You would think a state with such dire financial problems couldn’t even consider spending such a large sum of tax dollars on something that’s usually built with private money.
Luckily, the Illinois House has backed off the idea for the moment. USA Today reported…
Illinois shelving $100M gift to Obama library
A plan to offer $100 million in tax dollars to lure Barack Obama’s presidential library to Illinois is on the shelf, with lawmakers prepared to wrap up their spring session without advancing the idea.
Democrats in the president’s home state pushed the proposal to compete against rival bids from Hawaii and New York. But it faced opposition from Republicans wary of an expensive and precedent-setting gift — with no immediately identified funding source — for a mostly private endeavor when the state faces serious financial difficulties.
Not all Democrats were on board either, and the Illinois House adjourned Friday without calling for any final votes on the measure.
“It wasn’t clear that a state monetary incentive was necessary for a successful (library) proposal,” said Rikeesha Phelon, a spokeswoman for Senate President John Cullerton, a Chicago Democrat.
Sponsors of the measure vowed to continue their advocacy, but the initiative now must wait despite a June 16 deadline for host proposals to Obama’s library commission.
Back in April, Mike Flynn of Breitbart made an excellent point on this subject…
Illinois currently has the lowest bond rating of any state. Its unfunded pension liabilities are over $100 billion and it has over $6 billion in unpaid bills. While the legislature considers spending $100 million for an Obama library, it is also considering a measure to permanently increase income taxes. Madigan also backed a ballot initiative to institute a “millionaire tax,” although that proposal was ultimately withdrawn.
Obama and his party are well known for repeatedly asking their supporters for donations.
Perhaps they could step up and fund this project rather than the already heavily burdened tax payers of Illinois.
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Comments
How big of a building do they need to house 2 teleprompters?
Don’t forget his two books.
Oh, and they’ll need a separate wing for his Nobel Peace Prize.
They will need an extra big wing for photos of Obama chosen by Obama, as he did for the US Embassy in London. Everyone surely remembers this story:
http://www.publiusforum.com/2013/12/16/arrogance-obama-unveils-new-portrait-dozens-times-larger-washingtons-lincolns/
That wing will also need a giant room dedicated to photos of Moochelle’s well-toned limbs and impressive hindquarters — with video capability for her exercise and dance routines. Mmm, mmm, mmm.
well, they usually have FLOTUS’s dress collection and you know that’s BIG
Instead of a whole POTUS library filled with golf momentos how about we give Obama a wing in a VA hospital and put it on a wating list
Surely Illinois taxpayers have enough burdens already.
If they do, they’re unaware of it when it comes to voting.
Ouch!
100 million? Has anyone broken that down into specific details? I am positive there are plenty of buildings already empty and available right now. Then how much could it cost to move all Obama’s stuff into it? I mean we’re talking maybe 2 million bucks total. Obama could set up his speeches to run on a loop 24 hrs a day. What more is needed? I bet Queen Elizabeth would donate her set of his speeches. The real question is: Which Illinois crook was going to get the overpriced job to build it.