Entrenched politicians have hurt our state

Several weeks ago I was surprised to see an article in the Daily Herald about the secret meetings being held by Speaker Michael Madigan and his crew to change the formula for school funding in Illinois. This article indicated that the new formula would cost most school districts a large amount of their state funding. My school district, Schaumburg Elementary District 54, will lose about 70 percent of its state funding.

I would think that this type of backroom dealing would have some sort of follow-up, but not a peep from the Daily Herald. I do want to credit you with reporting it when other papers did not. Then on Sept. 19 we got the Guest View from state Rep. Jim Durkin to reveal that not only are they looking to gut our schools' state funding, but good old Mike and his happy band also want to shift the pension funding for the teachers to the individual district. Wait until you get the tax bill for that one.

It is time for the people of Illinois to wake up and throw these bums out. Backroom meetings need to stop and our legislators need to start working in the best interest of the voters. Michael Madigan is a poster boy for term limits; he is the perfect example of what happens when you let these guys stay in office for 30 years.

Greg Thornley

Schaumburg