In the waning hours of the legislative session, House Republican Leader Tom Cross speaks in opposition to shifting the state's financial burden to universities and community colleges (and ultimately to Illinois families). Instead, he calls for substantive pension reform to set the state back in the right direction.

Rep. Mike Unes

By State Rep. Mike Unes from East Peoria Times
May 28, 2013

A little more than a decade ago, the state of Illinois hit a critical mass. ...(It) hit a magical point on the spreadsheet wherein taxing more led to less revenue for government instead of more. The memory of Ben Stein’s dry monotone voice explaining the Laffer Curve in the 1980s classic movie, “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” had faded from our collective psyche.

Government officials, unable to deal with this new reality and unwilling to address their full-blown spending addiction had hit rock bottom. Instead of getting the professional help our state needed, state officials turned to new coping mechanisms instead of treatment. The new fix was the “shift.” "Read the rest of Rep. Unes' opinion piece in the East Peoria Times.