Is one official in DuPage County starting to blur the line between the duties of his position and his goal to seek another elective office?
DuPage County State’s Attorney Joe Birkett issued a press release this morning criticizing Gov. Pat Quinn for trying to peddle his budget proposals by threatening draconian service cuts if the Illinois General Assembly doesn’t raise income taxes. Given that Birkett has announced he’d like to run for governor, it’s odd that he’d allow an official release like this to come from his office rather than his campaign.
“DuPage County State’s Attorney Joe Birkett sharply criticized Illinois Governor Patrick Quinn today for his recent threats to cut state services unless his unnecessary tax increase proposal is approved. Birkett made the comments after the Department of Children and Family Services threatened to cut funding for Child Advocacy Centers across Illinois. Such centers were pioneered in DuPage County and are a national model on treating young victims of sexual abuse,” according to the press release.
“The citizens of Illinois as well as newspapers from across the state have noted that Governor Quinn has not made a serious attempt to cut wasteful spending in state government,” Birkett is quoted as saying in the release. “He’s leaving in the pork and trying to blackmail providers of vital programs to support his unnecessary and burdensome tax increase. It’s the same scare tactics former Governor Rod Blagojevich employed. The first mission of government is to protect society and the most important members of society are innocent children.”
The DuPage County Children’s Center falls under Birkett’s authority. So there is a connection between his concern for how government agencies are funded and his duties as state’s attorney.
“The DuPage County Children’s Center investigates and processes all cases of child sexual and severe physical abuse in the county and works with children who witness violent crimes. The center receives government funding for its basic operations including staff and building maintenance,” according to Birkett’s press release. “However, there is little money for programs to support child victims and their affected family members. In addition, the center has no funding for community awareness or abuse prevention. Birkett urged Quinn to go back to the drawing board and make the tough cuts that a governor needs to make instead of asking taxpayers to fund his wasteful budget.”
But it’s statements like the following one in the press release that lead me to question how appropriate it is for Birkett to issue this a public official rather than as a candidate:
“Do your job, Governor Quinn, and stop using young child abuse victims as a shameless prop in your budget games,” Birkett says in the press release. “Be a leader, not a fear-monger.”
Birkett’s criticism surprises me for another reason as well. In the past few years when the County Board has threatened service cuts if it didn’t increase revenues, Birkett echoed Quinn’s prediction that many people would be hurt if such cuts were made. Even with today’s press release, doesn’t it seem like Birkett is making the same claim that Quinn has that program cuts will hurt people?
In fact, Birkett endorsed higher taxes in 2007 to avoid staff cuts on the county level. The General Assembly saved the County Board from having to increase its portion of the sales tax by hiking the state’s sales tax and giving part of the revenue to the county for public-safety measures.
Birkett can make any statement he wants about how poorly things are running in the governor’s office. But to avoid the appearance of impropriety, he should leave the politicking for his campaign workers rather than his office staff members.
Stumble It!
