Opinion
John Rung President and Publisher
Dan McCaleb Group Editor
Jason Schaumburg Editor
Saturday, March 29, 2014 • Page A11 • Northwest Herald • NWHerald.com 8THUMBS UP, THUMBS DOWN
8SKETCH VIEW
Resolve differences at MCC The Northwest Herald Editorial Board offers this week’s thumbs up and thumbs down: Thumbs down: To the labor situation at McHenry County College. The negotiation process between instructors and the college has lasted roughly 19 months, with no sign of a settlement. Full-time faculty members filed a letter of intent to strike Thursday, and trustees were asked to join negotiations. Cooler heads need to prevail to end this marathon of increasingly frustrated talks before a strike happens. Thumbs up: To Woodstock resident Lou Ness for planning a 750-mile walk to Washington, D.C., to raise awareness for poverty. Ness was fired in 2004 from Turning Point after allegations she mismanaged funds but has decided to keep a positive attitude and do what she can. She now is the executive director of Rockfordbased Shelter Care. She is planning to stay at churches where she can and walk 15 miles per day en route to her destination. Thumbs down: To the Fox River Grove Village Board, for voting 4-2 against a plan for a proposed 120-foot cell tower at the Norge Ski Jump. AT&T, which wants to build the tower but will share it with other service providers, said the tower is needed to keep up with increased demand of data and voice use on cellphones. But many residents complained that a new tower would negatively affect property values, and so the board caved. NIMBYism all over again. Thumbs up: To Illinois for leading the nation in LEED-certified buildings. The LEED acronym stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. LEED certificates are awarded to private and public buildings that use recycled materials, are located on sustainable sites, and are energy and water efficient. There are 14 LEED-certified buildings in McHenry County. Environmentally friendly development is a trend we encourage. Thumbs up: To Lukas Bettich, a Crystal Lake sixth-grader at Richard Bernotas Middle School who is one of only 100 fourth- through eighthgraders in Illinois selected by the National Geographic Society for the final round of the 2014 Illinois State Geographic Bee. The state final is April 4. The winner receives a trip to Washington for the National Geographic Bee final, where a $50,000 scholarship awaits the winner. Good luck, Lukas.
8IT’S YOUR WRITE Bad job for McHenry To the Editor: From Feb. 26’s Northwest Herald: “When you look around McHenry, if all that you see are empty storefronts, then you don’t see what I see,” Mayor Sue Low said. Northwest Herald headline from March 18: “McHenry approves incentive program.” Mayor Low must be blind. Empty storefronts are all over. More in the 10 years she has been mayor. Now to get business to come back to the city, Low and the city want to give retailers a tax break. Get with it, Sue. Time to fess up and say you have done a bad job for the city of McHenry. Carl Hurtig McHenry
Welcome to Nottingham
8ANOTHER VIEW
Voters passing up chances to be heard A two-part tradition accompanies every spring election in Illinois. Part 1: County clerks predict low voter turnout. Part 2: Voters prove them right. It happened here again during the March 18 primary, which featured such important races as governor, Congress, the U.S. Senate, county sheriffs, judges, county board members and a host of referendums about taxes, school consolidation, fire protection, electric supply and alcohol sales. These races and ballot questions are not insignificant. Illinois has an unprecedented financial crisis on its hands, causing a backlog of unpaid bills, painful choices at public school districts statewide, cuts to state services and programs, unaddressed road and bridge repairs, and what many consider an unfriendly business climate for job creation. Dysfunction and partisan bickering in Congress haven’t escaped voters’ attention, either. As a result, Illinoisans have a lot to be worried about. So it stands to reason that they would have sprinted for the polls Tuesday to make their displeasure known. Instead, most of them forfeited their chance to have a say in which candidates get to move on to the November general election. Voter turnout in Sangamon County was 23 percent, a little better than County Clerk Joe Aiello’s prediction earlier in the day that fewer than one in five registered voters would cast a ballot. Montgomery County’s turnout was nearly 22 percent, and Morgan County’s was about 21.5 percent. Logan County had a 27 percent turnout. One bit of redeeming news is that Springfield-area voters showed more interest in the election than those in Chicago and Cook County, where turnout was just under 16 percent in the city and the county. The general election is Nov. 4. Illinoisans say they want better elected representatives and better outcomes. That only can happen if they hold themselves accountable first by getting to the polls on Election Day. (Springfield) State Journal Register
Editorial Board: John Rung, Dan McCaleb, Jason Schaumburg, Kevin Lyons, Jon Styf, Stacia Hahn, John Sahly
To the Editor: I’m remembering the story of Robin Hood as I read about the new tax being proposed in Springfield. Common misconception of this
story is that Robin Hood stole from the rich people to give to the poor people. The fact of the story is that Robin Hood stole from those who unjustly levied excessive taxes and confiscated private property when taxes were not paid. He fought against the tax collector, the Sheriff of Nottingham and those who levied the taxes, Prince John. He did not steal from those who produced and sold goods or services. Michael Madigan can be described as the Sheriff of Nottingham, and Gov. Pat Quinn as Prince John, or, if you like, vice versa. Here they go again saying the money will go to the schools. I’ve a bridge for sale for anyone who believes this. Hey, Illinois, welcome to Nottingham. David G. Stack Woodstock
Don’t fall for lies To the Editor: Republican candidate for state
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
representative Steve Reick is off to a really bad start. In two recent posts on his website, he claimed that his opponent’s position on changing Illinois’ Constitution to allow for the implementation of a progressive income tax is somehow unclear, substantiating this with a link to a primary election candidate survey to which his opponent did not even respond. This kind of spurious claim can only be called one thing: a lie. And the person making the claim is by definition a liar. Reick’s opponent, state Rep. Jack Franks, is not only on record as opposing a gradu-
editing 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
ated income tax, but is the only Democrat in the entire House to have signed on as a co-sponsor of House Resolution 241 – legislation that specifically indicates opposition to this type of change to our state’s tax code. Mr. Reick is already attempting to resort to distortion and trickery. That is a really bad sign and should make us all very skeptical of any claims he makes and his candidacy in general. Rep. Franks has always shown himself to be an honest, diligent public servant. I won’t be fooled by Reick’s lies. Sharon Gustafson Woodstock
Hobby Lobby doesn’t have religious rights WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. Let’s concentrate for a moment on the “Inc.” part. Hobby Lobby is a for-profit corporation selling arts and crafts. It is asking the court to declare that its religious beliefs are violated by the Affordable Care Act’s mandate that health care insurance provided by employers include contraception. Founder David Green opposes the mandate with a vengeance. If the court finds in his favor, Hobby Lobby would be exempted from providing some contraception coverage – an exemption already carved out for actual churches, religiously affiliated hospitals and genuine religious organizations. If it doesn’t, we will find out what Green’s (or is it Hobby Lobby’s?) deeply held conviction is worth to him (or it). Green estimates it would cost his company $1.3 million a day. The idea that a corporation can have religious beliefs seems ludicrous on its face, but the nose-in-the-tent ruling that gives this preposterous argument some weight was Citizens United v. FEC in 2010, which gave freespeech rights to corporations. Hobby would take that a step further: If Green has freedom of religion, so does his business. Like him, it worships, sins, is forgiven, reads the Bible and, if it all works out, is going to
VIEWS Margaret Carlson heaven. If there is a heaven, I can see Green there (along with Ben and Jerry). On earth, Green got the blessing of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for his position. In the opinion of Judge Timothy M. Tymkovich, Hobby Lobby isn’t just selling origami kits – it’s selling something much more profound. “A religious individual may enter the for-profit realm intending to demonstrate to the marketplace that a corporation can succeed financially while adhering to religious values,” he wrote. “As a court, we do not see how we can distinguish this form of evangelism from any other.” That would mean that Hobby Lobby is like the Jehovah’s Witnesses, only with stores. There’s no doubting the sincerity of Green’s religious beliefs. “If you have anything or if I have anything, it’s because it’s been given to us by our Creator,” Green told Forbes magazine in 2012. The magazine estimates he has donated $500 million to evangelical churches and Christian universities. He wants to open a museum devoted to the Bible. He believes in social justice, paying
8THE FIRST AMENDMENT
his employees more than the minimum wage. There’s no end to what corporations could do – or rather, not do – in the guise of religion. In Arizona, bakers and photographers could have refused to make cakes or take pictures of same-sex couples because the practice offended their religious beliefs (Gov. Jan Brewer wisely vetoed the bill). What else could businesses refuse to do in the name of freedom of religion? Hire divorced people, maybe, or atheists, or even pay the minimum wage. After all, didn’t Jesus say something once about how hard it was for a rich man to get into heaven? Among those who see the danger in this line of reasoning is Justice Antonin Scalia. Fifteen years ago, the court heard a case involving two employees of a drug rehabilitation program who were fired for using peyote. When they were denied unemployment compensation, they sued: They used the peyote as part of a religious ceremony at their American Indian church, they said, so the denial violated their First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion. Scalia was having none of it. Writing for the majority, he said that a ruling in favor of the two employees would “open the prospect of constitutionally required religious exemptions from civic obligations of almost every conceivable kind – rang-
ing from compulsory military service, to the payment of taxes, to health and safety regulation such as manslaughter and child neglect laws, compulsory vaccination laws, drug laws, and traffic laws.” Loath to be seen as antireligion, Congress went to work before the ink was dry on Scalia’s opinion. Three years after the decision, it passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which President Bill Clinton duly signed. The law said the government “shall not substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability.” In its brief and in oral arguments, Hobby Lobby asserts that the HHS mandate is “one of the most straightforward violations” of the law the court is ever likely to see. America was founded on the separation of church and state, which used to be sacrosanct but increasingly isn’t. Where one side sees a retail chain selling scrapbooking kits, many more – at least judging by the number of amicus briefs – see a religious institution akin to a church. It isn’t, of course, nor is David Green some kind of priest. Once upon a time, conservatives such as Antonin Scalia could be counted on to say so. We’ll know in a few months whether they still are. • Margaret Carlson is a Bloomberg View columnist.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.