53 Comments - Henry Francis - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 3:15 pm: Well, thanks to the capital bill they will at least have nicer roads to drive on as they flee the state. - Stark - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 3:17 pm: Kinzinger is pro-life but wants people to start killing themselves sooner by opposing the 21 year old tobacco age. Interesting juxtaposition. - Former Downstater - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 3:17 pm: Kinzinger is protecting his right flank for next year’s primary, and auditioning for Air Force Secretary. I’m surprised he didn’t tweet directly at POTUS and bash Chicago. - Blue Dog Dem - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 3:19 pm: They can buy cigs while they are filling up in other states. - truthteller - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 3:20 pm: this guy gotta go, he is an embarrassment to Illinois - Father Ted - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 3:21 pm: Even if he was referring only to retailers who will lose sales due to the new age limits, that’s a really, really bad look to lament the ability of young people to buy cigarettes. - El Conquistador - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 3:21 pm: Seems like a reasoned and well thought out statement from an IL representative in Congress… sheesh. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 3:25 pm: In the last month… Mr. Davis and now Mr. Kinzinger… What happened to you both? You’re suppose to be the balance to the Bost-types. This isn’t great. - OneMan - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 3:26 pm: Classic couple at kitchen table ad: John: Well Marge, Timmy is going to be going into HS, unfortuantly with everything going on in Springfield we are going to have to pack up and move to Missouri. Marge: Sigh… John: The tax thing is bad enough, but when he turns 18 in a few short years he isn’t going to be able to buy smokes. You know how he has been looking forward to smoking, we kind of owe it to him Marge: I know, I just wish your dad, mom, uncle, other uncle and aunt were going to be able to see him light up at 18 in your family tradition. John: That is what those liberals are killing, tradition a man should be able to smoke at 18, not 21. Don’t even get me started on that gas task.. Marge: Relax honey brave politicans like Representative Kinzinger are going to fight for us, can I get you a fresh Oxygen tank… John: Thanks hon… - wordslinger - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 3:30 pm: DC Cable News Yakker/Mushroom tries to pretend he knows what’s going on outside the Beltway, fails. - Michelle Flaherty - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 3:32 pm: When I turned 18, all my birthday cake candles were Marlboro Lights for me and my friends to smoke. It’s disgusting I won’t be able to do the same for my sons. Guess it’s time to get a U-Haul. Someone please page Center Square and the Trib Edit Caucus, I’d like to become an anecdote. - Cheryl44 - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 3:34 pm: So when is he coming back and leaving? - Arsenal - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 3:34 pm: How nice for Kinzinger to throw Durkin and Brady under the bus. - TheInvisibleMan - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 3:39 pm: This sounds like it came from the twitter page of an angsty teen. A grown man said this? - formerillinoisan - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 3:40 pm: lol, his own party is sponsoring tobacco 21 legislation… - Chicago Cynic - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 3:40 pm: If this state cared about liberty, toddlers would be allowed to buy cigarettes..and booze. Damn leftists want to control everything. - DuPage Bard - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 3:40 pm: Kinzinger’s got a pretty big district wonder how many construction jobs will be out there over the next few years from the gas tax? He’ll take credit for it and say it was the Trump tax cuts. - Perrid - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 3:43 pm: I would let him slide on the parental notification stuff. I thought I read it was stricken as well, I just had to google it. The rest is crazy talk - Blake - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 3:48 pm: Re: this & Question of the Day Pritzker could attack density limits in zoning because of how banning real estate from constructing the density they think is in demand increases infrastructure cost, enables the downsides of aldermanic prerogative, & creates artificial supply constraints that are pricing many out of Chicagoland. Rich also highlighted a Governing Magazine piece earlier this year about zoning’s role in downstate segregation. - SSL - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 3:50 pm: The population trend in Illinois isn’t great, but as others have pointed out, it isn’t the wealthy who are leaving. That probably doesn’t change much with the progressive tax as it isn’t so penal, but there will be some that feel the federal SALT cap combined with the state increase make it something to think about. If JB ever has the courage to tax retirement income, that could be a game changer. Depending on how it was structured, some people would head out. - Rich Miller - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 3:50 pm: ===I thought I read it was stricken as well, I just had to google it=== That’s why he doesn’t get a pass. - Lester Holt’s Mustache - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 3:54 pm: Kinzinger is usually a pretty thoughtful guy, I’ll give him benefit of the doubt here. I assume this is just what congressmen/women have to do when they realize they’ve got less than a year to convince the loonies who vote in their primaries to send them back to DC. - Blake - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 4:00 pm: On my previous comment, by “they” I meant the real estate owner. By attacking housing supply constraints the state would attack the source of “fleeing the state” directly since we wouldn’t have so much unmet housing demand where it’s in demand, fewer would feel the need to look elsewhere. As has been pointed out elsewhere, it ain’t the wealthy leaving, but people who could be much more sensitive to Chicagoland real estate prices & allowing denser development would improve the negative migration rates behind the fleeing argument. - NeverPoliticallyCorrect - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 4:02 pm: Of course one could say the opposite that the legislature cared about kids dying from smoking related disease but don’t care about pre-born children being killed for any reason. - Skeptic - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 4:23 pm: “dying from smoking related disease but don’t care about pre-born children being killed for any reason.” I call that a false equivalence. - Pick a Name - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 4:26 pm: Kinzinger says people are fleeing the state, he doesn’t say WEALTHY people are fleeing the state. Unless a lot of people are making things up, I read comments about people moving to TN, Florida, Texas, the Carolinas to get away from IL and its situation. - City Zen - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 4:46 pm: Those fleeing the state while jumping the Asian carp must be headed to Indiana or Michigan. - Pundent - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 5:03 pm: =Unless a lot of people are making things up, I read comments about people moving to TN, Florida, Texas, the Carolinas to get away from IL and its situation.= What exactly is our “situation”? Based on Kinzinger’s comments it includes, among other things, a women’s choice and being over the age of 21 to smoke. Kind of makes you wonder what this utopian destination is that he has in mind. - Oh? - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 5:15 pm: So, a U.S. Congressman weighs in on state politics and bashes the state who sends him there. He should be required to recite the Thumper statement in Bambi and write it 100 times. No pass, Les. Come on down to Lay Salle county where I live. The ‘Federate flags are a waving in the back of the pick ‘em up trucks. This is what that crowd sends to Congress. - Huh? - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 5:34 pm: “Kinzinger is usually a pretty thoughtful guy” Less- Pre-45 I would have tended to agree with you. Since 45 was elected, kinzinger has toed 45’s line across the board. - ItMatters - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 5:39 pm: == The ‘Federate flags are a waving in the back of the pick ‘em up trucks. This is what that crowd sends to Congress. == Ah, more tolerance from the left. Lovely. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 5:49 pm: ===The ‘Federate flags are a waving in the back of the pick ‘em up trucks.=== Now, I may not think this is all that fair, but… ===…more tolerance from the left…=== Are y’all saying we should tolerate the confederate flag? You know it was removed, finally, from flying on the South Carolina statehouse grounds after, you guessed it, it was deem too divisively racist, in 2015. Think on that… 2015. So… could you “clarify”? Thanks. - oh? - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 5:50 pm: Itmaatters, some here have accused me of being a card carrying NRA member. Now you accuse me of being an intolerant lefty. I guess I am where any thinking person ought to be. Besides, I live amoung the corn, what more tolerance can there be than that? Want me to kiss ‘em? - Lt Guv - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 5:50 pm: “Ah, more tolerance from the left. Lovely. ” You didn’t say the statement was wrong. - Bavette - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 5:57 pm: Why not just ban cigarettes if people think they are so bad? - Lincoln Lad - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 5:58 pm: Kinzinger is just flat out annoying anymore. Wasn’t always, but certainly is now. - ItMatters - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 6:05 pm: == Are y’all saying we should tolerate the confederate flag? == Um, no. How about not disparage an entire group of voters (like those that voted for Kinzinger) as Confederate loving hicks. Clear enough? - Oswego Willy - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 6:07 pm: ===How about not disparage an entire group of voters (like those that voted for Kinzinger) as Confederate loving hicks. Clear enough?=== Your response… ===…more tolerance from the left.=== … wasn’t as clear. Maybe using your words more… lol - ItMatters - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 6:08 pm: == You didn’t say the statement was wrong. == It was wrong. - Donnie Elgin - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 6:14 pm: He’s not wrong about the “ to the moment of birth “ a fertilized egg, embryo, or fetus does not have independent rights under the laws of the state… - ItMatters - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 6:15 pm: == Maybe using your words more… lol == In the future I’ll try being more explicit. I guess context isn’t always king on the internet. lol - oh? - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 6:17 pm: Trust me, where did I say that the “entire group of voters” were Confederate loving hicks? But, now that you mention it, they are all suspect.But more to the point, Kinzinger is on the make, he doesn’t give a a good gol’ darn (excuse the colloquialism) about Illinois or his district. He is all about self advancement. Adam (which ever is best for me) Kinzinger. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 6:19 pm: - ItMatters - It’s a crazy internet world. To Kinzinger, - ItMatters -, I have been a fan of his, but since this POTUS, his choices of words and policies and processes have been less endearing. Now the “fleeing” spiel. He’s better than that and lots lately, these are his choices, and they’re disappointing to the Congressman I once really liked a lot more. - ItMatters - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 6:29 pm: == But, now that you mention it, they are all suspect. == So, any voting demographic you don’t despise? - oh? - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 6:42 pm: I believe in popular vote…..you know, without the elecoral college electing a president that didn’t get it. And, without census questions to distort representation. Attack me all you want, you and your opinions are not mainstream, you are an aberation, a blip on the screen, kinda like Rauner supportors. If you support Kinzinger you are an outlier. Let’s face it, he is a self serving self agrandizing second rate Congressman who wants to convive to be Air Force Secretary. You suppport him….you fight for him. What is more to be said? - Perrid - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 6:45 pm: Touche Rich. - Pundent - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 6:47 pm: Kinzinger has merely shifted to where he sees the Republican party today. And implicit in his comments is his desire to throw Brady and Durkin under the bus. The national party seems to have little tolerance for moderate Republicans who are willing to compromise. - ItMatters - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 6:49 pm: - Oswego Willy - I actually have more disagreement with his abortion rights vs smoking rights comparison. That is pretty nonsensical. His overall idea about people fleeing the state is actually pretty accurate, thought not for those two aforementioned reasons. But that’s probably not a mistake the “old” Adam would have made, which supports your point. - Starved Rock Marty - Monday, Jun 3, 19 @ 10:35 pm: Sara Dady wouldn’t put out a tweet implying that she’s OK with kids smoking. Just saying… - Bavette - Tuesday, Jun 4, 19 @ 6:58 am: Drinking and smoking age should be 18. - Pick a Name - Tuesday, Jun 4, 19 @ 7:07 am: Bavette, they tried that drinking at age 19 back in the 70’s and it didn’t last long. For good reason. - Hisgirlfriday - Tuesday, Jun 4, 19 @ 7:12 am: maybe kinzinger will join in the fleeing and finally represent the people he serves in the wisconsin national guard. - VerySmallRocks - Tuesday, Jun 4, 19 @ 11:50 am: Doing something about a retirement tax is a huge challenge, maybe something above $25-50,000. But, for those people who are looking to skedaddle to utopias of low/no taxes and other cheap living, like Florida, Texas, Louisiana and Arizona, they might want to check whether the places they want to move to have or are at risk of being wiped out due to rising sea levels, floods, wildfires, heat waves and other risk factors from conditions that don’t want to be mentioned by certain polluters and reactionaries. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.