A special thank you to Senator Burzynski, Representative Pritchard and Susan Fox from C.O.R.E.

Article from Darlene Ray of mywebtimes.com

The Illinois Chapter of the free-market grassroots group Americans for Prosperity (AFL-IL) joined forces with the Community Organized for Responsibility in Education (CORE) of Somonauk held a public meeting that drew state Sen. Brad Burzynski, R-Sycamore, and state Rep. Bob Pritchard, R-Hinckley, to the Somonauk Public Library to answer questions from the 80 people in attendance.

And questions indeed are exactly what the audience had, with some pretty tough and to the point.

After speeches from both Burzynski and Pritchard, Joe Calomino, director of AFP-IL and Susan Fox, founder of CORE, the questions began with a bang.

The very first, more like a scolding, came from local resident Charles Struck after listening to the two lawmaker's speeches and hearing all the reasons why the fiscal condition of Illinois government is so poor.

"I've heard a lot of whining. Results are what we need. You all must have been blind to what was happening. You say it's Quinn's fault or Blagojevich did this or didn't do that but you need to take accountability for what's happened too. You must have been blind. Things aren't changing," he said.

Burzynski gave reasons why and explained how things work or didn't work in Springfield and how they know reform is needed. He told of the bi-partisan package bills recently signed into law by Gov. Pat Quinn that will fight fraud and increase the transparency and efficiency of Illinois' Medicaid program, where a lot of taxpayers' dollars are spent.

The Transparency and Accountability portal website is presented to citizens to review how their tax dollars are being spent and other government data. So Burzynski's answer was yes, things are changing to keep government accountable.

Both lawmakers acknowledged that the fiscal condition for the state of Illinois is in trouble but the taxpayers can fight back with meetings like this meeting in Somonauk, getting informed and voting the right people into office.

Many questions involved jobs.

"Why did they (the U.S.) let jobs go overseas? I feel like we were sold out. How can we get jobs back here? Why can't we tax manufacturers, say like a refrigerator that comes in from overseas, raise their tax higher? How are we going to get jobs back in the U.S.? I'm a retired carpenter but I worry about my kids and grandkids," said Frank Evans of Somonauk.

Pritchard agreed Illinois needs reform, to keep jobs here and entice more companies back here to provide jobs for the people so there's no need to move out of state after employment elsewhere.

Evans wife Carol asked, "Do they (Illinois government) ever ask states that are doing well how they do it?"

"Not likely," Pritchard answered. He said those states have made adjustments along the way in their budget but Illinois hasn't made any adjustments and continues to spend what they don't have.

An audience member asked what happens when they do that, and if there is a penalty.

Pritchard again referred to laws such as the Transparency Bill and the importance for Illinois government reform like changing districts, getting more information to the people and making them more aware that they can bring change and force Illinois government to reform how things are done.

There were many references from both lawmakers and the audience that Republican voters outside of Cook County need to "outnumber the Democrats from Chicago and Cook County" so the Republican Party would have more pull.

"I think it is frustrating but we need more meetings like this more often. I learned some things tonight," said Carol Evans.

Others at the meeting said they found it interesting and felt a little more empowered — more informed as to what is going on and how Illinois got into such poor fiscal shape and others still more questions. Property taxes were not mentioned.

Calomino summed up the meeting with saying "we need reform and people need to know who their representatives and senators are. They (citizens) need to call them and let them know how they feel and what they want done," he said.
"We hope we can have more meetings like this. People are mad, I'm mad. We need to get things going, get things done, make some changes," said Fox.