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Tillman claims his group has “unblemished” record of “decency, civility, and candor”

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* From John Tillman at the Illinois Policy Institute…

In the past several days, the Illinois Policy Institute has been accused of introducing elements of incivility, aggression, and discord into Illinois’ public discourse. The accusers are uniformly tax-hiking lawmakers and their enablers in media.

Their accusations are false.

We are on record urging the members of our community to act with decency, civility, and candor — and we have an unblemished record of doing the same ourselves. This is not pro forma: it is central to our identity and mission.

In the aftermath of a destructive 32-percent income-tax hike, in a state budget that achieves nothing beyond worsening the already-staggering burden on Illinois families and taxpayers, the Springfield elites are desperate to talk about absolutely anything else. They know they are the epicenter and cause of a series of cascading failures that have engulfed our once-great and once-prosperous state.

The real threat is not to lawmakers who enact policies that drive out our jobs, impoverish our communities, and diminish our dreams. The real threat is to average Illinoisans who suffer the consequences of those lawmakers’ serial failures to responsibly govern. Illinoisans have a lot to be upset and even angered about. Yet even now, with one of America’s great states brought to the brink of insolvency and ruin, the overwhelming majority of Illinoisans are still showing more respect for their lawmakers than their lawmakers have shown them.

Click here for a reminder about their decency and civility.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Jul 12, 17 @ 5:00 pm

Comments

Shorter IPI: We, who have all the money and all the power, are the victims.

Comment by Blue Bayou Wednesday, Jul 12, 17 @ 5:05 pm
Click here for a doozy from today

Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Jul 12, 17 @ 5:06 pm
Correction, I believe it should say, “radical candor.”

Comment by 47th Ward Wednesday, Jul 12, 17 @ 5:07 pm
Rich, I had no idea their FB pic was Madigan going down on a bomb!

Subtle.

Comment by Blue Bayou Wednesday, Jul 12, 17 @ 5:11 pm
The very first comment…

Not 8th, or 15th…

1st

Agreed, it should read “radical candor”… as in allowing nothing close to civility in its comments…

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Jul 12, 17 @ 5:12 pm
===The real threat is not to lawmakers…===

… the real threat is the commenters on Facebook that… lawmakers…

K? K.

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Jul 12, 17 @ 5:14 pm
Even in his own statement denying IPI’s contributions to incivility, we get the words “enablers in the media,” “destructive,” “real threat” (2x), “upset,” “angered,” “ruin.” The words of apocalypse and inflammation.

Not to mention the repeated advertising portrayals of the Speaker as an evil puppet master. Which is IPI’s first amendment right, of course, but could hardly be characterized as keeping it all on the plain of ideas.

So, please, John, spare us the sanctimonious, phony outrage.

Comment by Moe Berg Wednesday, Jul 12, 17 @ 5:15 pm
Yes, and this comment is not remotely representative of the crap IPI has been stirring up:

“HOPE THEY ALL DIE THE MOST HORRID DEATH KNOWN”

Comment by Chicago Cynic Wednesday, Jul 12, 17 @ 5:15 pm
===We are on record urging the members of our community to act with decency, civility, and candor — and we have an unblemished record of doing the same ourselves. This is not pro forma: it is central to our identity and mission===

Yeah, should we catalog the imagery first with the cartoons, or the flammable language that leads to even more dangerous comments towards others?

We can do both chronologically, alphabetically, or by subject, you can choose, Mr. Tillman…

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Jul 12, 17 @ 5:16 pm
I’m sure their decency, civility and candor will improve now a few of the IPI staff are employed by the governor/s.

Comment by Wensicia Wednesday, Jul 12, 17 @ 5:16 pm
Rich - doesn’t this post belong with your preceding post below?

Comment by Henry Francis Wednesday, Jul 12, 17 @ 5:17 pm
I read the headline and threw up in my mouth.
Heartless Machiavellians with press credentials.

Comment by Chicago 20 Wednesday, Jul 12, 17 @ 5:19 pm
And also in your world, the sky is green. Well, everything is green because its all about money. Whatever. Continue to live in your fantasy world and I’ll continue to live in the real world.

Comment by Steve Rogers Wednesday, Jul 12, 17 @ 5:21 pm
Such delicate daisies, these grifters.

They can dish it out, but they sure can’t take it.

But do they have to lie, whine and play the victim about it, too?

Cowboy up, dude. You want to play hardball, you’re going to get some chin music.

Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Jul 12, 17 @ 5:30 pm
But at least their organizational motto is really straightforward: Put on tie, start to lie.

Comment by former southerner Wednesday, Jul 12, 17 @ 5:30 pm
Just a minute. When NEIU invoked eminent domain in a desperate and morally bankrupt attempt to save themselves - only IPI stood up for the property owners in the face of blatant lies and half truths from the Board of Trustees and their political backers in Springfield. It didn’t stop the seizure, but IPI proved themselves to stand for government by the people for the people.

Comment by Average Illinoisan Wednesday, Jul 12, 17 @ 5:32 pm
It is adorbs that it’s not just “failures”

No-No

They are “cascading failures”… like a waterfall…

Meh. I can deal with failures, but you give me cascading failures, thems serious failures.

Strike all that.

I know why that hit a nerve with me. My apologies.

“Cascading Failures” was a Nickleback cover band… back in the day. They played the “Beat Kitchen” and some other bar before their bassist left the band to yell at commuters at the Damen Blue Line stop.

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Jul 12, 17 @ 5:32 pm
And NEIU’s Board of Trustees seizure took property from senior citizens, minorities and immigrant families - none of whom had the deep pockets to afford a costly legal battle. So, IPI stood up for the little guys - when nobody else would.

Comment by Average Illinoisan Wednesday, Jul 12, 17 @ 5:36 pm
===NEIU’s Board of Trustees seizure took property from senior citizens, minorities and immigrant families===

And paid these owners fair market value for the property. That’s not seizure.

Comment by 47th Ward Wednesday, Jul 12, 17 @ 5:42 pm
The editorials that the IPI passes off to papers as news always are always well written. However, they are also very mean-spirited and are designed to stroke mean-spiritedness among their audience.

Comment by G'Kar Wednesday, Jul 12, 17 @ 5:45 pm
Bold move by Tillman to disassociate himself from racist, anti-social following his group has generated over the years. Good for him.

Comment by Michelle Flaherty Wednesday, Jul 12, 17 @ 5:48 pm
47th Ward,

Watch this and tell us again it wasn’t seizure. Really think about it. Man, what a hill to die on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4hdQglN2W0

Comment by c'mon Wednesday, Jul 12, 17 @ 5:52 pm
People, please get back on topic.

Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Jul 12, 17 @ 5:53 pm
“In the aftermath of a destructive” (Maybe a little aggressive, but we all use the term in describing things like the closure of social service agencies and grossly underfunding public universities bringing a serious threat to their accreditation …) “32-percent income-tax hike, in a state budget that achieves nothing” (Now, now, nothing like a lie to excite the base. I wouldn’t call adding revenue to stem the rising tide of debt, preventing taxpayers from paying interest on unpaid bills, trying to avoid junk bond status to further increase the cost of bonds … nothing.) “beyond worsening the already-staggering burden” (a burden that is less than folks paid in 2014 without tragedy) “on Illinois families and taxpayers, the Springfield elites” (classic propaganda technique to create an amorphous or stereotype enemy to hate) “desperate to talk about absolutely anything else. They know they are the epicenter and cause” (Yes, it’s only the big bad boogeyman that has caused all the problems) “of a series of cascading failures that have engulfed our once-great and once-prosperous state.”

IPI’s own rebuttal to the accusation that they “introduce incivility, aggression, and discord” seems to ring a little hollow.

Comment by Norseman Wednesday, Jul 12, 17 @ 5:57 pm
As Rich said, “lip service”.

Comment by Mike K Wednesday, Jul 12, 17 @ 6:02 pm
Dear God those people are delusional.

NOTHING gets passed their echo chamber defenses

Comment by Morty Wednesday, Jul 12, 17 @ 6:15 pm
But the problem with a press release is it doesn’t record Tillman saying ‘nudge nudge wink wink say no more’ after each sentence

Comment by Morton Wednesday, Jul 12, 17 @ 6:18 pm
In regards to civility and decency, there was a woman who I worked with who put it perfectly. “How did you make your mouth say that?”

Comment by Ginhouse Tommy Wednesday, Jul 12, 17 @ 6:20 pm
So, an unblemished record of decency and civility, and then the entire rest of the press release is insults. Okay…

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Jul 12, 17 @ 6:23 pm
The decency is what we call passive aggressive and it really is the equivalent of a wolf in sheep s’ clothing. The IPI meets the requirements.

Comment by Cleric dcn Wednesday, Jul 12, 17 @ 6:40 pm
IPI must think no one will scarf up anything on them

Comment by Rabid Wednesday, Jul 12, 17 @ 6:46 pm
I thought it was against the law to yell FIRE in a crowded theater. IPI gets close to doing that with their facebook page.

Comment by Joe M Wednesday, Jul 12, 17 @ 6:51 pm
Alternate facts

Comment by walker Wednesday, Jul 12, 17 @ 6:53 pm
What oh what will Tillman do when the mirror on the wall doesn’t proclaim him and all the other IPIes the “fairest in the land “? Spotlights tend to chase away shadows, and as we’ve all seen, Rauner and Company love those film noir moments.

Comment by Anon221 Wednesday, Jul 12, 17 @ 6:59 pm
It seems to me that IPI poured the accelerant when Rauner lit the match that set the state on fire.

Comment by Winnin' Wednesday, Jul 12, 17 @ 7:00 pm
“”"Stuff I just can’t quite believe.”"”

Comment by walker Wednesday, Jul 12, 17 @ 7:48 pm
I find it hard to believe that Tillman was able to type that with a straight face.

Comment by Been there, done that Wednesday, Jul 12, 17 @ 7:55 pm
of course there is an I in Rauner….two Is and a P.

Comment by Amalia Wednesday, Jul 12, 17 @ 8:24 pm
Wherever these people came from, they need to go back to it. We don’t need their arrogant assessment as if they are the standard of knowledge to which we all should subscribe.

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Jul 12, 17 @ 8:38 pm
The IPI has and always will be a joke. Hence why I was outraged when Rauner hired the initial lot in 2015.

Comment by Glengarry Wednesday, Jul 12, 17 @ 9:19 pm
…. yet three days ago the IPI posts this:

https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154887450728667&id=56680318666&set=a.10151250880073667.462330.56680318666&source=54&refid=13

Comment by Watchingfromthesidelines Wednesday, Jul 12, 17 @ 9:19 pm
Well, on the other hand, it’s good that the IPI faithful includes someone who thinks we have a Rep. “Teresa Hutchins Jimenez.” Should save the real Rep some junk mail.

Comment by Arthur Andersen Wednesday, Jul 12, 17 @ 11:49 pm
I hope you guys have your popcorn handy. The Rauner operation was a bit like a good-cop-and-bad-cop movie. Rauner was supposed to be the good cop, and IPI was the bad cop. Now that Rauner hired so many IPI people, however, he had to switch the movie’s plot, and so he made it into a monster film. Rauner is Dr Frankenstein, and IPI is the monster. He got its wires crossed and now it is going on a rampage.

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 4:08 am
Most here don’t like the IPI’s policies & opinions and are upset that IPI is effective. Now many who post on this space are really upset because IPI has gained direct access to the Governor’s Office.

Get over yourselves and quit your whining. Engage on the merits without the crying … or keep crying as you get the policies implemented that you supposedly hate.

Comment by Lance Mannion Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 6:24 am
Lance- IPI is just as feckless as Rauner. Actually I take that back IPI is more feckless.

What policy have they proposed that has been implemented?

You, Lance Mannion, IPI and Rauner are bullies.

The privileged leisure class hate being held accountable.

I suggest you produce real work instead of always

“proposing” and attending meetings

Do the doable not hold out for fantasy

Comment by Honeybear Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 6:56 am
“Unblemished”

This is what often happens when a person or organization suffers from a Messiah Complex.

The Savior must always be viewed as pure and perfect in every way. Not just good. Not just better. ‘Unblemished’.

And those who fail to recognize the Savior as pure and perfect are the Enemy. This Enemy isn’t merely wrong or misguided, the Enemy viewed (and treated) as satanically evil.

And when a pure and perfect savior battles a satanically evil Enemy, not only is a negotiated compromise unthinkable, the ends always justify any and all means.

– MrJM

Comment by @MisterJayEm Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 8:06 am
So, this is much ado about adults cursing? Welp, we might as well shutdown the internet. Back to Civil Society in the Fax Era.

Comment by DownstateKid Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 8:16 am
So, the comment section of a Web site is where we go to find the official positions of the site? Good to know…..

Comment by Anony Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 8:29 am
=destructive 32-percent income-tax hike=

Are they referring to the revenue stream which will finally bring a balanced budget to Illinois. help pay down bills, prevent an Illinois bond rating of “junk,” preserve social services, and prevent our public universities from losing their accreditation? If the IPI has an alternative way to achieve a state budget, I have yet to hear it.

Comment by illinoised Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 8:29 am
Why let the truth stand in the way of a perfectly good lie……..

Comment by Dog Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 8:34 am
Moe Berg said it.
ive gotten emails from them with wildly inflammatory language making whatever the topic was sound dire and catastrophic, making it seem like state employees freeload on pensions (nope -we paid in all those years every paycheck while the state “borrowed” from the fund by not making their payments into it just like what happened to social security) and myriad of other wild hallucinations and exagerations to whip up emotional rejection of government in general. They are hardly the bastions of civility and restraint.

Comment by Team Warwick Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 8:55 am
Plenty of overlap with the Trump crowd, which is pretty much willing to believe anything negative they read or hear about Democrats. The IPI knows their market and is willing to throw them lots of red meat.

Comment by Aldyth Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 9:01 am
One look at the crap they post (and yes, the majority of it is BS) and you can tell exactly what their position is.

Comment by Fixer Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 9:31 am
===So, this is much ado about adults cursing?===

Nice try.

No.

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 9:56 am
=== Nice try. No. ===

I admit IPI targeting you is a bit childish, but you’re responding in kind. Truthfully, it’s a waste of time for both parties.

Comment by DownstateKid Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 10:12 am
@ Rich Miller
Your comment above “People, Please get back on topic” is troubling me. The story of IPI supporting women, senior citizens, immigrants and minorities in their fight against a corrupt, mismanaged, property seizing NEIU flies in the face of the popular narrative of IPI being right wing extremists. Rich, I thought you were supposed to be impartial? This is material evidence to the contrary of the picture being painted of IPI. How is it “off topic?”

Comment by Average Illinoisan Thursday, Jul 13, 17 @ 3:12 pm
Given the diligence with which the IPI works to deprive the aforementioned “women, senior citizens, immigrants and minorities” of infrastructure, education, social services and public safety in an attempt to spare their wealthy patrons the inconvenience of paying taxes, I suspect that these particular citizens’ well-being may not have been the IPI’s primary motivation in opposing the NEIU dorm expansion. That their co-opponents included the anti-government Institute for Justice, the anti-union Liberty Justice Center, and the Property Rights Alliance–a division of Grover Norquist’s anti-tax Americans for Tax Reform–does little to allay those suspicions. NEIU may have had better alternatives to eminent domain, and the IPI was certainly within their rights to oppose the NEIU plan, but having done so hardly qualifies them as defenders of the downtrodden.

Comment by CEA Friday, Jul 14, 17 @ 10:51 am