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Lawmakers predict quiet veto session One McHenry County official worried about lame-duck vote By KEVIN P. CRAVER kcraver@shawmedia.com
Daryl Quitalig for Shaw Media
The Salvation Army Command Officer Captain Carol Lewis (left) and The Salvation Army Community Relations Linda West pack toys collected at the wedding ceremony of Mark Katz and Dana Guardyak on Saturday at Park Place Banquet Facility in Crystal Lake.
Giving back on their special day Guests encouraged to bring Christmas gifts for charity program By ALLISON GOODRICH agoodrich@shawmedia.com
A
fter two years planning an elaborate Christmas wedding, one aspect the bride was most looking forward to on the big day was the incoming pile of gifts. On Saturday night, amid illuminated pine trees, decorated stockings and a special guest Santa Claus, 34-year-old Dana Guardyak celebrated her marriage to 40-year-old Mark Katz. At the reception at Crystal Lake’s Park Place Banquet Facility, the McHenry couple was surrounded by about 85 friends and family members, all of whom brought, not home and living essentials, but unwrapped toys destined for The Salvation Army. “It’s on all of their invitations,” Guardyak said. “To bring a gift to donate in lieu of a traditional wedding gift.”
Guardyak said Christmas always has been one of her favorite times of the year, her parents setting the example by initiating Christmas crafts and highlighting the holiday’s giving side. “I would love to go out Dana and buy gifts Guardyak for people,” she said. “As I kid, I actually liked doing that more than getting stuff from Santa.” The habit apparently stuck. With an 8-year-old son, a 5-year-old daughter and a home already set up, Guardyak and her husband decided pots, pans, odds and ends were unnecessary. Their wedding instead would be the perfect occasion to “embody the spirit of Christmas.” “Sometimes it’s hard to give back, to make a big difference
if you don’t have a lot of money or a ton of free time,” Guardyak said. “I felt like this was a way we could really do something big, really have an impact.” The gifts were placed in collection boxes, custom-made to fit the red, green and silver color Mark scheme, and toKatz ward the end of the evening were picked up by representatives from The Salvation Army of Crystal Lake. From there, the toys were taken to the organization’s community center for its annual Toyland toy shop, where McHenry County residents will be able to pick out presents for their children they otherwise might not have been able to afford. The Salvation Army spokeswoman Linda West said the couple’s plan was nothing short of incredible.
“I mean, what a gift they are giving to so many people,” West said. “They’re reaching so many on their special day and really putting the needs of the community first.” While West has encountered a wide spectrum of toy drive efforts, she said this was the first time anyone came to her wanting to use a wedding as a vehicle for charity. “Every time I talk to Dana, I just think she’s incredible,” West said. “She took this vision she had and used it to make a difference.” West explained the wedding toy collection fed into The Salvation Army’s annual Christmas distribution program, which provides families with holiday meals and donated gifts. Families in need of Christmas assistance can still apply. Distribution of meals and toys will begin Dec. 16 and proceed through Dec. 20.
Local lawmakers are predicting quiet on the Springfield front when it reconvenes later this week in the months before the January swearing-in of the new General Assembly – and the new governor. For the most part, local legislators said they believe that the fall veto session which begins Wednesday, and the subsequent lameduck session in January, will be uneventful. Both State Rep. the House and Jack Franks t h e S e n a t e D-Marengo have canceled days in the veto session, which typically consists of two weeks of three days each in which State Rep. lawmakers take up bills David the governor McSweeney vetoed, or oth- R-Barrington er legislation. Hills State Rep. Jack Franks, D-Marengo, said he anticipates an attempt to override outgoing Gov. Pat Rep. Barbara Quinn’s veto Wheeler of a bill aimed R-Crystal Lake at further regulations on ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft. But while the agenda in Springfield still is developing, he does not see lawmakers touching contentious issues like extending the 2011 income tax increase and overhauling the school funding formula. “I see very little. I think Uber will be the one main thing we do, even if we get that far, but we already canceled that third day [of veto session],” Franks said. Quinn began pushing lawmakers during his 2015 budget address to make permanent the 2011 income tax increases – 67 percent on
More inside Lawmakers are considering an overhaul of the state school funding formula, which would direct more money to poorer rural districts at the expense of wealthier suburban ones. PAGE A3 individuals and 46 percent on businesses – that are set to substantially expire Jan. 1. He said during his campaign that he would push to extend the rates after the election, but voters chose Nov. 4 to elect his Republican challenger, Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner. Rauner, who opposes making the increase permanent, has asked lawmakers not to enact any substantial legislation before he takes office. Besides the fact that Senate President John Cullerton already has said the Senate will not extend the increase should Rauner win, the Democratic lawmakers who dominate the House and Senate with veto-proof supermajorities are unlikely to approve extending a tax hike to make Rauner’s political life – or his job of drafting a budget – easier. The plan Rauner unveiled during the campaign decreases the tax back to its original rates of 3 percent for individuals and 5 percent for businesses over four years. Without an increase, tax rates will dip effective Jan. 1 from 5 to 3.75 percent for individuals and from 7 to 5.25 percent for businesses. The income tax rate for businesses does not include a 2.5 personal property replacement tax, which brings the present corporate tax rate to 9.5 percent. The dip would leave the cash-strapped state without billions in income, but critics point to the fact that the increase did not do what was promised, namely straighten out the state’s finances and pay down billions in unpaid bills. Most of the money generated by the increase was swallowed by the state’s ballooning public pension obligations, which now account
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Justice Department prosecutors troubled by extent of military fraud Lawyers describe recurring patter of corruption in period where nation is supporting wars on multiple fronts By ERIC TUCKER The Associated Press WASHINGTON – Fabian Barrera found a way to make fast cash in the Texas National Guard, earning about $181,000 for claiming to have steered 119 potential recruits to join the military. But the bonuses were ill-gotten because the former captain never actually referred any of them.
Barrera’s case, which ended last month with a prison sentence of at least three years, is part of what Justice Department lawyers describe as a recurring pattern of corruption that spans a broad cross section of the military. In a period when the nation has spent freely to support wars on multiple fronts, prosecutors have found plentiful targets: defendants who bill for services they do not
“The schemes we see really run the gamut from relatively small bribes paid to somebody in Afghanistan to hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of contracts being steered in the direction of a favored company who’s paying bribes.” Leslie Caldwell, assistant attorney general provide, those who steer lucrative contracts to select business partners and those
who use bribes to game a vast military enterprise. Despite numerous cases
that have produced long prison sentences, the problems have continued abroad and at home with a frequency that law enforcement officials consider troubling. “The schemes we see really run the gamut from relatively small bribes paid to somebody in Afghanistan to hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of contracts being steered in the direction of a favored company who’s paying bribes,”
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Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell, head of the Justice Department’s criminal division, said in an interview. In the past few months alone, four retired and one active-duty Army National Guard officials were charged in a complex bribery and kickback scheme involving the awarding of contracts for
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