Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton)
Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton)
Illinois Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) is adamant that she does not want taxpayers to have to pay for anything related to the Obama Center Library, which is scheduled to be built in Jackson Park on Chicago's Southside.
"No tax money should be spent on the Obama Center," Ives recently told the DuPage Policy Journal.
The $38.5 billion budget for fiscal year 2019 that was recently passed by the Illinois General Assembly included what was initially reported as $172 million earmarked for road work around the area where the Obama Library is being built. A recent Washington Examiner article, however, claims the library is really going to cost Illinois taxpayers nearly $200 million.
Former President Barack Obama
"We have alternative priorities for our infrastructure dollars above the enhanced road work to service the Obama Center," Ives said. "And the fact that ongoing taxes could be collected to support this project is an obscene misuse of the intent of taxpayer money for museums and parks."
The location of the library is also causing a ruckus with Protect Our Parks recently filing a federal lawsuit alleging the transferring of city parkland to private entities, such as the Obama Foundation, violates state law.
"I agree with the lawsuit filed against this center as it is compelled speech to support a center wholly focused on the Obama's agenda and not as a place where historical documents will reside and have federal oversight," Ives said.
The library was originally supposed to be 100 percent privately funded and federally run, however, that's no longer the case.
Protect Our Parks filed suit before the state funding became public knowledge. The lawsuit will most likely be amended to reflect the budgeting of taxpayer money to cover part of the cost.
"The state should not spend any money on this political project," Ives said. "The Obamas should find other property that does not involve a takeover of public parkland and they should privately finance the entire development and operation of his center."
Alerts Sign-up