Voters want results, not rhetoric

State Rep. Ed Sullivan's Feb. 15 comments about RTA funding and criticism of Amanda Howland should give voters reason for pause.

If you sit on the Mass Transportation Committee, Rep. Sullivan, those of us that rely on RTA services certainly hope you have an understanding of the legislation more than "fairly well" as you mentioned.

Regardless the source of revenue funding, the fiscal mishandling of the RTA systems has languished under both Republican and Democratic administrations, including your tenure in that 25-year taxation period you mentioned. You're a part of the problem -- not the solution.

The funding deficits are not so much about taxation sources as they are about owning up to the poor fiscal management of the RTA budget by both parties and doing something constructive about it. Short term band aid fixes from either party are not the answers. Politician rhetoric aimed at exploiting the public's social conscious in an election year to divert the real issues at hand is insulting.

For those that rely on the services of the RTA systems for travel to and from jobs which pay for the food and drugs you tax -- rich, poor, elderly or otherwise, ever increasing fares and threats of reduced services can be as important as food and medicine to sustain our livelihoods. What exactly have you done to make the situation better rather than exploit it for re-election purpose? Voters want change and results not political rhetoric, Rep. Sullivan.

Sarah Powers

Mundelein