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Rob Sherman, the Buffalo Grove-based atheist and activist, tells me he plans to call Illinois House Republican Leader Jim Durkin and demand that GOP state Rep. Jeannie Ives of Wheaton be removed from the House Elementary and Secondary Education Appropriations Committee for having taxpayer-funded kids activity books printed amid the state budget impasse and then sending some to her children’s Catholic school.

The Illinois Constitution forbids using public funds “in aid of any church or sectarian purpose,” but Sherman says his main concern is the books went to a school her children attend.

Ives calls Sherman’s complaint “complete and utter silliness” and says the books cost a total of $130 and have been distributed to children throughout the district. The ones given to the Catholic school, she says, were left over from a kids boot camp she sponsors each summer at Cantigny Park in Wheaton. She also noted she annually returns thousands in office funds to the state.

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Nov 5, 15 @ 10:47 am

Comments

=Ives calls Sherman’s complaint “complete and utter silliness” and says the books cost a total of $130=

Other state employees have been disciplined for less that $130 of misuse.

Comment by Qui Tam Thursday, Nov 5, 15 @ 10:50 am
Leave it to Rob Sherman to make Ives the reasonable adult in the room.

Comment by walker Thursday, Nov 5, 15 @ 10:51 am
==Activist== lol

Comment by Formerly Known As... Thursday, Nov 5, 15 @ 10:52 am
I thought Sherman moved to Florida or somewhere. Can’t he and Pat Quinn find a nice hobby to enjoy in retirement and go away quietly?

Comment by 47th Ward Thursday, Nov 5, 15 @ 10:55 am
Gotta love it when the whack jobs are at each others throats. And conservatives wonder why normal people don’t fall their lines
Best topic of the week

Comment by Anonin' Thursday, Nov 5, 15 @ 10:56 am
Who to root for in this? Hmmm. Hate em both. Ok, I guess I’ll give the edge to Sherman just for keeping the issue alive since Ives is so oblivious.

Comment by Chicago Cynic Thursday, Nov 5, 15 @ 10:57 am
Great, now I “haveta” pick sides?

Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Nov 5, 15 @ 10:57 am
“Rob Sherman is incredible! How dare he?”–fake Ives

Comment by Cubs in '16 Thursday, Nov 5, 15 @ 10:59 am
47th - what if Mr. Sherman lived in the same Florida neighborhood/subdivision as the Oberweis family?! That could be its own Netflix sitcom.

Comment by Team Sleep Thursday, Nov 5, 15 @ 11:00 am
Cut a personal check for $130, Rep Ives and be done with it. Remember: Duty, Honor, Country.

Comment by GA Watcher Thursday, Nov 5, 15 @ 11:02 am
That $130 is costing you bad publicity. Reimburse the state and think before you spend.

Comment by Aldyth Thursday, Nov 5, 15 @ 11:07 am
Can we please have a third-party independent audit of her claims?

Comment by cdog Thursday, Nov 5, 15 @ 11:10 am
As someone who is a big believer in separation of church and state, this is not an issue of separation of church and state. Regardless of how ridiculous and wasteful these coloring books are (and they are), children that attend catholic schools are children of taxpayers and entitled to stupid coloring books like children that go to public schools. By Sherman’s logic, fire departments should be prohibited from putting out fires at catholic schools.

Comment by Just Observing Thursday, Nov 5, 15 @ 11:11 am
Coloring books? … With colored pencils?!.. Oh the waste…. Children can learn with standard #2 pencils. There. Budget problem solved.

Comment by Rufus Thursday, Nov 5, 15 @ 11:23 am
He’s just put the ball on a tee for her. I’m Catholic. I pay taxes. So much ado about so much nothing here.

Comment by A guy Thursday, Nov 5, 15 @ 11:33 am
Goofy move by Ives, and her unapologetic (bordering on abusive) responses to Erickson only worsened its effect. Is the act a huge deal? Probably not. I can’t help but wonder what type of acrid allegations that she would levy had one of her democratic colleagues been in the cross-hairs for a similar act, though. Corruption! Fraud! Abuse of taxpayer dollars!

Comment by unspun Thursday, Nov 5, 15 @ 11:35 am
Goofy issues. Perhaps Rep. Ives and all her colleagues (both parties) should be removed for their lack of any real performance the last six months.

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Nov 5, 15 @ 11:38 am
Maybe Sherman should move into the 42nd and run against Ives. That would be a race for the ages

Comment by train111 Thursday, Nov 5, 15 @ 11:55 am
I have a better solution for Ives. Give $130 worth of coloring books and pencils to a Muslim school in your district. Proceed with every religious school in your district to bring balance for all taxpayers. If Mr. Sherman has a school for atheists, then have at that too.

Comment by 360 Degree TurnAround Thursday, Nov 5, 15 @ 12:09 pm
It sounds like a coloring book that is not related to any specific curriculum or class. So if this this just some simple activity (coloring) book, Catholic school children, as citizens of this State, are just as entitled to receive it as public school students are. I want to further add that thanks to private schools (both Catholic and non) all our taxes are considerably lower than they could be. Imagine if the approximately 150,000 kids attending Catholic schools in the Chicago Archdiocese suddenly went to public school. At $10,000 per student the State would have to come with at least 1.5 billion to fulfill it’s obligation to provide education.

Comment by Buddy Thursday, Nov 5, 15 @ 12:37 pm
Just Observing, well stated.

Comment by Gramps Thursday, Nov 5, 15 @ 12:37 pm
Sherman is a pathetic joyless man who lives on making everyone else miserable.

Comment by Just a squirrel trying to get a nut Thursday, Nov 5, 15 @ 12:49 pm
Wonder if she is regretting going off on Rich now.

Comment by burbanite Thursday, Nov 5, 15 @ 1:13 pm
Kind of appropriate that the legacy of Ives’ tenure with the General Assembly will involve coloring books.

Comment by Dance Band on the Titanic Thursday, Nov 5, 15 @ 1:14 pm
burbanite, that wasn’t me. She went off on Erickson.

She and I get along pretty well.

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Nov 5, 15 @ 1:17 pm
As I recall, the value ($130? in this case) is usually not the issue, it’s the act itself.

Comment by sal-says Thursday, Nov 5, 15 @ 1:19 pm
The line about calling Durkin will probably make the Minority Leader remember the many times his siblings told him “and I’m going to tell Mom on you, too!” (Although, in that family, I think the line was probably more often addressed to Terry.)

Comment by Southside Markie Thursday, Nov 5, 15 @ 1:32 pm
Mr. Sherman clearly has no idea how troubled the public school system would be without these private schools. Another clueless lib.

Comment by anon Thursday, Nov 5, 15 @ 2:17 pm
Atheists and agnostics face serious, endemic discrimination in this country. In schools, government, and business we all too often scratch and claw for recognition and basic consideration. We are cultural pariahs, less trusted than Muslims and considered synonymous with “killjoy,” “curmudgeon,” and “amoral.” As American Christianity’s historic social dominance diminishes, we catch much of the backlash from bewildered believers desperate to staunch the loss of privilege and deference they have enjoyed for so long. It could be a lot worse. Unbelief could carry physical manifestation, or we could live in Bangladesh. But we do have a lot to work for.

And then Sherman comes along and whines about surplus secular educational books going to Catholic school kids. Thanks a lot, Rob.

Comment by Threepwood Thursday, Nov 5, 15 @ 2:29 pm
Petty.

Comment by Blue dog dem Thursday, Nov 5, 15 @ 2:38 pm
When the Capitol becomes Thunderdome, Ives & Sherman are up first. Though I think Ives can pretty easily take him.

Comment by ArchPundit Thursday, Nov 5, 15 @ 3:30 pm
I would give the private schools one nickel for every dollar public schools receive for transportation.

Comment by PENSIONS ARE OFF LIMITS Thursday, Nov 5, 15 @ 7:21 pm
Much as one may regret some of Jeannie Ives positions her character is in the right place.
Those camps when they were at Kelly Park drew
an extraordinary number of children and the
perimeter walks around the park were the high
lights of my dogs summer. This just seems like
gleaming not misappropriation.

Comment by Illinoisvoter Friday, Nov 6, 15 @ 12:57 am