Reduce government to save money

As usual, I read the Daily Herald as I do each morning. I was particularly attracted to "An Obvious Place to Begin Cutting" on the June 18 Opinion page.

I used to do a significant amount of work with certain school district and I can attest to its appropriateness.

In the first place there are a really huge number of these Regional Superintendent of School Offices throughout the state. They are hugely expensive, but accomplish little that couldn't better be handled by the state level.

It always appeared to me that the very nature of these organizations, was to breed differences, engender delays, create confusion, and produce bureaucratic inefficiencies at great cost. This is especially galling when you consider they only exist to implement state law as required by federal requirements.

You should also note this type of organizational layering occurs over and over again throughout state government, more so than any other state in the union. Quinn is way, way, way off the mark in pleading for more taxes while covering for a state organization that has over 6,500 organizational entities (way more than any other state in the union) and he needs to reorganize, reduce and improve state management, operation and improve in all areas before bothering to come to the people for things they can't afford anyway. There is no long-term benefit to being the most expensive, inefficient, ineffective and graft-ridden state in the union; other of, course than the honor of it.

While I sympathize with the various organizations and people needing help, there's no point in taxing anyone to the point that they are eligible and seek aid from the same agencies they are being taxed to support. Such a situation would mean cranking up the printing presses and rampant inflation, following huge deficits.

Stephen McMahon

Mount Prospect