

-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com

Palatine Mayor Rita Mullins pushes secession from Cook County

While other politicians are wallowing in the muddy wake of the felonious former Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his tainted U.S. Senate appointee Roland Burris (the voiceless voice for the voiceless who refuses to answer questions), Palatine Mayor Rita Mullins is focusing on the needs of her constituents.

Last week on Radio Chicagoland (WJJG 1530 AM, www.RadioChicagoland.com), Mullins said she is working with other local township officials on the borders of Cook County's over-taxed residents to explore options including secession.

Most people can't spell the word, let alone understand the complexity of the challenge she faces. Mullins acknowledges that seceding from Cook County to merge with a neighboring DuPage County would require not only a 50 percent plus 1 vote of the voters in Palatine Township, but also a 50 percent plus 1 vote of the voters in Cook County. It's the second hurdle that depicts the imprisonment of the people of the Cook County suburbs.

Chicago is the 3 million pound gorilla and controls the county. Chicago is the governing body in Cook County. The mayor's brother, John Daley, controls the financial spigots. Mayor Daley, who rarely visits the suburbs and spends most of his vacation time in foreign countries these days or at his posh Lake Michigan home just over the Michigan-Indiana border, basically dictates to the rest of the county what the voiceless taxpayers must pay. And most of the time, what they pay doesn't go for suburban needs but rather for Chicago's bottomless pit of incompetent and corrupt bureacracies like the inefficient and dangerous CTA.

Mullins is in her 5th term and is running for re-election. She has three challengers, including Warren Kostka, a former member of the Palatine Village Council; Vito Manola, who lost a close race to Mullins in 2005 and runs a bagel and bread shop; and former Chicago Bears linebacker and part-time broadcaster Jim Schwantz.

Mullins will be coming out to Orland Park to help activists there consider a broader campaign to secede from Cook County and merge into neighboring counties.

Click here to listen to her interview on Radio Chicagoland.

-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com