Jay Hoffman–a democrat and chairman of the Illinois House transportation committee–did not vote to support Metra, CTA and Pace in the initial vote for SB572. What’s wrong here?
A) He’s a democrat and only the very very southern Democrats have not supported this bill. Jay, I hope you’re not a Southern Illinois idiot.
B) He’s the CHAIRMAN of the TRANSPORTATION committee. That’s just seriously wrong that he doesn’t support mass transit in Chicago.
Here’s the inside scoop why he doesn’t support SB572. Right now the bill is slated to increase the sales tax for the six-county region of Chicagoland. The Republicans want a huge state-wide casino system instead.
According to followthemoney.org, Gambling and casinos were sixth on the list of top industries that contributed to his campaign in 2006.
Here’s how the numbers break down for Jay’s 2006 campaign:
Lawyers & Lobbyists $55,198
General Trade Unions $53,169
Construction Services $44,200
Beer, Wine & Liquor $42,394
Public Sector Unions $36,250
Gambling & Casinos $31,516
Gee, I’m guessing Jay wants gambling to be part of the bill and not sales tax.
Springfield Office: (217) 782-8018
District Office: (618) 345-2176
Email: [email protected]
(Thanks to Margaret Lyons of Chicagoist for pointing out to me that Jay is the head of transportation and that he didn’t vote yes for the initial bill. And also thanks to Margaret for writing about the Metra pdf flyer on Chicagoist.)
This still strikes me that the chair of transportation supports gam-bling more than transportation.