Jeff Berkowitz (“Public Affairs” host) and Terry Martin (“Illinois Channel” Executive Director) discuss the past week’s close of the Illinois legislative session.

Tonight’s city edition of Public Affairs airs through-out Chicago at 8:30 pm and midnight on Cable Ch 21.

You can also watch the show 24/7 by clicking here:

They ask why aren’t IL state legislators focusing on the important matters that could make IL a better place to live, including how to decrease property taxes, fix IL’s State and city $400 billion in unfunded pension mess and improve the ability of public school students to read at grade level- especially in the minority community.  

Instead, the Democrats who control the IL legislative agenda focused their recent time on developing an expertly, partisan drawn, redistricting map. At the time of the taping last week, the remap virtually forced at least twenty-two (Half of the IL House Republican Caucus) state house Republican incumbents to run against each other in primaries- for the right to take on a Democrat.

So, the Dems are not only picking their voters, but now they are picking their opponents.  But, by the end of the week, for various reasons, the Dems backed off a bit and passed a remap that forced “Only” fourteen state house Republican incumbents to run against each other in primaries- for the right to take on a Dem in the general election.  

The Democrats, in the dark of tonight, are forcing through a budget with little, or no, time for the legislators to debate or even read the key portions of the 700 page, or so, FY 2022 Budget.  Nor was there any discussion of expanded school choice or how to empower parents, especially minorities, to exercise control of their children’s education, curriculum and what they are taught about the nation’s founders, founding documents and whether IL is a systemically racist state.    

Further, there was no time spent, before the IL legislative session pretty much ends for the year, on economic or fiscal reform of the state’s  pension mess, letting the State’s outlier fiscal problems fester and get even worse. 

Instead, the IL House and Senate Democrats put on the ballot, with the assistance of many Republicans, a constitutional amendment that will make it impossible for the cities and villages around the State to lower their salary and pension costs for teachers, fire and police personnel, which together comprise the bulk of the city and village driven costs.

Since, the IL local taxing units cannot lower their costs, due to constitutional prohibitions if that amendment is approved in 2022 by the voters, that action by voters would prevent any push for lower property taxes, helping IL keep its position of one of the worst in the country in state and local taxes.  

Have the mainstream media educated the voters or even the legislators about the impact of the Dems’ proposed constitutional amendment on IL property taxes? Not at all. But Berkowitz and Martin pull no punches in doing just that.

Moreover, this show gives plenty of factual, historical perspective on important worker, union and  taxpayer rights- and collective bargaining reform issues- as we begin our discussion on these topics with our viewers.