Email from Charlie Meier - State of affairs (Rep - Okawville_

[CGT]

Rep. Meier angered at diversions from state Road Funds

SPRINGFIELD... State Representative Charlie Meier (R-Okawville) was angered to learn state officials have diverted billions from the state's Road Fund to pay for other projects. The Illinois Auditor General released a report late Tuesday which outlined years of diversions.

"One of the biggest complaints I hear from my constituents is that gas costs too much. Now we find out that the taxes we've been paying on gasoline in order to maintain and repair our roads is actually going towards a lot of other things instead, and that's unacceptable. This needs to be corrected immediately," Rep. Meier said.

The Auditor General's report found that one-fourth of payments from the Road Fund in each of the last two years went not to road construction, but to salaries, insurance and other "non-direct" costs. Meanwhile, the Department of Transportation predicts that one-third of roads under its jurisdiction will be below what it considers "acceptable" condition by the end of this decade.

"The high gas prices do nothing but hurt our ability to create and sustain jobs in Illinois. Every time that price at the pump rises, it costs a farmer more to grow our food. It costs a trucking company more to bring goods to stores. It takes more money out of the pockets of hardworking families already trying to make ends meet," Rep. Meier said. "Using those road funds for anything other than improving our infrastructure just adds to the problem and keeps our economy from getting back on its feet."

In the past decade, taxpayers contributed $25 billion to the Road Fund with their gasoline taxes and license plate fees. The Auditor General found significant diversions in each of those years. The full report can be found at http://www.auditor.illinois.gov/.

Rep. Meier: Small Business Owners Disrespected at Committee Hearing

SPRINGFIELD... State Representative Charlie Meier (R-Okawville) was angered during a recent Small Business Empowerment committee hearing when, after forcing small business owners from around the state to wait hours to testify, the chairman of the committee quickly cut off testimony.

"We made those poor people wait around for us to get done with session just to quickly cut off their testimony and waste their time. They had much better things to do than wait around for us, but they did because they thought they were going to get the opportunity to speak to their legislators about what they see as problems in our state's business climate. They were extremely disrespected and I was ashamed of the behavior shown by the committee chairman," Rep. Meier said.

At the start of the committee hearing, witnesses were told they would have to keep their testimony short in the interests of time. From there, Rep. Meier said it got worse.

"By the time it was over, each witness got about thirty seconds to say their name, business, and where they were from. They drove all that way and they deserved to be heard," Rep. Meier said.

Today, during session, House Republican members motioned to move pro-growth legislation designed to create jobs out of committee and to the floor for a vote. Those motions were all rejected by Democrat leadership.

"They said they want to work with us to create jobs, but when they're given the opportunity and when they have the chance to hear what actual job creators have to say, they shut down. It's a sad state of affairs," Rep. Meier said.

[TyGuy]

Raise taxes, that'll fix it.

[POAT54]

Rep. Meier angered at diversions from state Road Funds

SPRINGFIELD... State Representative Charlie Meier (R-Okawville) was angered to learn state officials have diverted billions from the state's Road Fund to pay for other projects.

 

Isn't that how the "pension crisis" was created?

[oneshot]

Yup

[Jeffrey]

I thought this was SOP for Illinois?

[POAT54]

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Albert Einstein

 

Would this mean Illinois law makers would not qualify for CCW?

[C0untZer0]

There are 3 categories of people

 

1) People who benefit financially from the corruption in Illinois

 

2) People who are beneficiaries of entitlement programs and don't pay taxes anyway...

 

3) Taxpayers

 

So law-abiding, tax-paying citizens seem to be outnumbered 2 to 1.

[Livewire18]

There are 3 categories of people

 

1) People who benefit financially from the corruption in Illinois

 

2) People who are beneficiaries of entitlement programs and don't pay taxes anyway...

 

3) Taxpayers

 

So law-abiding, tax-paying citizens seem to be outnumbered 2 to 1.

 

+1

[AlphaKoncepts aka CGS]

The state is BROKE, what do you expect?

 

Maybe they can make a few million in revenue on their pot legalization.