Bob McQuillan for Mayor of Geneva: The Urgent Wake-Up Call for Our Local Governments

For Geneva Mayor, we have a choice between (1) continued business-as-usual, higher taxes and government spending, or (2) an urgent wake-up call to all local governments that the taxpayers are fed up with being gouged.

We have a choice between a Government-First Guy—Kevin Burns—or a Taxpayers-First Guy: Bob McQuillan. A choice between Burns lip service about fiscal responsibility while reciting deception facts, and McQuillan’s straight-talk record of actually fighting for fiscal responsibility.

McQuillan understands the dire economic struggle that Geneva’s families and households have been experiencing in the Great Jobs Recession, as their taxes have risen every year.  Median incomes, median net worth and home values have plunged.  Food, shelter and clothing budgets are stretched. Up big are: borrowing from 401k’s and from college and retirement savings accounts; foreclosures, underwater mortgages, credit card debt; and a troubled future in Illinois. Local governments are in sweet shape; no Great Jobs Recession there.   

Burns has a record of seeking the maximum increase in taxes to squeeze from Geneva’s families and households. He justifies this by saying that a 2005 survey indicated Geneva citizens were willing to pay higher taxes for more services.  Incredibly, Burns is still partying like it’s 2005. McQuillan is sensitive to the citizens’ suffering in the Great Jobs Recession. His record is one of fighting to get the relevant facts from government—about how our taxes are determined and how they are spent—out to the citizens, against entrenched bureaucratic powers.

The citizens don’t exist to serve the government, which is a prevalent underlying government attitude. The government should be the servant of the citizens. 

We can turn this around. We can vote for Bob McQuillan for Mayor on April 9 (or earlier). 

James Cullen

Geneva