Harris would help solve budget mess
I read with interest the Fence Post letter complimenting incumbent state Rep. Mark Walker for wanting to run the state like a business and voting against a pay raise for himself.
However, if voting in favor of a budget that is billions of dollars out of balance and voting to increase our state debt by $3.7 billion, which has nearly tripled to $27 billion in seven years, is running Illinois like a business, then I can understand why Illinois is in such bad shape.
This is what Mr. Walker has done in the past two years; he has done nothing to solve our state's fiscal mess. Also, voting against a pay raise is not the same thing as voting in favor of a salary reduction.
His opponent this fall, David Harris, not only promises to vote against out-of-balance budgets and increased borrowing, but he has also called for a 10 percent real salary reduction for all state officials. Furlough days are not salary reductions; they are just unpaid work days. Furlough days maintain pension benefits at the full salary level. A real salary reduction would lower both current expenses and pension costs to the state.
It is time for our elected officials to feel the same pain as the rest of us and who will not vote to continue the mismanagement we have been subjected to. It is time to elect legislators who fully recognize the mess Illinois is in and who will take positive action to turn our state around. Mr. Harris will do just that.
Tom Manion
Mount Prospect