Chamber of Commerce, Peoria County

The Peoria Area Chamber of Oddities

50 Comments

The Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce has been making some strange moves lately, even for them.

They got behind an effort to bring — of all people — Karl Rove to town, ticking off Democrats on the County board — which is to say, almost the whole board. To add insult to injury, Jim McConoughey, head of the Chamber’s umbrella company Heartland Partnership, sent an e-mail that was perceived as very derogatory toward organized labor. They’ve since backpedaled on both fronts, but it may be too late. The County board might consider “ending the county’s $113,000 annual contract with the Economic Development Council, said Peoria County Board member Allen Mayer, who chairs the Tax/EDC committee,” according to the Journal Star.

I really wonder how the Chamber makes its decisions. I theorized once that they used a magic 8-ball, given their inconsistency on tax increases. They’ve now supported a property tax increase for the library expansion and a sales tax increase to benefit the proposed downtown museum. Yet they have traditionally opposed any tax increases that would go toward basic services, such as poublic safety (police, fire), even when the proposed increases were less than the taxes they’ve supported. That kind of inconsistency earned them no small amount of criticism from former City Councilman Bob Manning, who also called them the “Peoria Area Chamber of Some Commerce” — a reference to the fact that they only seem to really represent certain large employers in the area.

As part of their effort to support the museum, you may recall that they sent letters to Peoria County public school superintendents asking them not to request a sales tax increase for school purposes the same time the museum’s sales tax referendum was going to be on the ballot. They also supported District 150’s “efforts to make tough decisions,” and spoke in favor of District 150 closing schools at a recent School Board meeting. The Chamber’s strange alliance with District 150 has also cost them some members, from what I’ve heard.

All of this makes me wonder… Do they really speak for Peoria business people when they issue these press releases? Do they take a poll of their membership before speaking for them? Do Peoria business people, by and large, support higher taxes for museums and libraries, but oppose them for police and fire protection? Do Peoria business people, by and large, support closing public schools and increasing class sizes? Do Peoria business people, by and large, have antipathy toward organized labor? Are Peoria business people, by and large, Republican?

I can’t help but get the impression that perhaps the Chamber is just a little out of touch with the people they say they represent.

50 thoughts on “The Peoria Area Chamber of Oddities”

  1. Where to go when you are desperate fro a P.R. bump?

    Peoria, apparently.

    Karl Rove… yes, let’s further cement Peoria’s growing reputation as being about 10 years behind the curve… we used to be considered on the cutting edge.

    Yes, apparently we will buy anything, believe anyone and swallow any bitter pill some “authority” gives us.

  2. Pingback: Two good posts from CJ Summers: http://p… « Peoria Pundits

  3. That would be the same Allen Mayer that tried to torpedo the same person he recruited to run against a potential Aaron Schock race then when Schock ran for Congress undermined the recruit by running himself against her and then promptly lost, then crawled back to the county board race and inserted him self back into the contest.

    Good person to ask about being put off over an issue that has dwindling support in the US Congress. ( Card check legislation)

  4. Now there you go mentioning that museum ‘thing’ again………………………..

  5. Rove’s already been here bbs. Came with Bush to EP. The Cat big wigs LOVED him!

  6. Kark Rove could do for Peoria business what Albert DeSalvo did for the plumbers in Boston.

  7. Damn good. I welcome anyone who speaks out against the non-democratic Employee Free Choice Act.

    This act gets rid of the anonymous, personal voting. Your vote won’t be your own anymore. It will be shared with the union membership and everyone else.

    Imagine voting for president or legislators in a primary, for example. A law like this would enable everyone and anyone can have knowledge of your primary vote and thereby contact you to persuade you to vote the other way.

    The Employee Free Choice Act is anything but democratic and gives an unfair advantage to the unions.

    If this act passes congress, look for inflation and more jobs moving overseas. Don’t look for Wal-Mart to have great prices and look for $5 steakburgers without fries.

  8. Bob, I don’t believe you understand HR 1409 / S 560.

    What it does is take away the companies prerogative to force an election BEFORE those in favor of a union have been able to organize themselves. It stops the company’s practice of intimidating employees with the idea their vote is doomed from the beginning … and so is their job.

    Maybe you should read it and not listen to what the corporate shills have told you it says.

    And Ooooh, those great corporate hammers of threat…

    “jobs moving overseas”. It doesn’t really matter where they move… they ARE already moving. The same owners are getting the same outrageous profits off of labor no matter where they are.

    $5 dollar steakburgers…. how much were they 10 years ago? 20 years ago?

    inflation… how much is a dollar worth today compared to 1980?

  10. kcdad, you’re a commie so you lack cred on the topic with me. I go with Bob on this. What this Employee Free choice act bill does is get rid of democracy in ridding an act that has done well for all for many decades, the National Labor Relations Act. The unions will have all the power if this bill is passed. And I’m all for equality but getting rid of the secret ballot is going to do it for me once and for all. And I’m a union girl but these assholes I deal with in the union are far too corrupt for me to trust with this economy.

  11. I’m going to try to get this post past CJ’s spam filter by breaking the links below. To bring up, remove the space between the http and the :

    I like Allen Mayer personally and in fact we are Facebook friends (at least as of this moment). I am very disappointed however, in how he is handling allegations against the Board of Review.

    http ://www.peoriatimesobserver.com/homepage/x2133275557

    http ://www.pjstar.com/archive/x878342137/Word-on-the-Street-Money-politics-a-volatile-mix

    http ://peoriarocks.blogspot.com/2009/03/realtors-homeowners-call-foul-on-peoria.html

    Not only is he writing citizen complaints off as “partisan politics”, but he appears also poised to re-appoint the very same members to the board of review that have been the source of numerous, serious complaints. This board of review has systematically been denying appeals that are based upon the properties own RECENT SALE PRICE in an arms-length transaction. That should have all property owners very concerned, as they are basically being given the green light by a majority of the county board to “manufacture” home values.

    Many feel it is the Democratic county board members supporting the Democratic Board of Review members. Needless to say, when I saw Mr. Mayer in the paper this morning bemoaning partisan politics I couldn’t help but chuckle.

    That said, I also agree that the Chamber of Commerce has become far too political. I pulled my membership earlier this year when they began making controversial public statements on behalf of their “membership” without consulting same. Last month when the school board was preparing to vote on the closing of D150 primary and high schools, Roberta Parks was the only one in the room that got up, and with all the compassion of a salamander – facing a room full of tearful children and families, encouraged the Board to vote for school closures.

    It was like watching someone committ career suicide, only the entity she was killing was the Chamber, in my opinion.

    I can’t explain what is going on in this town, but if our elected officials continue to put business and personal loyalites ahead of the best interests of the folks who elected them, we are all screwed.

  13. “Betsy: kcdad, you’re a commie so you lack cred on the topic with me.”

    A “commie”? Don’t read this blog? I am an Utopian Marxist Socialist. Mouse said so.

    What are you, Betsy? Aren’t you from a Abrahamic tradition of some sort? Or are a mammonite?

    How does this bill give Unions ALL of the power? You think the secret ballot is good because you trust the people counting it. Even someone as “commie” as Stalin knew that the only thing that counts is who counts the votes. Look at the messes we have had in our secret voting system in absentee votes and in Florida and Ohio just recently… and that is only where it has become public.

    People should be accountable for their votes and if they are afraid to vote then our problem is much more serious than labor vs capital.

    Imagine the shock if our national elections revealed that people with educations voted for one candidate and people who listen to Rush Limbaugh voted for the other?

  14. I can’t explain what is going on in this town, but if our elected officials continue to put business and personal loyalites ahead of the best interests of the folks who elected them, we are all screwed.

    Diane: It’s called insanity.

  15. I should have added, only “secret” ballots can be intentionally miscounted without accountability.

  17. Read my blog of 10/20/08 titled EFCA stating “What a misnomer, let’s see what’s free…..

    Karen McDonald called me to see if I would support Mayer. I told her many reasons why I wouldn’t as I am well versed on this “free” union voting ploy.

    And for those of you misguided into thinking this is a Republican only thing are as misguided as you are about the abilities of Karl Rove, way more ability than any of you commenting negatively on this blog. He is not the reason businesspeople, both Democrat and Republican, oppose the EFCA. Even switch-hitter Spector does not support this bill.

    For more insight on this act, I suggest reading the WSJ article dated 5/10/09 by Elaine Chao, former sectetary of labor from 2001-2009, titled “Obama Tries to Stop Union Disclosure”. She writes, “Union membership peaked in the 1950’s, when more than one third of United States workers belonged to a union. Today, just 7.6% of the PRIVATE sector belongs to a union and surveys show that 81% of nonunion workers do NOT want to belong to a union.”

    The major reason that most unions are found in the public sector is that most Democrat elected officials are not particulary bashful about maximizing workers benefits with OPM.

    Unions are powerful organizations now much more powerful with this administration. The union leadership knows how to get their supporters elected. The Republicans struggle to know who they are. So thay can’t find good candidates and get them elected.

    The Peoria County Board is composed of 13 Democrats and 4 Republicans and if Shelly Epstein, a recent convert to the Republican Party, the board, in effect will still have 4 Republicans and now “14” Democrats.

    Yes, the Democrats have the power to “have their way” with politics in Peoria County.

  19. Karrie, I don’t know if it is getting worse, or if I just didn’t realize it before, but it is disheartening to say the least.

  20. Its nothing but talk, talk, talk until it comes times to vote and then its partisan politics. It doesn’t matter what the issue is, what the facts are, or who is right or wrong. Its what party do they belong to? Instead of making things better for everybody its making things better for my party or my good old boys. Just tell the people what they want to hear and then do (or not do) what suits the party bigwigs. They can do whatever they want to us and we have no remedy. And I am a born and raised Democrat who will never vote Democratic in this county again!

  22. Anyone else notice that since Rush has become a national phenomenon, beginning in 1988, this country has been becoming more and more liberal, more and more socialist, more and more economically oppressive????

    He really is having a big impact isn’t he? BTW way… he is worth several hundred million dollars… so at least he is successful that way.

  23. kcdad:

    Anyone else notice that since the Federal Reserve and the income tax was ratified as ‘national’ institutions, beginning in 1913, this country has been becoming more and more liberal, more and more socialist, more and more economically oppressive????

    Our country really is having a big impact isn’t it? BTW way … our country is worth several hundred billion dollars less … so at least we are unsuccessful that way.

  26. The economic oppression is the dying gasps of capitalists taking everything they can out of the economy as quickly as possible.

  27. The economic oppression is the dying gasps of socialists taking everything they can out of the economy as quickly as possible to redistribute to others.

  28. Karrie… Socialists have no power in a free economy. Socialists only have power when the military takes over businesses.

    Our economy is being kept alive by the huge influx of meaningless, worthless money into the system. You do know what money is, right? It is a an IOU for labor. When you get paid at your job, the dollar you are paid is you boss saying you have given me this much labor and here is my marker for it. You may take that marker and pass it on to someone else for their labor….

    First, however, you have to go to the source of that marker. I know you know something about this. When the Fed prints that marker, and gives it to the Treasury… who owes who what? The Treasury owes the Fed. When the Treasury gives it to the banks and puts it into the money supply… who owes what to whom? The banks now owe the Fed. When the banks loan it to capitalists for investment… who owes whom?
    The investor owes the Fed. When the investor pays his laborer, who owes whom? The employee owes the Fed. He has assumed the IOU originally issued to the government.

    BUT it isn’t that simple….

    Because the Fed prints $10,000 and gives it to the government who gives $8000 to the bank who gives $6000 to the investor , who gives $1000 to the laborer… each taking a piece out of that original IOU that must repaid to the Fed.

    SO what is going on NOW is the the FED is printing these IOUs like crazy… with people at the top taking all the principle out of the IOU and leaving the laborer to pay the note back… (ALL of payments to the Fed come from personal income taxes.)

    Who is getting all this money? Regular people? Government? No.. investment companies… banks… the same people that have been getting the choice cuts all along, the same people that have forged the links of this chain we all wear.

    You call that Socialism? Wow. You have been trained well.

  29. And before you take the 5% pay most of the taxes mantra… let me remind you, if you receive $100,001 and pay 50% taxes you still are better off than someone who receives $50,000 and pays NO taxes.

  34. Precinct,

    Silly question!!!

    All PATRIOTIC Americans want it because the Republican-Big Business combo is against it! How can ANYTHING like that be all bad?!?

    On a lighter note……………………..

    I am also in favor of taxing U.S. Corporations with overseas holdings because Schock is against it! I find that disagreeing with Schock on ANY issue is the best [and easiest] way to do what is right! I owe him a debt of gratitude for making life just a little bit easier……..

  35. I am still waiting for Merle to give me the go-ahead………………………

    ‘Thug’ recruitment takes time.

  37. I find that disagreeing with Obama, Pelosi,Reid, Durbin,Schumer,Boxer, Burris, and Specter on ANY issue is the best way to do what is right! I owe them a debt of gratitude for making life just a little bit easier……..

  38. I am also in favor of taxing individuals (at a confiscatory level)with overseas jobs who neglect to pay SS and Medicare taxes and then try to be confirmed for Treasury Secretary

  39. P Man,

    HA !! GOOD COMEBACK!
    – Does Diane edit your posts?

    “I am also in favor of taxing individuals (at a confiscatory level)with overseas jobs who neglect to pay SS and Medicare taxes and then try to be confirmed for Treasury Secretary.”

    – I agree with you! I am glad to know we both agree on U.S. overseas corporate tax and finding a better candidate for Treasure Sec!

  40. Leaving politics aside! Maybe our state should adopt the all schools in a county are overseen by one Board of Education. It would certainly eliminate many of the problems we have now. Agreed it may create some also. Tennessee has all schools in a county under one board. Just think we have superintendents of each school district. We have a county superintendent with basically no power. We have Regional Offices Of Education that somewhat supervise what happens. All of these extra county positions are part of of our Peoria County tax money. We possibly could be more efficient. Just a thought!!

  41. Even George McGovern is writing editorials against ending secret ballots. Congress chooses their leaders by secret ballot but the Democrats want to end that for employees. I agree with Mr. McGovern, this bill is both un-democratic and un-Democratic.

    Only short-sighted people denigrate employers and pro-business growth policies. There are NEVER employees until there is an employer first. Keep saddling employers with more antagonism, burdens and taxes and we will have fewer employers. Some people on the political left just don’t get that bit of enduring common sense.

    Unions fight for labor rights regardless of the consequences. That is their mission. The Chamber is founded to advocate for business interests. They balance each other out. Only mushy headed leadership by Roberta Parks and others include union leaders in the Chamber and let left-wing activists like Allen Mayer intimidate them.

    The Peoria Chamber ought to be separate from the EDC. The EDC should be focused on economic development and not advocate for or against legislative proposals in the state legislature or Congress. BUT it is essential that our Peoria Chamber get in line with the Illinois Chamber and the US Chamber in taking a clear-headed relentless approach in advocating for pro-business growth policies.

    The Peoria Chamber needs to free itself from the abilitiy to be blackmailed by hyper-political thugs like Allen Mayer. He is as dirty and nasty as politicians come. As it was said, he recruited Jehan Gordon when the race seemed unwinnable, then when Schock ran for Congress instead, Mayer wanted the nomination for state rep himself.

    Mayer used confidential personal info on Jehan Gordon, gained under false pretenses, in an unfair and sneaky manner. He made an issue of some of the information himself but was sneaky in orchestrating carefully timed leaks to media with negative info on Gordon.

    Allen Mayer was “reprimanded” when caught red-handed doing partisan political work in his state government job. But now on the county board he is holier than- thou and a self-annointed paragon or propriety. He is every bit as rabid and blindly partisan as Karl Rove.

    Mayer is one of the very few real partisans on the county board. The Peoria County Board in recent years has operated in a relatively non-partisan manner, even though members are elected as Democrats and Republicans. But Mayer sees everything through partisan eyes. That is why he is after Jim McConoughey and the EDC and the Chamber.

    Mayer has been hyper-hypocritical in this past week. One the one hand he howls how the Chamber–advocating for business interests by agreeing to co-sponsor an event against ending the secret ballot for unionizing elections- has upset such a productive non-adversarial balance between business and labor on the EDC. In the same week Mayer is trying to orchestrate the appointment of a non-Republican to a Republican vacancy on the county board.

    State law mandates vacancy appointments be from the same party as the person who was elected. Mayer’s technically legal but shady move to hijack the replacement appointment for Riggenbach on the county board will wreck bi-partisan cooperation and trust on the county board. Mayer’s candidate for the vacancy, Shelly Epstein, for whatever reason voted in the Republican primary in the last election but by no objective means is a Republican. Democrats on the county board are in a commading majority position. They don’t need to play games with this appointment. Most Democratic members on the county board don’t operate as partisans. But the hyper-partisan Allen Mayer is egging them on. Doing the exact same thing he is currently criticizing the Chamber for–upsetting a productive balance of mutual trust. Hypocrite.

  44. P Man,

    HA! You are funny!

    Since you are a fellow Democrat and in “favor of taxing individuals (at a confiscatory level)with overseas jobs who neglect to pay SS and Medicare taxes,” I assumed you would also be in favor of taxing U.S. corporations, etc.

    I see what you are saying, why not ‘nail’ everyone who can afford it!

    There is hope for you.

  45. And what is up with Allen Mayer kissing Gary Shadid’s ass and recommending he sit on the board of review for another term despite the fact that a large majority of voters have indicated they do not want Shadid in public office. Whose favor is he trying to gain there? George Shadid?

  46. What right does the US government have to tax someone on income earned in another country?

  48. KCDAD,

    Interesting question.

    Let any American Citizen who wants to work in another country give up their U.S. citizenship. Then taxing their income becomes a moot point………

    Do U.S. citizens in the military pay taxes, even when stationed overseas?

    This question about taxing U.S. overseas corporations……..
    Any and all profits made by these companies go where?
    Take CAT for example; does anyone residing in the U.S. [stockholders, upper management, etc], share in the profits made by CAT India, China, etc? Hmmm.

  49. US military overseas is still working for the United States. If I take a job with Halliburton in Qatar, what does that have to do with The United States?

  50. “If I take a job with Halliburton in Qatar, what does that have to do with The United States?”

    WHO OWNS HALLIBURTON?

    ARE WE TALKING ABOUT AMERICAN COMPANIES? IF SO, THAN WE TAX THEIR ASS[ETS].

    IF THE ‘MONEY’ EARNED BY THESE OVERSEAS COMPANIES ENDS UP IN THE HANDS [BANK ACCOUNTS] OF [WEALTHY] CORPORATE STOCKHOLDERS, WE TAX IT.

    IS IT RIGHT THAT THESE COMPANIES BE ALLOWED TO SET UP TAX SHELTERS ON LITTLE ISLANDS IN THE CARIBBEAN? THAT MONEY WILL ENTER THE U.S. AND END UP IN THE HANDS OF THE WEALTHY ONE WAY OR ANOTHER.

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