Forget the Welcome Just Pay that Toll
As many of you know, I live in the State of Illinois. Recently I had the pleasure of traveling north to a neighboring state. One of the first things that I noted when crossing the boarder was a Welcome sign. This was shortly followed by a rest area where you stretch your feet, walk your dog, even talk to a person working for the state who is quite friendly and willing to answer any question about your journey. They will even give you a free map of the state if you like.
On my way to Illinois the first thing I noted, using the same road that led me to the friendly state, was not a welcome sign but a toll both. Yes, for all those that are traveling to Illinois down I-90, let me be the first to welcome you to Illinois since the State of Illinois does not seem to care about welcoming you. They seem more concerned about getting your money than saying Hi.
 You want a wayside? Forget it. Illinois does not have a wayside, they have an Oasis. Basically, this is a little mall that's like a bridge over troubled tolls.
Need a map of Illinois? Rumor has it that you can stop for overpriced gas, another luxury (cough, cough, gag) for Illinois, and purchase one. Nothing is free over here except the air you breath; sorry if it's not fresh like the air to the northern neighboring state but you can't have everything, right?
Walk your dog? What? You want to give some exercise for your pet and maybe let them do their duty? Well, think again on that one.
Just Pay that Toll and stop complaining, will you?
No. Historically, this toll system was a temporary fix to the roads construction back in the 50's. It was instituted so that part of the "expressway" system, a misnomer at best, could be fixed without using City of Chicago taxpayer money. The clever idea was created by a Mayor of Chicago named Richard J. Daley. You might not remember this guy, depending on your age, but he was the guy that called in the troops for the 1968 Democratic Convention.
Illinois needs a lot of money. We have an Inspector General to make sure our multi-billion dollar collection process is running okay.
Office of Inspector General $300 thousand - new initiative
An Inspector General has been hired to increase accountability by rooting out and independently investigating alleged fraud, waste, and mismanagement in the day-to-day operations of the Illinois Tollway, its employees and contractors. These new funds will pay the salaries of the new Inspector Genera and two investigators who will be hired to help fulfill the functions of this office. The Office’s entire budget of $714.8 thousand includes the incorporation of the Toll Audit function, which will be overseen by the new Inspector General.
Let me ask you this: At a cost shown in the 2004 Annual Budget of nearly 3/4 Billion dollars, why hasn't there been a single report of wrong doing found. If this system is safe and corruption free, then Illinois could use this money to bring down that $15 Billion debt that seems to be growing by leaps and bounds. Heck, since this was data from 2004, the Inspector General's Office has collected at least 10 times that amount (10 years later) or $7148 thousand, not counting pay raises and pensions. That's over $7 Billion or about 1/2 of the entire State of Illinois Debt. For what? Some office that hasn't done a damn thing in 10 years but sit on their tush and collect money? Something is desperately wrong with this.
Who's responsible?
Well, there are two possible approaches to this answer and they are the entire administration of the tollway system, including the governor who appoints people to the board, and the other approach is all of us are responsible because we let this stuff go on and on.
Out of curiosity, I decided to look over campaign funding as maintained by the State of Illinois, State Board of Elections. The information you see by clicking on the persons name may or may not be referenced to the same individual. Is there more than one person with the same name who gave money? It is possible. You decide after you look at the political contributions and the person money was contributed to (the politician). A name not underlined means there is no information available at the State Board of Elections.
Wendy Abrams
Joseph M. Kambich
Deborah Allen
Captain Partick Kimes
Michael Colsch
Paul Kovacs
John Donato
Jeff Redding
Gustavo Giraldo
Cassaundra Rouse
David Goldberg
James Wagner
Shana Whitehead
Kristi Lafleur
Leadership - The Board
Sorry but we do not know who to give credit to for this photo.
If you do know, please send us feedback. Thank you.
Paula Wolff
James J. Banks - this is the same guy related to the former alderman of the 36th Ward, William Banks.
Terrence D'Arcy
Earl Dotson Jr.
David Gonzalez
Mark Peterson
Jeffrey Redick
James Sweeney
Tom Weisner
Missing from the list is Governor Quinn and Acting Secretary of Transportation Erica Borggren (might be related to Paul)
For the official info on each of these people, you can read this web page.
It is duly noted that it is the right of any person to make contributions or donations to any individual they choose, without retaliation of any sort.
It is when the contributions or donations appear to influence decisions or fulfill a position in government, any level, that it is subject to scrutiny via questioning or investigation. Maybe the Inspector General's Office, which as hauled in over $7 billion, should investigate. Oops, we hope the Inspector General does not believe that board members or any other members of the administrative staff are exempt. Banks alone has some questionable items in relationship to property tax appeals, as expressed in numerous articles that appeared in the Sun-Times and Tribune.
Hey Inspector General, isn't it time you and your staff punched in to work? And actually started to work?
We project that eventually the Illinois Tollway will remove the cash payment method, which it charges twice as much for using the Tollway, and perhaps use the info found in this video that applies to the State of Florida.
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