-By Warner Todd Huston
A judge in Illinois refused to delay the corruption trial of Democrat Derrick Smith, a Chicago-area State Representative, so he could vote yes on an upcoming tax hike bill. This will hurt the Democrats’ push to make a temporary tax hike permanent.
U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman didn’t say that Democrat House Speaker Michael Madigan ordered the request that she delay the trial, but Madigan said that without Smith’s vote he will have trouble passing the tax hike.
Smith made the request of a delay so that he could vote for the tax hike but he also claimed that he had a “back injury” from a recent car accident. The judge said that Smith had never complained about any injuries in the several court appearances since the accident, so she found the claim unimpressive.
Republican State Rep. Jil Tracy was disgusted by the attempt. “Only in Illinois could you present a scenario like that,” she said.
In 2011, Illinois Democrats convinced the legislature to vote for what they claimed was a temporary 63 percent tax hike but now that the tax is to sunset next year, the party is desperately trying to make the tax hike permanent.
On the same day that the still serving State Rep. was told his trial was going on as scheduled, he passed a bill out of committee that would make it easier on convicts in the state.
“The legislation, SB3267,” the Sun-Times reported, “amends the Unified Code of Corrections, including to require that multiple terms of probation imposed at the same time shall run concurrently. As introduced, the bill sought to add educational requirements and family enrichment when an individual is serving out probation.”
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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, Wizbang.com, among many, many others. Huston has also appeared on Fox News, Fox Business Network, CNN, and many local TV shows as well as numerous talk radio shows throughout the country.
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