Chicago voters prove once again just how low they set the bar for the people they elect to office to run their government as long as you have the letter "D" behind your name. State Rep. Derrick Smith (D-Chicago) was indicted by the feds for soliciting a $7,000 bribe to assist a constituent in obtaining a state grant. The Democratic-controlled House expelled Smith, but he refused to drop his bid for re-election. On Tuesday, he was re-elected by his constituents with 62% of the vote over a third-party candidate backed by the party. Despite Democrats taking the state of Illinois to the brink of bankruptcy with its reckless tax and spend management of the state's finances, voters also re-elected all incumbent legislators and ousted one Republican legislator to increase their large majorities in the state's House and Senate chambers. Illinois will likely become the first state in the country to go bankrupt and look to the federal taxpayers for a bailout. The state has failed to fund its public employee pension systems by $86 billion, and its voters failed to enact a state constitutional amendment on Tuesday that would have made it more difficult for officials to keep padding public pension benefits for which the government lacks the funds to pay.
In the case of U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., he proves that showing up isn't even a requirement if you have the letter "D" behind your last name in Chicago. Jackson, who has been on leave from his job since last June for treatment of a mental illness and who didn't even campaign for re-election, was re-elected with more than 60% of the vote over his Republican opponent. Jackson has been under investigation by the feds for spending about $40,000 in campaign funds on his female mistress. Jackson was also accused of attempting to purchase Obama's Senate seat from former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. The Sun-Times' gossip columnist Michael Sneed reported on Wednesday that Jackson is about to reach a plea agreement with the Obama Justice Department in connection with the ongoing investigations. This would be the same Justice Department which ignored overwhelming evidence that Barack Obama had taken cash bribes from convicted political fixer Tony Rezko before his election to the U.S. Senate. After Tuesday's election, it is apparent that the American voters now set the bar for the election of our president as low as Chicagoans set for their elected officials.
3 comments:
Let's be fair. Rep. Jesse Jackson has been absent due to illness. On the other side, US Senator Mark Kirk has been absent far longer and also due to illness. Do we just dump office holders who are ill?
Yeah, Sort of like the way a prominent Indianapolis lobbyist took leave of absence from his law firm several years back, claiming a mental breakdown when the feds started questioning him about his corrupt role in the doling out of gambling licenses in this state. His mental illness magically went away when the feds stopped asking questions and he returned to work engaging in more corrupt behavior than ever. In fact, I believe that lobbyist personally knows Jesse Jackson, Jr. and probably offered advice to him.
I have no idea who you are talking about and do not want to know. In that case, it was a private medical decision between an employer and his employee. Republicans are always yammering about the intrusion of government into our private lives. Why should we need to know why an employer grants a leave to an employee?
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