Champion News

Letters: Eliminating fraud is a key to reining in Medicaid costs – Springfield, IL – The State Journal-Register

Lennie Jarratt — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:34:31 +0000

Sen. Kirk W. Dillard, R-Hinsdale wrote a letter to the editor about how the state can eliminate fraud to reign in Medicaid costs.

I write in response to The Associated Press story, “Questions about Illinois Medicaid cuts, pension reforms,” which states there is little evidence to support the claim that nearly 10 percent of Medicaid in Illinois and nationwide could be fraudulent. There is plenty of evidence to support my contention that nearly 10 percent of Medicaid payments may be inappropriate, at least that’s what a 2010 federal agency report says about Medicaid nationwide.

According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the federal Department of Health and Human Services calculated in its 2010 agency financial report that on the basis of individual state error rates from a sample of 17 states reviewed on a rotating basis each year, they estimate a national improper payment rate for Medicaid of 9.4 percent for fiscal year 2010.

Eliminating fraud is just one of the methods to reign in the costs. The other is to do a residency check. The Illinois taxpayers should not be paying for the Medicaid of non-state residents. There are estimates that a residency check alone could save close to $650 million per year.

The Chicago Way: Strippers & Obama For America

Lennie Jarratt — Wed, 16 May 2012 16:39:44 +0000

Adam Andrzejewski, For the Good of Illinois, has been opening up the books in Chicago this time. It’s always interesting what gets uncovered when a little sunshine is let in. In this case Adam has found taxpayer monies going to a Chicago Strip Club.

The Admiral Theatre, Inc strip club received $5,197.78 in City of Chicago checks. Sixteen checks range from $1.20 to $1,900. A buck twenty? That’s certainly below minimum wage.

$1000 was also sent to the Obama For America Campaign. It also appears this money was not reported in the OFA campaign disclosures.

The check to Obama for America raises more questions. The campaign received a $1,000 check on August 28th, 2007. For some reason, they didn’t disclose this to the Federal Election Commission: click here, and Open Secrets – here.

You can do you own research now as well by visiting OpenTheBooks.com. Vendor spending is now online. One person cannot look through everything, it will take many people to uncover all the waste, fraud and overspending rampant throughout the taxing bodies of Illinois.

Introducing SOS Liberty

Lennie Jarratt — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:38:04 +0000

SOS Liberty is a group of high schoolers who are fed up with the liberal bias in their textbooks and the mounting debt that they will have to repay. Listen to one of their founders in this video, read more about them and then contact them to come speak to your high school or group.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsE4rOCMS5M

“Occupy Wall Street Does Not Speak For Us”

Wheeling IL, May 12, 2012 – SOS Liberty, founded by students in response to Occupy Wall Street, is rapidly gaining support with calls for fiscal responsibility, free markets and limited government. Based in Wheeling, Illinois, SOS Liberty’s grassroots activism and free market message is resonating with students all across the country. The group has more than 2000 supporters. Its website goes live this week at www.sosliberty.com.

“Each high school student today is inheriting an average debt of $870,000. SOS Liberty believes this is highly unfair because most students cannot even vote yet,” says SOS Liberty Co-Founder and high school senior Charlie Kirk. “We want to get more young kids understanding the issues, especially the amount of debt Washington is putting on their back. Occupy Wall Street does not speak for us.”

SOSLiberty.com includes pictures, videos, news updates, a twitter feed, a youth forum, and ‘activism alerts.’ “This is not a political issue,” Kirk says, “but rather a generational one.”

In the words of Co-Founder Mike Diamond, “If we live above our means today, we will be forced to live below our means tomorrow.”

Members of SOS Liberty speak all over the Midwest – delivering speeches, videos and PowerPoint presentations followed by a question and answer period. They have presented to many community organizations, schools, and youth groups and have received rave reviews from their audiences. Additionally, they have appeared on local radio, TV and numerous podcasts. Their student activism has received coverage by NBC News, Illinois Review, Breitbart.com and the Dallas Morning News. They have gained endorsements from members of Congress and participate in several weekly radio shows that are broadcast to a nationwide audience.

It Worked!

Editor — Tue, 15 May 2012 19:11:41 +0000

While Wisconsin chose Walker, California and Illinois chose polar opposites. LikeWalker’s current recall opponent, those two un-Walker governors ran on empty feel-good rhetoric with no fiscal plan to offer voters. Once elected, they raised taxes, cut services, laid of workers, and laid the lumber to businesses with taxes, fees, fines, and regulatory looting. Both states have melted down, and their wealthy citizens and businesses are fleeing. That is what didn’t work – taxing and spending and debt and central control.

Read this commentary by Dr. Tim Nerenz by clicking here.

IL Mayors call for Pension Reforms of an “unsustainable system.”

Editor — Mon, 14 May 2012 21:00:15 +0000

At the podium together for the first time since his election last year, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and more than two dozen suburban mayors Thursday called for pension reform to an “unsustainable system” as their municipalities are being pushed to “the verge of bankruptcy.”

Click here to read this article from The Daily Herald.

Free Our Kids from Arne Duncan

Editor — Mon, 14 May 2012 20:53:03 +0000

It should come as no surprise when President Obama says he sees much of the growth in support for same sex marriage as “generational,” with strong support coming from our youth. Attitudes reflect education. We have created a world in which it is illegal to teach youth in our public schools traditional religious values but it is not illegal to teach them competing values of nihilism, materialism, and relativism. And these competing values are actively promoted.

Click here to read this article on Townhall.com.

Activists Challenging GOP Status Quo in Illinois

Editor — Mon, 14 May 2012 16:16:03 +0000

A new Republican activist, Deb Gordils, who is of Puerto Rican and Mexican ancestry, has been working on a year-long campaign to advance Republican candidates and to attract more Latinos to the conservative party.

Gordils is starting at the local level to bust the stranglehold that Democrats have on the county. She is challenging committed Republicans to run for ward committee positions — posts she said are held by Democrats posing as Republicans. It’s a discovery she said she made after just five of the 50 GOP ward committee members returned her calls for help organizing Latino voters for the party.

Click here to read the rest of this article from Illinois Statehouse News.

Teachers union candidate trounced in Wisconsin Democratic primary

Editor — Thu, 10 May 2012 19:03:52 +0000

A year ago the public sector unions seemed to have all the political momentum. Their members (and a lot of radical weirdos) drew national coverage by storming the state capitol and demanding a repeal of Act 10. They portrayed Gov. Scott Walker as a puppet of big business who was trying to break the unions and attack the middle class. For a while the strategy worked. But calmer heads started to prevail as the months passed by.

To read this article from Education Action Group, please click here.

More Anti-business, Pro-union Fun From Springfield

Editor — Thu, 10 May 2012 18:46:12 +0000

Last year, the Illinois General Assembly passed a bill, signed into law by Gov. Quinn, that required the use of project labor agreements (PLAs) in most of the economic development zones in Illinois. To be short, PLAs basically require that companies that do business with a government entity play by union rules and/or pay. The result of which is usually an increase of 15-40% cost to do construction within these zones.

Read this article from Downstate Illinois Advocate by clicking here.

30 Young Illinois Conservatives

Lennie Jarratt — Thu, 10 May 2012 17:57:48 +0000

The Illinois Conservatives has posted a series called “30 Under 30“. The list consists of 30 Illinois Conservatives under the age of 30. The names are in no particular order and was split across 3 days.

1 – 10

Jason Plummer - 29
Christiaan Burner - 19
Matthew C. Starr - 24
Charlie Vidal - 22
Corey Walters -19
Mike Vitt - 14
Peter Kondelis- 18
Tom Demmer - 25
John Poshepny - 22
Whitney Zahnd - 29

11 – 20

Melissa Denker - 19
Meghan Gray - 22
Demetri Broches- 25
John Sweeney - 28
Collin Corbett -26
Shannon Coughlin -27
Joshua Colson- 16
Rob Abraham-29
Patrick Kelly-19
Kyle McCollum-25

21 – 30

Jon Schweppe - 24
Timothy Stoll- 27
Mark Cavers - 25
Lucas Hawley -18
Katie Salvi- 23
Mick Paskiewicz - 24
Anthony Barry - 25
Jon McLean-29
Adam Brown- 26
Terry Schilling- 25