Courageous vote for tax increase

I am writing this letter in response to the local media holding up lawmakers who voted against an income tax rate increase this week, a measure that was clearly needed, as made evident when one truly looks at the facts of our fiscal situation.

Yes, the facts of our dire fiscal crisis and the choices our lawmakers had in dealing with this crisis are there if you dig hard.

But my purpose for writing is to focus your attention to real courage and leadership. I think I can best do that by highlighting the actions of two suburban lawmakers who, in my opinion, we don’t hear enough about.

Rep. Elaine Nekritz of Northbrook and State Sen. Dan Kotowski of Park Ridge led efforts in their respective chambers to reform the budget process in Springfield this past session. The new process is now a solid framework that will focus on results based on measurable performance coupled with the top priorities of real people, not politics and special interests. The new process also encourages state agencies to find new, thoughtful and creative ways to meet these top priorities with limited resources.

In my opinion, this is the kind of leadership that folks are looking for, and the kind of leadership we deserve.

It was the leadership of these two courageous leaders that moved this legislation to becoming a reality in Illinois, and both Rep. Nekritz and Sen. Kotowski voted in favor of new revenue Jan. 11 because they based their decisions on our top priorities of real people and our state, not on politics and self-interest. Both had the courage to do the right thing, albeit the tough thing to do. Thank you, Rep. Nekritz and Sen. Kotowski.

Laurel Bault

Elgin