Legislature must eliminate tax donations to churches and parochial schools

One way for Illinois legislators to confront reality is to eliminate all of the illegal donations of tax dollars to churches and parochial schools that are in the state budget.

Governor Pat Quinn was quoted, today, in a Tribune story by Monique Garcia and Rick Pearson entitled Illinois' out-of-whack budget, as saying, "I think all of the legislators have to return to the Capitol to confront reality."

In another story in the Tribune from a week ago, Gov. Pat Quinn preaches the virtues of a balanced Illinois budget by Robert Mitchum, Quinn is quoted as saying that the people of Illinois need a budget that is decent and fair.

Garcia and Pearson's story reports that Quinn has put forth "proposals to reduce payments to foster parents, eliminate child-advocacy center funding, shut homes for the mentally ill, end state services for children with autism and sharply curtail prevention programs involving domestic violence, substance abuse and teen pregnancy. Several thousand workers involved in state and private social work also would be laid off."

Where are the proposals to eliminate the illegal payments to churches and parochial schools?

Why isn't anybody but me even talking about those things?

The Governor and the Legislature can eliminate those payments without a lawsuit, or they can eliminate those payments after fighting a long, expensive and losing lawsuit against them by me, but either way, those payments are going to be stopped.