Great town hall meeting, Woodstock

Reboot Illinois sponsored a town hall meeting tonight with three Illinois State legislators. Attending were Senator Pam Althoff and Representatives Jack Franks and Barb Wheeler. The town hall was moderated by Matt Dietrich, Executive Editor, along with Madeleine Doubek, Chief Operating Officer.

Reboot Illinois has its sights set on four areas:
State finances;
Business climate and job market;
Schools; and
Government accountability and transparency.

Much of the 90 minutes was devoted to the pension problems of the State. Jack gave the example of the police chief earning $120.000/year who retires on Friday and on Monday is back at the same desk as Director of Security or Director of Public Service, receiving a $100,000/year pension and earning $120,000/year in his new position.

The dreary topics of state government were off-set with some lighter moments, such as when Barb mentioned how many hours of House time were wasted on whether dogs can ride on laps in cars.

Regarding the "temporary" increase in State income tax, Jack said that he "didn't think it was 'temporary' when we passed it."

Pam gave an example of a failed state teacher-training program in which students were to study and graduate, become teachers and return to their home neighbors to teach. It was calculated that each teacher would cost the State $196,000! But one-half of them never graduated. Money down the drain! (That reminded me of the Promise Program at MCC.)

The City Council chamber at Woodstock City Hall was full. I urge you to attend future town hall meetings.

And I encourage to visit www.rebootillinois.com and register for your daily dose of reform news.