Shecky Greene From East Moline
The comedy stylings of Senator Mike Jacobs:
From the Dispatch concerning a proposed 12% pay raise for Illinois lawmakers:
“I don’t want to say I’m underpaid, but I’m not paid what I’m worth to my district…”
Or, as translated by the QCTimes:
“I think that we’re underpaid and I look at some other people do a lot less than what I think I do and make a heck of a lot more money…”
Either way, it’s comedy gold!
Bonus Shecky hilarity in the QCTimes:
“Frankly, if you don’t want politicians selling jobs and you don’t want politicians carrying plastic bags to the Governor’s Mansion full of cash, well then you’ve got to pay them.”
You can’t make this stuff up—I can’t stop laughing—-Shecky you’re killing me!
It does not matter how many gazillions you pay a politician as soon as he or she has established themselves they start passing the graft/pork hat.
Comment by thescoundrel | May 8, 2008
Ya gotta marvel at our political class and their logic—it’s like going to your boss and telling him that if he doesn’t want you to steal from him, he’ll wise up and give you a big, fat raise PRONTO!
Sheesh!
Comment by qcexaminer | May 8, 2008
I hate to say it, but a very typical Liberal thought…
“someone makes more than me and, of course, they do not work as hard as I do - thus, they are over overpaid and I am underpaid.”
Do your job and SHUT UP! If you are worth more - go do something that pays more.
You got a good job handed to you. You have this job for life. Accept the job security and good paycheck and SHUT UP!
Comment by you gotta laugh | May 9, 2008
I wouldn’t classify Mike as a “liberal”; his arrogant sense of entitlement comes from generations of Jacobs dominating local politics and the inbreeding and lack of competition that is endemic in RICO.
Comment by qcexaminer | May 9, 2008
I would agree with Examiner. What we need is a gentleman’s legislature. Unpaid positions that are filled by people that have money and have proven that they can get the job done. We don’t need single parents and common folk in these positions. What we need are the top of the top, and a unpaid legislature is the way to keep the common people out of the mix.
Comment by Sid | May 9, 2008
Just come ouy and say it Neocon Sid. You, Cheney and the rest of your henchmen want to establish a world feudal system of government. THE ORACLE has been on to you jokers a long time. The gig is up. Party’s over. Lights out.
Comment by the oracle | May 10, 2008
Why should we pay Democrats or Republicans. What we need is a process where no one is payed and these unpaid legislators would be doing it for the right reasons. We would be done with windsocks like Phil Hare who makes $180,000 plus $900 for a car and this is just the beginning. There are plenty of people that would take this position for nothing and do the job for something other than money.
Comment by Sid | May 11, 2008
Red or blue, they all have a place deserving of the imprint of my shoe. It does not matter how much they’re paid or not paid by the time they make it to the house or senate they are looking for the hidden honey pot. At least under Republican rule the taxingdermist policies are keep to a minimum and I do not have some Kosocialist trying to nationally force feed their familyless values and hate America agendas.
Comment by thescoundrel | May 11, 2008
I agree with Examiner, Sid and our founding fathers that only “rich-white landowners” should be allowed to govern.
As Madison described in his writings, “The right of suffrage is a fundamental Article in Republican Constitutions. The regulation of it is, at the same time, a task of peculiar delicacy. Allow the right [to vote] exclusively to property [owners], and the rights of persons may be oppressed… . Extend it equally to all, and the rights of property [owners] …may be overruled by a majority without property….”
Why anyone granted “non-land owners, non-men and non-whites” the “right to vote” is beyond what Madison and the framers of the Constitution imagined!
Wouldn’t America work better if rich people ran it? What are the poor afraid of? Do you think someone born without wealth (Jacobs) can possibly do the job “wealthy land-owners” are supposed to do?`
Comment by TonyScorn | May 11, 2008
The Jacobs comedy never ends! Sid, Tony, you’re killing me with your comedy gold!
It may be true that Mike Jacobs was “born without wealth” if you mean material wealth, but what Mike Jacobs has that is more precioussssss than money is POLITICAL wealth passed down from his father and grandfather.
And what about poor Denny? He slaved away in state government all those years then was forced to use his accumulated influence to snag a get-rich-quick lobbyist job.
Tony and Sid—you’re gonna have to do better than throw up strawmen and lame arguments to convince me that Mike Jacobs deserves a raise. Democrats like Obama and Clinton got rich from toiling in the fields of government for just a “pittance”—-just like Denny Jacobs, and just like Mike Jacobs will do.
Yeah, I’m cryin’ for the Jacobs family.
Comment by qcexaminer | May 11, 2008
Unfortunately O, we already have a feudal system of government here in Rock Island County—the Democrats have controlled every lever of power here for a generation and pass the spoils of war out to their donors, family and friends and shut out the peasants and proles.
Comment by qcexaminer | May 11, 2008
You are missing the point completely. I believe that only the people that do not need to be supported by the government or the special interest should be in power. I am not advocating that Jacobs get a raise, I am not advocating that bloated Phil Hare get the bloated salary and car that he gets either. I am just pointing out that things would be better if we had a gentleman’s government. That way we could rid ourselves of all of this ugliness. As for the Illinois raise, an independent Compensation Review Board recommends state salary levels every two years. Both the House and the Senate have to vote against the pay raise or it automatically goes through. The Legislators do not vote for a pay increase they would actually have to vote against it to not receive it.
The truth is examiner that I believe that there should not be any pay for our representation. An independent review board could give them a ten percent increase every year and it would still come out to nothing. It is a privilege and it should be looked at as such. It is not a way to make a living. This is why I support a non payed representative form of government.
Comment by Sid | May 11, 2008
Examiner,
Your fever to limit our freedom during this time when our boys are in the field is odd. Do you hate our Republic form of government, or just so desire direct Democracy? Please explain yourself Exam.
TonyS.
Comment by TonyScorn | May 12, 2008
I’m sorry Tony but I have no idea what your odd “fever to limit our freedom during this time when our boys are in the field” comment means—you’ll have to explain yourself before I can explain myself.
Comment by qcexaminer | May 12, 2008
Well Sid, that IS an interesting idea—it would certainly put a different class of people in government.
They wouldn’t even have to be rich, they would just need the time and dedication to work for the public good instead of grabbing all the goodies they can for themselves, their family and cronies.
Many people are able to retire with good pensions when they are in their 40s, including military, so there is a chance for true diversity in elected offices.
I’d have to think it about it some more, and there would obviously be problems with it, but I think your idea has some merit, even if it has a snowball’s chance of being implemented.
Comment by qcexaminer | May 12, 2008
Examiner,
Why don’t you step from behind the curtain and place your name on the ballot? What’s that? You can’t win? You have no friends? No support? Fear public speaking? Unable to raise the funds to win? Lack ideas and/or the ability to attract press attention? You lack basic political experience? Your education leaves something to be desired? Unable to organize your way out of a paper bag? No chance of winning? AFRAID OF LOSING? Please, exactly what is holding you back Examiner? Dare I say, “BACKGROUND ISSUES?”
President George Herbert Walker Bush and John Quincy Adams passed the family business to their sons and you never said a word.
Comment by TonyScorn | May 12, 2008
Sorry Tony, but if “BACKGROUND ISSUES” such as you mentioned were impediments to elective office, Phil Hare would not be congressman.
As Lane Evans’ son, Hare became the beneficiary of inherited POLITICAL wealth, just like Mike Jacobs, John Q. Adams and George W. Bush.
However, only Mike Jacobs is pouting about not being paid what he thinks he’s worth, which was the point of my post.
Again, I ask you to explain the “boys in the field” bit.
PS: I have deleted your childish and idiotic insult. You demonstrate lack of class and intelligence when you come here to my blog home and insult me. This is your first and last warning—if it happens again, you’ll get kicked into the spam bin.
Comment by qcexaminer | May 12, 2008
The “boys in the field” are fighting for our right to vote for who ever we want. You don’t have the power to tell me or anyone else who we can and cannot vote for.
So what if Phil Hare is “bloated”, he’s our congressperson and you better show him some respect, or you will pay the consequences with higher gas prices.
When Phil finally passes a bil for free health care, you will see that he is as great as the Jacobs’ Family.
All you ever want to talk about is those who you feel inferior 2.
Comment by TonyScorn | May 12, 2008
Tony, please show me where I said you couldn’t vote for whomever you liked? Stop with the strawmen, already!
I did not and will not vote for Phil Hare, and you cannot make me respect him—and how dare you demand I respect Hare. But even so, I’d love to hear how my disrespecting Hare will lead to higher gas prices. Please elucidate.
The Democrats have controlled both houses of congress for two years and they PROMISED they would stop the war and give us “free” health care—-Hare and his Dem pals have done buppkis—-all talk and no action, just another garden variety blowhard politician who lied in order to get elected.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but Phil Hare is not someone I feel inferior to—he is someone I scorn because he was handed his current position rather than earn it legitimately in an open primary.
Comment by qcexaminer | May 12, 2008
“Frankly, if you don’t want politicians selling jobs and you don’t want politicians carrying plastic bags to the Governor’s Mansion full of cash, well then you’ve got to pay them.”
Hmm politicians with bags of full of mystery money! I remember a situation several years ago where we had a State politician that was found with lots & lots & lots of mystery cash after he died. When Illinois Secretary of State Paul Powell died they found a considerable amount of unaccountable cash (I think final count was close to four million dollars)with an ungodly amount being stored in shoe boxes and other similar banking institutions.
Comment by thescoundrel | May 12, 2008
So true—I’d say politicians bearing plastic bags and shoe boxes full of cash is a time honored tradition in Illinois!
Comment by qcexaminer | May 12, 2008
I do not think that it is possible to have a “gentlemen’s legislature”. The only people that could run would be the wealthy - I don’t think the problem is the level of salary of our state senators - the problem is Jacobs’ comments.
Comment by Rob Mellon | May 13, 2008
Rich, Middle-class or poor, it does not matter when it comes to politics. The system rewards those who kiss the political booty of those in power of their respective political party. If you are going to get the nod of your chosen party, you must be prepared to kneel down and kiss the rings of the local and national godfathers and promise your subservience. If you choose to buck the system and go third party, you better be damned wealthy and charismatic beyond normal levels. I would love to see a third party POTUS candidate that actually stood a chance at getting elected. Here is the rub, even if a third party POTUS were elected he/she has to work with whomever controls congress. Not that it would really matter as both parties would wok to undermine any setting third party POTUS. Politics has become this huge scrum where the two sides just push each other around. They do not do anything constructive. The longer I watch the political arena, the more I think there should be two different elections during presidential election years. The first should be to elect congress and the senate. After that election the minority party should then select several candidates from within the minority party that would run for president. The way it is now they just play political assassination mind games trying to gain complete power. If no one side could hold complete power, that would balance the power structure forcing the two parties to work together.
Comment by thescoundrel | May 14, 2008
Scoundrel, your idea about having two different elections during POTUS season is fascinating. It would prevent the type of one party rule that has ruined RICO and lately the State O’ Illinois—which is why it will never happen—dammit!
Comment by qcexaminer | May 14, 2008
I agree Mellon, the problem is not the pay raise — it’s Jacobs.
Politicans are supposed tobe a slippery lot. Chalk full of double-talk and self-serving actions. For Jacobs to come along and “call um as he sees them” is scary to some folks.
Senator Jacobs should start talking like the rest of the politicans. How dare Senator Jacobs think we voters can actually handle the truth!
Jacobs should have said he was “against” the pay raise, pocketed the money and then claim he gave it to charity. Who would be the wiser?
Voters need to hear the truth. I am pleased Senator Mike Jacobs doesn’t love his job so much that he’s afraid to tell us the truth.
You go boy.
Comment by AnnWilliams | May 14, 2008
I think there is more avarice in Jacob’s statement than honesty.
Comment by Rob Mellon | May 14, 2008
Jacobs made a ton of dough selling his business right before he ran for public office. Anyone that actually knows Mike Jacobs, knows that he is very wealthy man. Trust me, Jacobs is interested in money; he’s interested in power.
Comment by TonyScorn | May 16, 2008
[...] handling of the blowback concerning the 12% pay raise our lawmakers intend to give themselves. I blogged about this on May 8th and mocked the Senator’s claim that he was underpaid and that if we didn’t give them [...]
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