Dupage Policy Journal

According to Burr Ridge business owner Margot Henshaw, the damage Gov. J.B. Pritzker is causing the state is unlike any seen under previous governors.

Henshaw’s comments come after the Governor's Office of Management and Budget (GOMB) projected the state would eliminate its budget shortfall in 2023. Henshaw said media outlets are letting this claim go unchallenged.

“Most news outlets are not interested in delving into the muck of what is going on in Illinois, where the biggest employer is…GOVERNMENT,” Henshaw told DuPage Policy Journal.

“Even the old Socialist FDR said that there should never be public sector unions, and Illinois is rife with them," Henshaw said. "What is the difference between private sector unions and public sector unions? In the real world, if a union bargains too much for its members such that the business employing them cannot be sustainable, the business can go bankrupt and the contracts are then null and void. The business is sold or liquidated, creditors are made as whole as possible and any new owners can then determine the conditions of employment to salvage the company.  Nota Bene - this did not occur when General Motors faltered under the auspices of Barack Obama. The unions were satisfied and the creditors be damned.”

“In the case of government employment, assuredly not the real world, the clientele is captive - they cannot opt out of paying for the services of the overcompensated -  they can opt out of using the services, such as parents sending their children to private school - but, in this case, 75% of their property taxes will still go to teachers pensions and teacher compensation," Henshaw said. " State government cannot print more money like the federal government can, therefore taxes have to be raised (and created) and the state carries a huge debt that must be serviced.”

“Both of these situations are occurring in Illinois. Because of the horrific property taxes here, Illinoisans have not enjoyed the huge increase in property values that some other locations have experienced. Somehow, Amendment 1 has just passed - further cementing the power of Illinois public sector unions.”

Henshaw also complained about Illinois' status as a sanctuary state.

“We are a sanctuary state, as if we have extra money for the largesse that demands," Henshaw said. "Our social workers are not allowed to ask about legal status, or if the applicant has assets in another country. The application is approved and three days later, they have their benefits, unless they have a minor child with them. In that case, the benefits are immediate.”

Henshaw also took issue with Pritzker's COVD protocols.

“JB Pritzker tried to make our income tax graduated (this failed) and we experienced months of businesses being locked down if not deemed ‘essential.' Yet not one penny of property tax was rescinded although our business was closed due to COVID fear, for months.”  

Henshaw compares Pritzker unfavorably to governors who had been sent to jail.

“In my lifetime, Governors Otto Kerner, Dan Walker, George Ryan and Rod Blagoyevich were sent to prison," Henshaw said. "But none of them have damaged the state as much as current Gov. Pritzker.”

Henshaw says corruption won't end until the state goes bankrupt.

“Every Illinoisan should be concerned that our elections are not true," she said. "The unions have an army of workers with which to organize nursing home and mail-in ballots, the better to implement  their choices. It will most likely take the state of Illinois going bankrupt to clear out the corruption engendered by the public sector unions and their accomplices such as Gov. Pritzker, most Democrats and some Republicans. Illinois received a temporary stay on its solvency question due to its COVID cash injection from the federal government, but the situation is not sustainable.”  

Henshaw says Illinois is in a similar situation to that of California.

“In 1977, California was in  a similar mess with skyrocketing property taxes (due to skyrocketing property values, not graft or bloated public union contracts)," Henshaw said. "An old  fellow named Howard Jarvis, state senator, decided he had heard enough about widows selling their homes due to the high property taxes, and he initiated Proposition 13, freezing property taxes and limiting increases to roughly 1% per year, unless and until it was sold.  At that time, the property tax would be reset at 1.15% of the property's sale price.  This created stability in that the owner knew how much would be assessed each year, unlike the Illinois system, which has control of the checkbook of any landowner in the state.”

Henshaw said the state lacks stability.

“Business (is not a family like a small business?) does not like surprises. Stability is one of the least appreciated situations and yet one of the most critically important for financial success," Henshaw said. "Debt and unsustainable operating costs (this is what the bloated pensions represent to Illinois families) are not a recipe for stability and, therefore, building of wealth. Illinois taxpayers need a leader fearless and well spoken, who can clearly and simply explain the vicious cycle we are in. But unless we can clean up our elections -  eliminating mail-in balloting, ballot harvesting, voting for a month, not just on election day, etc, only a fool would waste his time.”

These accusations come amid a positive forecast from the Governor's Office of Management and Budget. 

“GOMB is continuing to monitor the revenues closely as inflation and national/international factors beyond the state's control may impact the economy in uncertain ways. GOMB is now projecting a nearly $1.7 billion net surplus in the general funds budget for fiscal year 2023, wiping out a forecasted fiscal year 2023 shortfall of nearly $3 billion as estimated in 2019,” a press release from Pritzker’s office reads.

Pritzker's opponents have said the improved outlook has a lot more to do with one-time COVID funds from the federal government and higher taxes.

Writing in Wirepoints, Mark Glennon criticized Pritzker’s opinion that his administration should be thanked for a projection showing Illinois' budget shortfall.

“Here’s the question that’s key: What has Pritzker or the General Assembly done to improve Illinois’ finances, other than tax increases?” Glennon asked in Wirepoints. “Nothing material. For Pritzker to include the higher estimates in the context of his claim that 'we celebrate the tremendous progress' they have made is unfounded for the simple reason that he has nothing to point to.”

Others have noted that the projection is based on a budget the state is obscuring.

"The people continue to be misled by the state's finances,” Sheila Weinberg of Truth in Accounting told The Center Square. "Can [Illinoisans] knowledgeably participate in their government if they are not being told the truth about their finances?"

Illinois’ budgets under Pritzker have routinely ignored structural problems.

“Instead, it’s a budget that gives billions more to a political class that has proven to be the most corrupt in the nation,” a Wirepoints report said of Pritzker’s 2021 budget. “That will only invite more abuse.”