Progress Illinois

As regular readers know, human service providers and their allies have been ramping up political pressure on the elected officials who voted against an income tax increase at the end of May.  The message is simple: If these lawmakers stand idly by as the state's safety net programs are decimated, they will face the consequences at the polls next year. Organizations and state workers across Illinois have convened daily demonstrations at their local elected officials' offices, held rallies in town squares, and persuasively argued the proposed cuts will cost the state more in the longrun. Today was no different.

A delegation organized by Citizen Action/Illinois took their "Call for Responsible Leadership" (PDF) straight to the top this afternoon, telling Gov. Pat Quinn and the four legislative leaders that, when it comes to passing an income tax hike, there is no time to waste. Before delivering petitions to the officials (who were meeting at the Thompson Center), members of the coalition reminded everyone that we don't elect rank-and-file lawmakers to play politics, take easy votes, and collect a paycheck.

"Avoiding a tax increase vote because you are concerned about your political career.  That is cowardly," said the Center on Tax and Budget Accountability's Ralph Martire. With evidence continuing to pile up that there's no way to cut our way out of the current $9 billion hole, Martire challenged members of the General Assembly to explain their votes to people -- children, seniors, and the working poor -- who will lose the most under a 50 percent budget scenario. Watch it:

Judging by the reaction of Ruth Long, a Jane Addams Senior Caucus member, Illinois seniors are going to be furious if the legislature fails to raise enough money to keep home care programs running. From her remarks:

"We are voters. And seniors are the largest voting block in the state. I am not asking. I am not pleading. I am demanding that those legislators get back to Springfield and go to work and do what is right. Fully fund that budget, increase the taxes as needed in a fair manner and make it possible for the seniors and other people that involved to have what is needed."

The four legislative leaders were targeted in demonstrations across the city. Elsewhere in Chicago, four House Democrats who voted against a temporary income tax increase last month -- Reps. John Fritchey, Deb Mell, John D’Amico, and Joseph Lyons -- came face-to-face with some of the Illinoisans who rely on endangered services such as home assistance, subsidized child care, and education programs. Tomorrow, Illinois Action for Children (IAC) is leading another rally at 11:30 a.m. at the Thompson Center.

As IAC's policy director Sessy Nyman noted today, the time to hold members of the General Assembly accountable is now: 

"What are we doing? We were supposed to go to Springfield and come back with a solution to our state's fiscal crisis that's unprecedented. And yet, we came home with a legislature that made it worse. And yet, these are the people who asked for our vote every two years, or every four years. We as a state have to start holding our legislators accountable. And that time has come. The chicken has come home to roost."