My Blog

Illinois’ Political Future

jjackson — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 21:28:37 +0000

Illinois will continue to be a moderate to liberal state due to its location in the North and due to the large number os unions and unionized workers in the state. The future looks bright for Illinois politics as they put past corruption behind them and focus on moving forward and leaving their unethical past behind them. Currently Illinois politics is very effective and I believe that it will continue to be effective as long as the people have faith in, and trust their politicians. I think you will see a growing revival of Illinois politicians as people come to trust politicians in the state more, politicians will gain power.

Taxes

jjackson — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 23:07:06 +0000

It would be hard for a politician to come out in favor of new taxes to try to “fix” the state budget deficit that all states in the US are currently facing. No one likes paying taxes or tax increases, however, all people want the benefit of these taxes. I think establishing lotteries and casinos that are state-run is definitely a way to generate revenue. I do not favor toll roads for in state residents because these people already pay taxes that build the roads in their state. I do favor a toll fee for those driving through a state in which they are not a resident. I think that this would generate revenue and would not affect the citizens of the state, however one must consider how this would affect commerce. If this type of tax was established, and was the same amount for every state, it would be fair and would not affect commerce.

Education Chart

jjackson — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:27:41 +0000

Local Gov’t Power in Illinois

jjackson — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:06:31 +0000

Illinois has long been a democratic state dominated by unions. Local governments have traditionally not had much power. The state government has had all of the power, and thus has led to the corruption that has dominated Illinois politics. The new Governor of Illinois, Pat Quinn, is ceding some power back to local governments. I think that this is a good idea, the power that the state government had in recent years has directly influenced the amount of corruption among Illinois’ governors and politicians. The power of the local governments in Illinois’ will continue to grow under Gov Quinn and a governor like him that realizes that too much power in the executive branch will without a doubt lead to corruption. Local politicians will continue to gain power, and local politics will gain power in the future. Local politicians will grow in popularity and thus restore faith in Illinois’ politicians.

Legislative Women by Beth Reingold

jjackson — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:19:23 +0000

Her book was baiscally about the effects women have on the legislature. She discusses what women had to do in order to get elected and how the impact of their political power on the nation. This book contains several different parts that have been collected by the author to describe how women have had an effect on government. She states that every chapter in the book explains how over time women in politics has drastically changed. The book explains how women in politics were getting ahead in the different branches of government. She gives the example of how Hillary Clinton became a front runner in the presidential election. Even though I am not a supporter of Hillary Clinton, in my opinion she opened some eyes on women rights and the progress that women have made in politics over the past one hundred years or so. This book is overall an excellent read. It empowers women and allows for the voice of women in politics to be heard.

Illinois Prison Issues

jjackson — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:15:32 +0000

All states are dealing with budget cutbacks and Illinois is no different. The problem comes with cutting a prison budget but attempting to maintain safety among the citizens and not let the bad people out of jail. I believe that to fix current budget issues we could deport illegal immigrants. I also believe that we could reform our system to figure out why society accepts the norm that some racial demographics dominate the prison system. I also believe that we can we lessen the penalties on menial offenses like marijuana use and possession.

I think that all of these are plausible. Deporting illegals is easy. Investing money in studies to figure out why some races dominate the prison system and how to fix the problems in that race. I also think that it would be easy to let marijuana use or possession of any amount be a minimal fine and not lead to prison time. Marijuana use is more accepted and menial tickets like marijuana use and other stupid offenses are clogging the court and prison system.

Public Administration

jjackson — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:05:42 +0000

A good Public Administrators works in the pursuit of public good, by ensuring that the civil service is run by using a fair and balanced system. Public Administration is an academic field, and by definition serves the community and improves equality. Administrators serve as managers and CEO’s of their respective bureaucratic organizations.

A Public Administrator should work to provide the best, most effective form of government/bureaucracy for the citizens that they can. In Illinois the Governor appoints a Public Administrator for every county. The County administrators serve in similar capacities as county managers and handle similar issues. I think that state Auditor William Holland and all of the county Administrators work in the best interest of the citizens and they are the best administrators in the state.

Governor of Illinois

jjackson — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 02:46:30 +0000

I believe that current Illinois Governor Pat Quinn will go down in history as the best governor of the state. Some would argue that it would not be hard to be considered the best governor in a state of the “worst” politicians ever. Governor Quinn is putting the old politics of Illinois behind him and moving ahead as a Governor that puts ethics first. Governor Quinn is reforming Illinois politics by implementing reform and requiring all state representatives to attend ethics classes. Governor Quinn does not dispute the past corruption in Illinois politics, but embraces it and uses it to his advantage as he reforms politics in Illinois.

Since my ideal governor is the current governor I will contrast the current governor with the former Governor. Former Governor Rod Blagojevich and Governor Pat Quinn are polar opposites. As you know Governor Blagojevich was impeached for attempting to sell President Barack Obama’s Senate seat. Governor Blagojevich represents the “good old boys, politics as usual” that has dominated and embarrassed Illinois for a long time. Current Governor Quinn is attempting to reform politics and restore faith among citizens in their politicians.

State Media

jjackson — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 03:20:40 +0000

In the state of Illinois the most prominent newspaper is the Chicago Tribune. As I looked over their site I saw that there were many articles about the corruption of the state. They discuss how former Gov. Ron Blagojevich was a corrupt governor. In other articles they talk about how the state is trying to reform ethics among politicians. Here is the site if you would like to learn more about how the Chicago Tribune views Illinois politics. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/watchdog/corruption/

The main television station in Illinois is WGN. This television station has a great deal of media coverage for most of the Illinois state politics. Right now the site is not presenting any political coverage but it did seem like it was covering a variety of things. Here is their site if you would like to take a look. http://www.wgntv.com/

Email from the Interest Group

jjackson — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 01:19:31 +0000

I received and email from the PRIG that said they will be doing a report release on Wed. 10/7 about government transparency-focused on the need around privatization deals by the City of Chicago.