Make a commitment and honor it

I appreciate Gov. Quinn’s letter in the May 13 Chicago Tribune telling us that we should honor our mothers by saving our state. I sometimes think my mom has more common sense by accident than the Illinois state legislature has on purpose. Therefore, I will choose to honor my mother by living out the lessons she taught me.

Be morally, financially and ethically responsible. The Illinois state legislature has not been any of these as they made a contract with the public employees of Illinois and consistently chose over the last 30 years to not make the financial contributions they committed to make. On April 15, I would like to write a letter to the state explaining that I chose not to budget well for the last few years and they would need to “take the hit” on this one as I would not be able to pay my income or property taxes. Using the legislators’ precedent, apparently I will be able to do that. I’ll try it and let you know how it goes.

Don’t complain how the ball bounces if you’re the one who dropped it. If you hurt someone, don’t blame others. Take responsibility for your actions and make it right. Again, the legislature is not taking responsibility for its choice to cheat on its legally and contractually obligated contributions, but rather placing blame on teachers and other public employees that it is somehow our fault, even though we have made every single monthly contribution to our contractual pension program never missing a payment ... ever.

If you make a commitment, honor it.

I am grateful that my mom raised me right. I choose to honor her by living a life reflective of the lessons she taught me. The only downside is that I’ll never be able to be an Illinois state legislator. I think my mom will be OK with that.

Jeff Bialeschki

Elgin