Lawmakers should be held accountable

State law requires the governor to submit, and lawmakers to pass, a balanced budget each year. If lawmakers have been doing their job, Illinois would not be in the financial crisis it is currently in.

Ahead of November elections, we're already seeing fingers being pointed:

•Lawmakers blame leadership, but they fail to mention they are the ones who elect leadership.

•The president of the teachers union points out in the Daily Herald that if the Illinois General Assembly "had acted responsibly," public pensions would not be controversial. Yet the IEA had actively supported the biggest pension robbers in our state's history.

•Gov. Quinn blames a bad economy, yet he continues to demonstrate his complete incompetence in attracting and keeping employers (those creating jobs and paying taxes) in Illinois.

These creative geniuses come up with HB 174, which is simply a tax increase regardless of how they try to package it. Does anyone actually believe the same people who have created this mess should be trusted with more of our tax dollars?

When they pass another state budget based on smoke, mirrors, misrepresentations, and lies, and come home from session early to campaign for re-election, be sure to go to their events this summer and ask them what they did to help create jobs or control spending.

If they're telling the truth, the silence should be defining.

Keith Gray

Mettawa