Your Views

Lobbyists are winners in Route 53 boondoggle

So, Bob "The Builder" Schillerstrom anf his gang of good old boys approved the spending of $25 million to fund a "consulting contract" for the boondoggle called the Route 53 extension.

Thanks, Bob, where is the money coming from? The state of Illinois is broke, yet you and the good old boys have found $25 million to fund a "consulting contract" for a road project that will cost (in today's dollars) $2.3 billion.

Even if you tripled what is being charged for tolls, that would not cover the cost of Route 53. OK, that leaves increasing the gas tax in Lake county. Thanks. Really, Bob, you and the good old boys live in La La Land, I live in the real world, and if I don't have the money to pay for something, I don't buy it.

Bob, you are a typical political appointee listening to the voices of construction lobbyists and turning your back on voices of reason, like Bill Morris. Mr. Morris served as a tollway director. He knows firsthand what it takes to build and fund a tollway; but did you and your gang of good old boys listen to Mr. Morris? No!

Why listen to the voice of experience, when you can listen to all those voices calling to build, build - the same voices that will benefit from the construction of Route 53, without having to pay for this boondoggle.

Bob, you and your gang of good old boys, have been tricked by the siren voices of the lobbyists and this project will cost way more than the projected $2.3 billion dollars.

Thanks. I really look forward to paying higher tolls and higher taxes for this boondoggle of a tollway project.

Tom Mattingly

Gurnee

Auf Wiedersehen

Breaking news: Chancellor Merkel indicates Europe can go it alone. Thank you, Chancellor. Why did it take 72 years, 418,000 American war dead in Europe and billions of American tax dollars for you to reach this conclusion? Was it because this president told you and other NATO leaders face to face it was time to pony up?

Or, was it because Trump is the president, and your favorite, President Obama, is no longer president? (Even though he approved bugging your car.)

Whatever the reason, it is time to bring the troops home from Germany and for them to say on their way out, "Thank you, Chancellor. Auf Wierdersehen."

Kevin J. Fitzgerald

Arlington Heights

Conservatives also should 'get over it'

The cries of "sore losers" or "just get over it" have been the general response of many conservatives as they fend off the public protests and the constant liberal barrage of criticisms regarding the election of Donald Trump as president. In my opinion, many conservatives have a very narrow view of the real liberal disdain, anguish and discontent felt toward this terrible representative of the American people.

It is not simply a protest against the Republican Party and their platform. Rather, it is a protest against the elected individual. Though disheartening, it would have been more palatable had a qualified Republican candidate won the election-Mike Pence, Mitt Romney or John McCain - and life probably would have quietly gone on as usual.

But two issues exacerbated this election: an archaic system that continues to allow the candidate with the least number of popular votes to win the office of president, and the candidate that did win is not in the least bit even close to being presidential.

There are public protests because Donald Trump is an embarrassment both domestically and internationally, and when all is said and done, Donald Trump is rude, crude, narcissistic, misogynistic and politically inept as our representative to the world. These protests and criticisms will not stop until this situation is inevitably rectified, so the conservatives "just need to get over it!"

Dirk Christiansen

Schaumburg