Letters to the Editor - Suburban Agenda

One size doesn't fit all

While we appreciate the efforts of the Republican suburban caucus in Washington, we as suburban Illinois Legislators believe strongly that a one-size-fits-all, or one-suburb-fits-all, approach to dealing with local issues has severe shortcomings.
The Washington-driven suburban agenda does not reflect the real needs and concerns of local residents. Here in Illinois, many of these so-called Ã¢â,¬Å"nationalÃ¢â,¬Â agenda items are already being addressed locally. Additionally, the national agenda disregards the recent history of broken promises and unfunded mandates from Washington.
In summary, the National Suburban Agenda has the following effect:
1. It takes existing local and state programs and "nationalizes" them, adding a duplicate layer of bureaucracy with unfunded mandates.
2. It misleads voters into believing that our communities and states are not addressing key issues of concern.
3. It ignores a host of federal programs, such as Special Education, No Child Left Behind, and CREATE, that have been under-funded, leaving suburban schools and communities empty-handed.
We are ready to work closely with Washington on important programs, but we cannot endorse more bureaucracy and duplication of programs already in place. We cannot define our local agenda based on polling in suburban Cleveland or Philadelphia. We cannot allow our congressional representatives to determine what our needs are based on orders that have come down from Karl Rove. We invite our congressman, Mark Kirk, to host town hall meetings to hear firsthand from constituents what is on their minds.

State Sen. Susan Garrett (D-29, Lake Forest)
State Rep. Elaine Nekritz (D-57, Des Plaines)

Paid for by Dan Seals for Congress

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