Politicians: Stop the blame game
Action is better than blame.
Last Thursday evening I participated in a "Town Hall" meeting on the telephone hosted by State Rep. Tim Schmitz from the 49th District and State Rep. Ruth Munson of the 43rd District. Having a town-hall meeting for constituents to voice their concerns is a good idea because I don't believe many people know who, in fact, their representatives are.
It seemed there were many comments about our state's fiscal problems that Ms. Munson and Mr. Schmitz blamed the Democrats for when we know that Republicans in our Illinois House and Senate share in the current dilemma. Our state's debt didn't occur overnight but has taken years when both Democrats and Republicans have been in charge. Mr. Schmitz has been in office since 1998 and our state has amassed $42 billion in debt for state pension plans.
One gentleman asked how we can stop the jobs from moving out of Illinois. The answer from Tim Schmitz is that we have to stop taxing businesses so heavily. Republicans don't like taxes period. Yet they don't offer any concrete solutions as to how we are going to pay for our schools, police, firemen and roads.
We need town hall meetings where people can tell their representatives their concerns, but it would be helpful if politicians would truly listen and do something about our concerns instead of continuing the tired blame game.
Kaye Gamble
Sleepy Hollow