Illinois’ Secretary of State claims armed security at Capitol to be eliminated if tax increase sunsets
In an effort to strong arm legislators today, Illinois’ Secretary of State Jesse White threatened that armed security at Illinois’ Capitol building would need to be completely removed if the 2011 temporary tax hikes were rolled back. Armed security was hired in the aftermath of a 2004 shooting that occurred at the Capitol. Tragically, one...
In an effort to strong arm legislators today, Illinois’ Secretary of State Jesse White threatened that armed security at Illinois’ Capitol building would need to be completely removed if the 2011 temporary tax hikes were rolled back.
Armed security was hired in the aftermath of a 2004 shooting that occurred at the Capitol. Tragically, one security guard was shot a killed.
In addition to allegedly needing to eliminate armed security at the Capitol, White claims if the temporary tax hike isn’t made permanent cuts would be so drastic that even the process of sending vehicle registration reminder letters to drivers would need to be eliminated.
It should be noted that Capitol Police only make up about $1.9 million of the Secretary of State’s $199 million payroll costs. Why would anyone go after that particular sector of the workforce first when it makes up less than 1 percent of their total payroll costs?
It’s unclear why White would jump to cutting armed security first, considering Illinois’ Secretary of State spends money in some much less important areas.
Is White saying there are no other areas to cut before completely removing security from the Capitol?
Grants for teaching kids the importance of playing golf and funding a company that makes duck calls seem to be a good place to start cutting.
Illinois officials such as White should have been focused on reducing spending since the 2011 temporary tax hike was passed.
When a quick look through the numbers shows the Secretary of State still spends $200,000 on tourism for Route 66, it becomes clear that many politicians never really thought the tax hike was going to be rolled back. They never intended to cut spending.
Mr. Secretary, please stop with the fear tactics and start trying to cut unreasonable spending.