Opinion
John Rung Publisher
Dan McCaleb Group Editor
Jason Schaumburg Editor
Thursday, April 18, 2013 • Page A7 • Northwest Herald • NWHerald.com 8OUR VIEW
8SKETCH VIEW
Just another defendant When a public figure is accused of a crime, we expect the legal system to treat him or her as it would everyone else. The accused public figure should not be getting any breaks that others accused of a crime do not receive. And at the same time, he or she, when charged with a crime outside of the realm of public office, should not be treated any more harshly. That brings us to the case of Hebron Village President-elect John Jacobson. Jacobson was charged in January with unlawful delivery of a controlled substance, a Class 1 felony, and unlawful possession of a controlled substance, a Class 4 felony, after police say they found about 3 grams of crack cocaine in his car. Police began investigating Jacobson after a tipster claimed he was trading crack cocaine to McHenry County College students for sexual favors, according to a police report from Jacobson’s arrest. Jacobson worked in the building maintenance department at MCC, but he was fired after the arrest. Jacobson has not been convicted of a crime. His criminal case is ongoing. He maintains his innocence. Earlier this month, Hebron voters elected Jacobson their village president. With 61 percent of the vote, Jacobson defeated incumbent Frank Beatty. If Jacobson is convicted of a felony, Illinois law requires he be removed from office. But if he is acquitted or convicted of a misdemeanor, he could serve his four-year term as village president. It’s common practice in many first-time drug cases for prosecutors to plead down to lesser charges, such as misdemeanors, and require defendants to receive treatment rather than jail time. Without talking specifically about what could happen with Jacobson’s case, State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi said his office would not treat Jacobson differently than any other defendant, even though he is president-elect of Hebron. Hebron’s voters overwhelmingly elected Jacobson after his arrest was public knowledge. It’s not up to the State’s Attorney’s Office to worry about whether Jacobson should or should not hold that elected office. Jacobson’s case should move forward as if he were any other defendant.
8ANOTHER VIEW
Apathy reigns Anyone who grew up in this state probably long has known of a certain air of cynicism surrounding, or perhaps suffocating, Illinois politics. In the prairie state, “pay to play” has been in the lexicon perhaps as long as, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” But can we Illinoisans snicker or complain much when we do so little to change the system? In the counties of Williamson, Jackson, Franklin and Perry, a total of 391 offices were up for election on Tuesday, but candidates ran unopposed in 250 instances. Next in popularity was an apparently common name in Illinois: “No candidate.” (Carbondale) Southern Illinoisan
8IT’S YOUR WRITE Supported by facts To the Editor: Re: “Chicago clergy endorse gay marriage” (April 5, Northwest Herald). Wow. I thought the Catholic Church and other major clergy were against gay marriage. Talk about a misleading headline, this one takes the cake. The reporter, Sophia Tareen of The Associated Press, wasn’t reporting about the views of major churches in Chicago at all but on a few discussions with some low-level pastors. For example, one was a lesbian pastor. Another one was once a leading minister of a nationwide church until he began teaching that everyone goes to heaven. Now he runs his own church, New Dimensions Chicago. Headlines should be supported by facts, not by some so-called information that supports nothing of consequence. The question is, how does a major report like this get by the editors of The Associated Press? Are they so liberal for gay marriage that anything goes? And the reporter, where did she get her reporting education? Maybe from
California, where one can get a certificate for just about anything. And the Northwest Herald, how did you let this dribble take up space in your newspaper? Watch for that stuff. I am retired and like to keep my aggravation to a minimum. Lee Stevens Crystal Lake
Sequester them all To the Editor: We, the people of the United States, in order to preserve, protect and defend this great nation for ourselves and our posterity do hereby decree that U.S. House and U.S. Senate members, totally void of any obsequious print or photo media fawning, be summarily sequestered without monetary or professional compensation in a congressional conclave until such time as a permanently mandated, balanced federal budget be secured and ratified. Engaged, law-abiding Americans, with endless gratitude to those who have gone before, giving that last full measure of devotion, will
How to sound off We welcome original letters on public issues. Letters must include the author’s full name, home address and day and evening telephone numbers. We limit letters to 250 words and one published letter every 30 days. All letters are subject to editing
patiently await the first sign of white smoke. William G. Parrot McHenry
Overwhelmed by generosity To the Editor: Each year, the Johnsburg High School Post Prom Committee, made up of parents, raises thousands of dollars to provide a structured after-prom event for our students and their guests at no additional cost. We could not do this without the tremendous support of the businesses in the area. Local businesses in both McHenry and Johnsburg have been incredibly generous in donat-
for length and clarity at the sole discretion of the editor. Submit letters by: • E-mail: letters@nwherald.com • Mail: Northwest Herald “It’s Your Write” Box 250 Crystal Lake, IL 60039-0250
ing goods and services to help us reach our goal. We especially would like to thank our sponsors – Gipper Formal Wear, Black Orchid Boutique, Kathryn’s Bridal and Mar-Ray Dance Studio – for helping us with our main fundraisers: The Prom/Post Prom Fashion Show and our Zumbathon. In addition, many thanks to the Johnsburg Lions Club for yet again sponsoring a meat raffle for us. Thank you to everyone who has come out to participate in our events. Thank you to all of businesses in the area for your support. The list is long and we are overwhelmed by your generosity. Meg Redshaw Chairwoman, Post Prom Committee, Johnsburg
Regulatory taxation hides the true costs from taxpayers WASHINGTON – The regulatory, administrative state, which progressives champion, is generally a servant of the strong, for two reasons. It responds to financially powerful and politically sophisticated factions. And it encourages rentseekers to exploit opportunities for concentrated benefits and dispersed costs (e.g., agriculture subsidies confer sums on large agribusinesses by imposing small costs on 316 million Americans). Such government inevitably means executive government and the derogation of the legislative branch, both of which produce exploding government debt. By explaining these perverse effects of progressivism, the Hudson Institute’s Christopher DeMuth explains contemporary government’s cascading and reinforcing failures. Executive growth fuels borrowing growth because of the relationship between what DeMuth, in a recent address at George Mason University, called “regulatory insouciance and freewheeling finance.” Government power is increasingly concentrated in Washington, Washington power is increasingly concentrated in the executive branch, and executive branch power is increasingly
concentrated in agencies that are unconstrained by legislative control. Debt and regulation are, DeMuth discerns, “political kin”: Both are legitimate government functions, but both are now perverted to evade democratic accountability, which is a nuisance, and transparent taxation, which is politically dangerous. Today’s government uses regulation to achieve policy goals by imposing on the private sector burdens less obvious than taxation would be, burdens that become visible only indirectly, in higher prices. Often the goals government pursues by surreptitious indirection are goals that could not win legislative majorities – e.g., the Environmental Protection Agency’s regulation of greenhouse gases following Congress’ refusal to approve such policies. And deficit spending – borrowing – is, DeMuth says, “a complementary means of taxation evasion”: It enables the political class to provide today’s voters with significantly more government benefits than current taxes can finance, leaving the difference to be paid by voters too young to vote or not yet born. Two developments demonstrate, DeMuth says, how “delegation and debt have become coordinate mech-
Editorial Board: John Rung, Dan McCaleb, Jason Schaumburg, Kevin Lyons, Jon Styf, Kate Schott, Stacia Hahn
VIEWS George Will anisms of legislative abnegation.” One is Congress’ anti-constitutional delegation of taxing authority to executive branch regulatory agencies funded substantially or entirely by taxes the agencies levy, not by congressional appropriations. For example, DeMuth notes, the Federal Communications Commission’s $347 million operating expenses “are funded by payments from the firms it regulates,” and its $9 billion program subsidizing certain Internet companies is funded by its own unilateral tax on telecommunication firms. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, another freebooting agency not tethered to the appropriations process, automatically receives a share of the profits of the Federal Reserve banks. A second development is “the integration of regulation and debtfinanced consumption.” Recently, a Washington Post headline announced: “Obama administration pushes banks to make
8THE FIRST AMENDMENT
home loans to people with weaker credit.” Here we go again – subprime mortgages as federal policy. Is this because lowering lending requirements and forcing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to securitize the loans worked so well last time? This illustrates DeMuth’s point about how unfettered executive government uses debt-financed consumption and “regulatory conscription of private markets” to force spending “vastly beyond what Congress could have appropriated in the light of day.” High affluence and new technologies have, DeMuth believes, “led to unhealthy political practices.” Time was, the three basic resources required for effective political action – discretionary time, the ability to acquire and communicate information, and persuasion skills – were scarce and possessed only by elites. But in our wealthy and educated society, interest groups can pressure government without being filtered by congressional hierarchies. Legislative leaders – particularly, committee chairs – have lost power as Congress has become more porous and responsive to importuning factions using new media. Congress, responding to the increased difficulty of legislating, has
delegated much lawmaking to specialized agencies that have fewer internal conflicts. Congress’ role has waned as that of autonomous executive agencies has waxed. The executive has driven the expansion of the consumption of benefits that are paid for by automatic entitlement transfers, by government-mandated private expenditures, and by off-budget and non-transparent taxation imposed by executive agencies. Government used to spend primarily on the production of things – roads, dams, bridges, military forces. There can be only so many of such goods. Now, DeMuth says, government spends primarily for consumption: “The possibilities for increasing the kind, level, quality and availability of benefits are practically unlimited. This is the ultimate source of today’s debt predicament. More borrowing for more consumption has no natural stopping point short of imploding on itself.” Funding the welfare state by vast borrowing and regulatory taxation hides the costs from the public. Hence its political potency. Until the implosion.
• George Will’s email address is georgewill@washpost.com.
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