Illinois State Rep. Paul Froelich announced a switch in parties from Republican to Democrat yesterday. His statement sounded like boilerplate that we have heard before, from Jim Jeffords to Michael Bloomberg. It was not the speech of a Ronald Reagan or Joe Lieberman; both men who held fast to their principles when switching parties, rather it was a speech of convenience, selfishness and opportunism.

In his announcement, Froelich stated “after being in the minority for five years with no prospects of that changing, I think i can most effectively represent my district being in the majority.” Wow, talk about a paragon of principle. If you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em. Instead of representing the people who voted for a Republican with Republican values it is easier to become a turncoat for convenience. This is no surprise as Froelich has a record of taking stances that run contrary to the Republican core message. His most recent being support for drivers licenses for illegal aliens.

But he said the GOP has developed a reputation for being unfriendly toward minorities, especially on such issues as immigration and national security.

“In some ways, the party’s left me, in moving away from traditional Republican values,” he said.

Using the old saw that people who respect the rule of law are anti-immigration is as dishonest as it is misguided. It is illegal immigration that we talk about and it is not traditional Republicans who have wavered on National Security either. Froelich had left the party the party long ago, he just made a formal announcement yesterday. This is another clear example of the arrogance of politicians who claim they know better than the people while they stubbornly pursue legislation and policy that is at odds with a majority of the electorate, all the while claiming we don’t understand the real meaning of what they are trying to accomplish.

What Froelich is telling us is that he was only a Republican because it got him elected and now that it is convenient and beneficial to him he will switch to the opposition. Many of Froelich’s stances were never core Republican stances and as such we can tell the man dissembles a wee bit to justify his move. Why not tell the truth Paul, the Republican thing was a marriage of convenience and not love, a situation that has lived its useful life for you so it is time for you to take your leave and move on to the next best situation for you. It certainly wasn’t for the constituency. It was only a last month that Rep. Froelich lied claiming he still believed in Republican values and had no intentions of leaving the party. Since then the Democrat majority has become gridlocked and cannot agree on a budget causing them to pass a 1 month emergency spending bill. They are rife with infighting and dysfunctional, a perfect place for the two-faced lawmaker to land. His move speaks volumes about his character or lack thereof, this is the political equivalent of taking his ball and going home. I say good riddance to a man without the strength of his own convictions, ironically his move is pretty much like jumping off of the Titanic to grab a seat on the Lusitania. Bon Voyage Mr. Froelich.

Posted by Biloxi in Illinois Politics, Politics at 7:48 PM EDT

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The Illinois Republican Party is in a state that can only be accurately described as a shambles. It was officially announced yesterday that Rep. Paul Froelich (R …No wait!.. D- Opportunist) is leaving the party to join the Democrats; this closely following the revelations that State Sen. Kirk Dillard, former head of the DuPage County GOP has appeared in a campaign commercial for Barack Obama, tossing bouquets all the way. In recent years we have seen the party walk away from the core Republican values that brought them to power in the first place. While it started years ago under Gov. Jim Thompson; what was a slow slide has become a torrent of betrayal culminated by the announcements this week. We had a sitting US Senator in Peter Fitzgerald who was too independent for then Party Head Judy Baar Topinka, so they refused to endorse him while actively lining up opponents. This ultimately lead to the Alan Keyes disaster and ascension of Obama in 2004. That begat the 2006 Gubernatorial race where the conservatives attacked each other, leaving Topinka relatively unscathed going into the general election where she was trounced by a weak and embattled incumbent in Rod Blagojevich. Judy is no conservative and had gone as far as to endorse Democrats over her fellow Republicans in the past. Topinka’s defeat goes to prove that when you offer no change, you get the status quo in spades. The people of Illinois had a chance at Democrat-Lite and turned it down. The protest vote was so vociferous that the Green Party candidate Rich Whitney garnered 10% of the vote.

The Democrats control every Constitutional office and both houses of the Legislature in Illinois yet cannot come together to agree on a budget as they have now run into a full month of overtime yet the inept Republicans cannot seem to find a message. In Illinois it appears the party officials and politicians want to follow the national model by trying to out-Dem the Democrats thus moving away from the core values of the party. If the people want liberal they have the Dems, there is no need to vote for a Republican pretending to be one. The game plan is a proven failure yet they continue down the path anyway.

State Party Chair Andy McKenna is so distrustful of the people that he and the party elite won’t allow the base a say in the process. I guess we can look forward to 40 years in the desert at this rate. RightTalk host Teri O’Brien has often said she didn’t believe in third parties and took the undervote route in the 2006 Election. I had always agreed with that logic until the past few years where there is simply no alternative. If we expect a choice and a candidate that represents the Conservative voter we can no longer look inside to the party that won’t allow the membership a say in the formulation of our message. We cannot accept a party that ignores the grassroots to play inside baseball with the opposition, a party that capitulates instead of compromises, that surrenders instead of offering solutions. The Illinois Republican Party has yet to begin formulating and supporting viable candidates to run against Dick Durbin in 2008. The organization is so weak that the primary choices for 3rd district Republican Congressional candidates consisted of Ray Wardingly, perennial candidate and electoral loser along with Art Jones, former member of the National Socialist White People’s Party. They ran on their own as the party chooses not to help field a candidate.

In the last election I saw my vote for Randy Stufflebeam and the Constitution Party as a message to the elite that we wanted a party to reflect conservative values. I now look at it as a viable alternative. One that may take a while to build but as a party that knows and understands the principles of conservatism and is willing to stand by them. A party that takes our Founding Fathers and their intent seriously. Ms. O’Brien made good sense in her reasoning but hope for a turnaround is not even on the radar. If we cannot take back the party and the message then it is imperative to find a home where we can. A third party may be the long road in the state but the long road has a promising destination where the established road hits the dead end. Time is no longer on our side, we need to find a better way.

Posted by Biloxi in Illinois Politics, Politics at 7:06 PM EDT

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Chris Wallace had Sen’s. Trent Lott (R- Foot in Mouth) and Diane Feinstein (D - Denial) on his Fox News Sunday program yesterday morning to discuss the issues. Ostensibly they were there to tell us about the breezy air of bipartisanship blowing through Washington D.C. these days and clarify some points on the embattled immigration bill among other things.

First up was Wallace’s question to Lott regarding his comments on that “talk radio was running America” to which Lott responded that the American people are up in arms because talk radio was stirring them up and neither the talk radio hosts or their listeners are aware of what is in the bill. Sen. Feinstein appeared to echo the sentiment.

It was a casual shot across the bow, a shrugged comment last week from Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott (R-Miss.): Advocates of an immigration overhaul would have to “deal” with talk-radio hosts who he said don’t know what is in the legislation but want to kill it nonetheless.

What the good Senator doesn’t seem to realize is that people are upset because they are aware of what is in the bill and are opposed to it for those reasons. The right leaning talk radio audience is keenly aware of the political situation and how out of touch Washington is with the rest of the country. Far from being fed their talking points by the radio hosts, they are using the programs as a sounding board and a place to air their disagreement. Politicians like Senator Lott and President Bush who use the tactics of attempting to belittle the opponents of this bill do little to achieve compromise and instead inflame the electorate further. I truly believe it is this type of misreading of the American people that will doom the bill and the political futures of many who espouse this outlook. Further Lott refuses to recognize his constituency and dismisses the feedback streaming into his office.

“I’ve had my phones jammed for three weeks. Yesterday I had three people answering them continuously all day,” Lott said. “To think that you’re going to intimidate a senator or any senator into voting one way or the other by gorging your phones with phone calls — most of whom don’t even know where Gulfport, Mississippi, is — is not an effective tactic. But it’s their right to do that.”

To ignore the commentary of the people is to decline to represent them, a key component in a representative democracy. After 35 years in Washington, Lott seems to look at the beltway as reality and the rest of the country as ignorant.

Moving on in the program Senator Feinstein was asked a question concerning the low opinion people have of Congress as indicated by the extremely low approval ratings and she responded with the quip that the ratings are not reflective of the poor job Congress has done as much as it is reflective of the fact that the people don’t understand how the Senate works. Here we go again, the insular world inhabited by Di Fi and her cohorts is operating just fine, it is just those pesky hicks outside the beltway who do not understand the system that is creating the problem. Misreading the general disgust the people had with the status quo as support for the Democratic brand of ignorance over the Republican trash heap has become the new status quo. The people are disgusted with the same old tripe in new clothing as much as anything.

People Like Lott and Feinstein continuously misread and under-represent their constituency and as such are classic poster people for term limits. At what point do the politicians in Washington forget those they represent and the issues that are important to them? At what time did they begin to ignore the fact that the people put them there and need representation? We elect people for their minds but it does not mean they can use it without regard for the represented. We want free thinkers but we want them with an eye towards the electorate and not the Washington bureaucracy that they have blanketed themselves within.

This kind of intellectual and electoral arrogance has got to stop. Lott thinks he does not have to listen to the people and Feinstein thinks the people are too dumb to understand. Keep up the pressure and if they refuse to wake up find someone who will listen. Regardless of what they think, Government is for the people.

Posted by Biloxi in Immigration, Politics at 9:59 AM EDT

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The Illinois Review blog has linked to an excellent two part article on public pensions in Illinois and their burden on the taxpayer. Republicans for Fair Media details exactly how we are making millionaires of some pensioners while the taxpayers of Illinois pick up an estimated 85% of the tab. In part 1, writer Bill Zettler outlines the discrepancies between public pensions and private sector retirement plans. He also touches on the fact that many public sector employee unions donate heavily to liberal campaigns assuring their stranglehold on retirement inequities. In the end, private sector retirees end up subsidizing the public sector reitirees who have a far more generous plan. Part two covers the math between the generous projections of returns on investment as provided by the unions versus the average returns as projected by Warren Buffet. He outlays the reasoning behind his theory that future returns will not reach those of the past.

This is a good article and should provide food for thought as to why our public sector employees should be covered by the same 401K type retirement plans as the private sector. Large companies like the Big 3 automakers and others have proven that the model of a guaranteed pension being paid to a large group by a smaller group will eventually falter and cause financial collapse. The problem is further complicated by Governor Rod Blagojevich’s penchant for underfunding the pension system, exacerbating the inequities between projections and reality.

The people of Illinois value our public sector employees and wish them a comfortable retirement as a reward for their years of service. This should by no means mean the private sector worker and retirees should fund a shortfall in a system of privilege that allows ever earlier retirements and more generous pensions than they would ever get in non-governmental service. The equities should be guaranteed in the pay for the work performed but never back-loaded in an uneven system such as that currently in place.

Posted by Biloxi in Illinois Politics, Social Issues at 10:29 AM EDT

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I knew Paul Rompala for just under two years but it only took the first two minutes for him to make an impression on me. Paul started out as my real estate instructor in pre-licensing class, he ended up a dog walking partner, business associate and good friend. Noting that he was a good friend it might sound odd how I just found out yesterday that Paul had passed away on May 3. Our lives were such where we wouldn’t talk for weeks at times, until one of us had a question, a joke or just needed to talk. Fortunately he did not suffer as his death came suddenly and quickly via a massive coronary. Fittingly Paul was walking his newest companion Elliot, a shelter mutt that he had recently adopted, just months after his last canine companion Tilly had passed away from old age.

As a teacher Paul got you to remember the subject matter through a mix of logic and wit, most importantly the wit. It was the indicator of a personality that could be painfully blunt but never really angry. Perspective is important and Paul had that in spades. He would strike up a conversation with anyone and was comfortable in doing so. He was one of those people that made others want to hang out with him because you would learn something and have a good time doing it. Paul was a voracious reader with varied tastes. As such you could end up having a conversation on history, philosophy or animal husbandry if the mood struck him. Like I said, you learned from Paul.

Like myself, Paul was an avid Chicago Cubs fan and used to ride the Belmont bus from his home in Elmwood Park to the games, this year he was a little concerned because he had heard the CTA wasn’t allowing folks to carry drinks of any kind onto the bus and it might restrict his enjoyment of a Budweiser tallboy on the ride to Wrigley Field. Unlike me though Paul was able to divorce himself from the aggravation of following a team that always seems to find a way to disappoint. The Cubs didn’t deserve him.

Eclectic would probably be an understatement for a man who was a member of Mensa with fine tastes in music, food and literature but was just as comfortable going to 6 Flags Great America on his yearly pass or stopping by every garage sale he would see in hopes of mining a treasure for a buck or two. A man who never married or had kids of his own but was able to sit down to a meal with my family and the surrounding din from six children never phased him. My oldest son was our companion on many of the dog walking and real estate excursions and he too was able to see the magic of the man, I’ve always considered the boy to be a savant when it comes to recognizing quality people and his opinion of Paul was right on target. It was returned as the boy learned from Mr. Rompala as well.

I know this has become a sentimental ramble but good people often bring about that reaction. If you impact those around you in a positive way then you are never really gone. Yes, the body leaves the earth in the physical sense but the spirit and essence of a human being lingers long after in the people they teach, touch and love. They do so because those same people take the experience, they learn and they pay it forward. It is in losing people like Paul where we are always reminded of the lesson that value is rarely monetary. It is substance and Paul Rompala was so imbued with it that those whom he touched could no sooner forget him, than they would forget to breathe. His final act was as an organ donor, his eyes now benefit another.

If Paul had a joy it was helping people he liked and he did that often. He didn’t have time to be mad, it wasted too much energy. This isn’t to say he always looked at things through rose colored glasses, he just figured not to sweat the small stuff because you couldn’t change it and therefore it wasn’t worth the wasted energy. I think we could all take that lesson with us.

For Paul, may God hold you safe until we meet again. Thanks for the lessons, the humor and most importantly, the time, it couldn’t have been better spent. Each life is as it should be according to God’s plan, the longevity is relative to the work to be done. Many consider 57 years to be relatively young these days but Paul made the best use of them he could and considering the contributions, I’d call it a good life that accomplished much and will continue to do so. I know it will through me, I hope someday to be as big a contributor as Paul because when God calls us home we don’t want to have held anything back. In that respect 57 years was a long life and well lived at that.

Goodbye my friend.

Posted by Biloxi in Biloxi Says at 4:52 PM EDT

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The 12 people who read this blog regularly know that I am a Chicago Cubs fan but also a realist. While experiencing a recent surge they have reached second place in baseball’s most underwhelming division with a stellar record that has them 4 games under .500. After watching their dismal play earlier this year I refuse to take the time to watch them. If one of the crawdads is viewing a game, I may pause for a few minutes. In doing do yesterday I was treated to Mark DeRosa’s boot of a ground ball that led to 4 runs in an inning where the Mariners achieved only 2 hits. How Cub.

Fortunately Cesar Izturis doubled home 2 runs in the 8th to win the game and save them from another oh-so-Cub moment. Today, fans interfered with the ball not 1 but 2 times, both potentially harmful to the Cubs. Dudes, act like you know what the game is about and that you care about something other than your next beer. I also suggest the fans quit showing up for a sub .500 team that make more errors than your average pony league team. As long as you keep filling Wrigley Field with 40,000 fans for bad baseball you can expect more of the same. I will never change my allegiance, but I will not support a team that cares so little about the game that they cannot stop making mental mistakes. Let’s hope they continue recent trends but let’s also hope the 20,000 fans that come out for the party over the baseball learn about the game or get the heck out.

Posted by Biloxi in Biloxi Says at 4:57 PM EDT

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There once was a time when politics involved respect and the office of the President of the United States was among the most respected. During the years leading up to WWII the Republicans and Democrats battled behind the scenes but didn’t often attack each other in public. Policy disagreements rarely made their way into the realm of the personal. Fast forward 60 years and we now have television shows based entirely on ridicule of the sitting President. This is beyond the often humorous satire of the Saturday Night Live mold which was bitingly funny in its early years but has become more angry than funny these days.

First it was Comedy Central’s “That’s My Bush” which lost steam even before 9/11 when Americans briefly regained respect for the office and themselves in the solemn days following the attacks on our country. Unfortunately they were only diverted from the partisan bickering for a very short time and the irrational hatred has come back full bore. The latest offering is a new Comedy Central animated show about the President and his cabinet where they are shown as little children in the White House. Lil Bush appears to be offered in the same mean spirited and condescending manner that is offered up by people like the infamous Ted Rall.

Intellectual disagreement is fine but shows such as this one rarely deal with the humor on an intellectual level or by introducing logic as to differentiate their philosophy from the President using humor. Instead they live in the land of the personal, often adolescent attack. This does nothing in the realm of entertainment and offers little in the way of public discourse or political change. I guess we can expect little else when a good portion of our youth looks at shows like The Daily Show and The Colbert Report as actual news. At least the latter two are funny, Lil Bush cannot lay claim to that in any way, shape or form. With scenes that show Lil Dick Cheney biting the head off of a live chicken and sucking the blood for lunch or the Green Zone depicted as “Haliburton Land” with people frolicking in money you can imagine what path it takes from there. The rhetoric is akin to what you would see on less than rational left wing sites like the Democratic Underground or The Daily Kos. Where does it end?

Posted by Biloxi in Politics at 6:12 PM EDT

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Senator Barack Obama’s failed amendment to the recent “comprehensive immigration reform bill” shows just how little the Presidential hopeful cares for the rule of law or a real solution to the immigration problems facing the country today.

Obama’s amendment proposed changing the way visas are granted, from a family-based to a merit-based system. Calling it a social experiment, Obama proposed to end the new system after five years.

While it does a great job of catering to the labor unions the good Senator is courting it does little to address the issue of allowing supposedly needed workers into the country legally. While I think the current bill is flawed as is the guest worker provision within, it is still one of the few steps in the right direction that the bill offers. The point system was derived to provide skilled workers in areas with a labor shortage. Obama believes it is a social experiment. The nuts and bolts of the issue is to end the illegality but Obama’s amendment is not the answer as it allows family members to into the country legally without addressing the stated worker shortage. It also does more to guaranty a permanent underclass by allowing more unskilled labor into the market. For a supposed workers rights guy this does little to help those he claims to champion. But Obama’s case is just a symptom among many concerning this matter.

Notice how the bill claims to be strong on enforcement yet one of its first provisions is to cut the amount of border fence in half. It claims to be good for the economy as people will be allowed in legally to fill needed positions yet one of the first amendments was to cut the allowed number of guest workers in half while some attempt to remove them altogether. Many claim it does not provide amnesty yet the Z visa grants immediate legal status to those who entered illegally. This alone is amnesty as they are not required to request citizenship or a greencard. They can continue to go back to what they were doing without the fear of being caught.

Obama’s failed amendment along with others submitted show the real lack of attention towards a solution, instead offering a political band-aid to get the politicians re-elected. Unfortunately Senator Lindsey Graham (R - McCain) and other Republican supporters have misjudged the American people in general and their base specifically.

The grand compromise would be bad law, Sen. Ted Kennedy ( D - Chappaquiddick) is now taking his third shot at this issue having pushed disasters in 1965 and 1986 which were both supposed to fix the problem that is now claimed to be worse than ever. Why does the Senate expect a different result this time? Following the 20 year cycle that we have seen thus far, we will be arguing about the 80 - 100 million illegals who need to “come out of the shadows” in 2027 0r 2028.

The Senate and Congress passed a bill last year that the President signed into law which provided for 700 plus miles of border fence and other security measures. Let’s enforce that law first. The urgency to provide bad law is disturbing at best and undercuts the common good. President Bush is looking to bolster a lagging legacy when he should be doing what is best for the country. Presidents are elected to lead, something this President has done in a National Security sense but something he will undercut by jamming this tripe down the throats of the electorate. This is just the latest in a series of domestic policy disasters.

There are laws on the books that can be enforced while we take the time to craft real reform with input from all. If we do that and take a serious look at the proposals offered (without considerations for special interests) we may not need the sweeping legislation and blanket amnesty so many politicians yearn for now.

Don’t kid yourself, this bill is not dead and will rear its ugly head again. Keep up the pressure on your elected officials and force them to protect and defend in accordance with their oath of office.

Posted by Biloxi in Immigration at 9:35 AM EDT

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The promised most ethical Congress in the history of western civilization has been practicing business as usual in Washington.

Democrats are sidestepping rules approved their first day in power in January to clearly identify “earmarks” — lawmakers’ requests for specific projects and contracts for their states.

Rather than including specific pet projects, grants and contracts in legislation as it is being written, Democrats are following an order by the House Appropriations Committee chairman to keep the bills free of such earmarks until it is too late for critics to effectively challenge them.

So much for the claims of the people voting for a change of direction. This is evidence of the need for openness in government and an end to the earmark process. It is also a good reason for discussion of a line item veto. If a project cannot stand on its own and survive a reasonable open debate then there is no real reason for it to have been placed in a bill. While probably an unrealistic view in today’s world, this is a classic example of why the registered voters show up in increasingly lower numbers at the polls. The Republicans failed to govern as they were charged to do by increasing government spending, embracing ever more socially liberal positions, participating in corrupt practices and refusing to stand for anything. In the end the people stayed away or voted against them. The Democrats fooled themselves into thinking the people voted for them instead of against the Republican status quo or staying away from the process entirely.

They promised bipartisanship which in many cases means abandonment of principle (see President Bush’s record), openness and ethical leadership. They have provided nothing more than status quo. They have even been unable or unwilling to condemn their own egregiously ethically challenged members like Rep. William Jefferson (D - Frigidaire). He of the $90,000.00 bribe hidden in his freezer.

If the people in fact did vote for change that change would be actually expecting politicians to live up to their promises and act according to their stated policies and positions. This is nothing of the sort though I wouldn’t expect a statement from Speaker Pelosi offering an explanation.

Obey insists he is reluctantly taking the step because Appropriations Committee members and staff have not had enough time to fully review the 36,000 earmark requests that have flooded the committee.

That would be Rep. David Obey, (D - Trough) committee Chairman. Call me unrealistic, but I would think that if staff members have been unable to review the requests then it might not be a good idea to include them in the legislation. How many of the 36,000 were reviewed and found worthy versus those that are a Pandora’s box of wasteful spending that were approved because a legislator had enough political pull to get his/her colleagues to go along, insuring that it would be reciprocated at some point in the future?

What this adds up to is more of the same and leaves ethics as nothing more than a campaign slogan. This proves my long held belief that if ethics need to be questioned, identified and codified then the persons involved are on shaky ground to begin with. Ethical behavior should be innate and initiated as common practice, if a politician acts in the best interests of the people, the ethics should ever be questioned. That starts with sunshine folks. The really sad part is most of us could have predicted this back in November. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

There’s a new Sheriff in town and he’s just as corrupt as the old one.

Posted by Biloxi in Politics at 8:36 AM EDT

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Thanks President Bush, you are now trying to drag down the Republican Party with you. A Washington Times article today reveals how the Republican National Committee is experiencing a donor falloff as a result of the President’s stance on immigration. This includes an uptick of complaints since the President dressed down conservatives who oppose the new amnesty bill currently being debated in the Senate.

The Republican National Committee, hit by a grass-roots donors’ rebellion over President Bush’s immigration policy, has fired all 65 of its telephone solicitors, The Washington Times has learned.

While RNC spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt denies that there is a problem many of the fired staffers claim they experienced considerable backlash from donors when contacting them.

Previous Republican donors have given RNC solicitors an earful about the proposed immigration measure. “We have not heard anyone in our donor calls who supported the president on immigration,” said a fired phone solicitor, who described himself as a Republican activist.

Additionally the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) and the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) both report problems in raisisng money with the small donors. The NRSC has been outdone by its Democrat counterpart nearly 2 to 1 in April. Small donors are the backbone to the committees.

The RNC has been more successful than the two Republican congressional committees because the RNC has completed its major annual donor gala, gathering money from corporate and business donors who either care little about the immigration issue or side with Mr. Bush in support of the Senate bill that would allow almost all the estimated 12 million to 20 million or more illegal aliens in the United States to gain legal status.
Yet there has been a definite downward trend in Republican fundraising, said Massie Ritsch, spokesman for the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks money in elections. “The GOP’s overall haul from its three national fundraising committees [the RNC, NRSC and NRCC] is down 25 percent from the equivalent period in 2005,” Mr. Ritsch said. “The Republicans still have more money than the Democrats but fundraising is down for Republicans and up for Democrats. That has to be a cause of concern for Republicans.”

Hopefully the Republicans can right the ship soon or this spells disaster in the 2008 elections. Apparently the President thinks a Democratic sweep will be “good for America” but it doesn’t look the base agrees with him.

Posted by Biloxi in Immigration, Politics at 8:11 AM EDT

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