Honor the fallen by paying your bills
Tuesday, May 9, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* WICS…
Tuesday morning, firefighters from across the state came together to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
Governor Bruce Rauner honored fallen firefighters at the annual Illinois Fallen Firefighter Memorial and Medal of Honor awards ceremony.
The invocation was held earlier outside the capitol followed by a processional to the Prairie Capital Convention Center.
As usual, several legislators were also in attendance.
* A reminder…
Illinois owes a group of women whose police officer and firefighter husbands died in the line of duty more than $351,000 apiece for their losses, but the state’s chronic inability to pass a budget has left all of them unpaid like thousands of state vendors.
The widows’ plight in a state with a $12.7 billion unpaid bill backlog represents yet another frustrating byproduct of lllinois’ 22-month budget stalemate, a span of fiscal ineptitude unmatched by any other U.S. state.
Illinois has limped along without a full operating budget during that time because the state’s Democratic-led legislature and Republican Governor Bruce Rauner have clashed over a list of nonbudgetary demands he has insisted be part of any budget deal.
All told, seven Illinois women have been waiting as long as a year for their shares of more than $2.7 million in awards and interest owed under the state’s Line of Duty Compensation Act, which mandates one-time payments and burial reimbursements to the families of fallen first responders.
The pending allotments are part of a $45 million pile of unpaid awards through the Illinois Court of Claims, a body that adjudicates litigation directed at the state and approves line-of-duty awards. That overall amount also includes unpaid awards owed to a group of exonerated, wrongfully imprisoned ex-inmates and others who sustained injuries on state roads or in state facilities.
- Anon221 - Tuesday, May 9, 17 @ 2:03 pm:
I would bet, if the Rauner SuperStar Crew drafted a bill and presented to the ILGA for consideration to pay the widows immediately, the ILGA would gladly comply. Or, would the Supes rather a member of the GA do so, and let Rauner veto it because he’s frustrated???
- hot chocolate - Tuesday, May 9, 17 @ 2:06 pm:
First-responder widows are now vendors in line with everyone else? Legislators are being paid before first-responder widows.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 9, 17 @ 2:11 pm:
It’s a business decision to sue the state to get was is to be awarded.
I read that somewhere. “Business decision”.
It’ll come to me…
To the Post,
There is no shame when those who feel hostages are needed for big long term gain can just say “sue the state” because people don’t compare to an agenda(?)
Hmm.
This is disgraceful.
- wordslinger - Tuesday, May 9, 17 @ 2:12 pm:
Squeeze the beast — immoral or amoral?
- Henry Francis - Tuesday, May 9, 17 @ 2:30 pm:
It is one thing to not pay these claims.
It is another, to not pay these claims yet still show up to these events and try to score political points.
- Anon221 - Tuesday, May 9, 17 @ 2:30 pm:
Amoral or immoral… hmmm. If Rauner is amoral, that might explain a lot about the last two plus years.
“The biggest problem with amoral managers is that when even when they are confronted by the unethical consequences of their amoral acts, they find it easier to justify the “need” for immorality in pursuit of profit rather than find a way to change their business strategies based on ethical principles.”
http://www.bcbpkapatiran.com/moral-immoral-or-amoral-what-kind-of-a-business-manager-are-you/
- Yepper - Tuesday, May 9, 17 @ 2:45 pm:
@ hot chocolate-
Legislators are getting paid just like the governor’s staff only the legislators are getting paid a lot less.
- VanillaMan - Tuesday, May 9, 17 @ 4:05 pm:
Too bad Rauner doesn’t know how to bring legislators together to solve problems.
- Nick Name - Tuesday, May 9, 17 @ 4:52 pm:
Sorry, widows, but as soon as we have term limits, and I crush your late husbands’ unions, and the sun rises in the west, you’ll get your awards. Meanwhile, here’s a roll of duct tape.
Signed,
Gov. Gaslight