I request that the Governor veto each and every line
item in
HB 313 Senate Amendment 3 that constitutes a
donation of tax dollars to a church, a parochial
school or any organization that would be making use
of the money for a sectarian purpose.
Such grants violate one
or more of the following:
The Establishment of
Religion clause of the First Amendment of the United
States Constitution.
Article I, Section 3, of the Illinois Constitution,
which provides, in pertinent part, that "no person
shall be required to ... support any ministry or
place of worship against his consent, nor shall any
preference be given by law to any religious
denomination or mode of worship."
Article X, Section 3, of the Illinois Constitution,
which provides, in pertinent part, that no money
shall be expended to support any parochial school
and that no grant or donation shall ever be made to
any church or for any sectarian purpose.
Here are three examples
of what I'm talking about:
On pages 335-336,
Article 10 Section 1805, provides for a $140,000
grant to "Catholic Bishop of Chicago for general
infrastructure at St. Martin de Porres
Church." According to his official biography, State
Representative LaShawn Ford is a "member of St.
Martin de Porres Catholic Church Parish Council and
Finance Committee."
Is this what State
government has come to? Get elected to the General
Assembly and sponsor legislation that forces all of
the taxpayers of the State to donate to a State
Rep.'s church? This is the Pilgrim Baptist lawsuit,
all over again, and there are dozens, perhaps
hundreds, of similar line items in the Bill.
On page 170, Article 9
Section 2625, provides for a $700,000 "grant to St.
Malachy School for costs associated with capital
improvements." What happened to the ban on parochi-aid
in Article X, Section 3 of the Illinois
Constitution? Here, too, there are dozen or
hundreds of similar items in the Bill.
On page 54, Article 9 Section 375, provides for a
$150,000 grant "for costs associated with
construction of a cabin at the Camp Chi program."
According to the Camp Chi web site
http://www.campchi.com/ , Camp Chi is the
"Midwest's premier Jewish overnight camp for boys
and girls ages 9-16. Located in Lake Delton,
Wisconsin." Since when do we tax Illinois citizens
to support religious institutions in another state?
Their web site goes on to say that they serve
"Campers coming from far away places like Arizona,
Florida, New Jersey and Israel." See:
http://www.campchi.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=20&Itemid=124#how.
Why are Illinois citizens being taxed to provide a
religious experience, in another state of all
places, to children from other states and from a
foreign country?
On their web page entitled "Parents Guide - Camp
Basics," click on the heading "Miscellaneous," and
then slide down to "Jewish Values," Camp Chi states,
"At the heart of a Camp Chi experience are Jewish
ideals and values. As a camp, our Jewish mission and
programming continually evolves as we find new,
exciting and relevant ways to infuse Judaism
throughout the camp program." See:
http://www.campchi.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=142&Itemid=142.
That doesn't sound very secular to me. What
happened to Article I, Section 3, which says that
taxpayers shall not be required to support any
ministry against their consent?
On the New Camper page
of their web site, under the heading, "What do we do
during Shabbat [Jewish Sabbath]," the first sentence
of the second paragraph states in pertinent part,
"Everyone goes to Shabbat services together."
See:
http://www.campchi.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=20&Itemid=124#shabbat.
Just as in the previous paragraph, what happened to
the constitutional guarantee that taxpayers shall
not be required to support a place of worship
against his consent?
Camp Chi surely is a
fine camp. My parents sent me there one summer. It
was right around the time of my Bar Mitzvah.
However, how is it the job of the taxpayers of
Illinois to help pay the cost for children from
other states and a foreign country to have a
religious experience at a facility in Wisconsin,
even if the targeted children are handicapped and
even if some of the handicapped children are from
Illinois? What are we doing?
Please let me know which
line items, if any, that Governor Quinn vetoes when
he signs the Bill. If you'd like, I will go through
the Bill, all 972 pages of it, to let you know which
ones I want vetoed on constitutional grounds. There
are numerous other line items that should be vetoed
on policy grounds on the basis that the State needs
billions of dollars just to be broke, but the
specific ones that I'm requesting are limited to the
unconstitutional line items.
Best regards as always
to you and Pat,
Rob Sherman