CLCAA   MAY  2007  NEWSLETTER

Legislators Breakfast on Friday, August 3^rd.  Mark this date now in your calendars so that you will be sure to attend.  It’ll be at 9:00am at the In-Laws Restaurant in Gurnee, less than one-half mile south from the intersection of Milwaukee Avenue and Route 132.  We will enjoy a buffet breakfast with the legislators (or their representatives) and other former CLC staff, followed by a question and answer session with them.  This a really a social event, so do come to meet retired CLC staff as well as the legislators.

GREAT NEWS!!!!  We now have our very own independent Web Site!  The site can be very easily accessed at www.CLCAA.com   A good friend of my older stepson who is a computer whiz has set this up for us initially, and will continue to update it as necessary.  Be sure to bookmark this address, and access it on a regular basis.  The previous link we had on the CLC web site depended on volunteers to enter information, and was therefore woefully behind the times. In addition, we thought that it would be politically prudent to be independent of CLC’s web site as we become more active promoting various legislators and causes.

Currently, there is posted an introductory page about SUAA and SURS, addresses of our federal and state legislators, a message from your president and immediate past president, this NEWSLETTER, “buttons” to immediately reach your state legislators’ e-mail (if he or she has one published), and the names, postal & e-mail addresses, and phone numbers of all our officers on our official stationery NEVER use our stationery to request money or donations). as well as any current information of interest.  We  hope someday to add contact information about all our members, info about CLC happenings and staff,  and direct links with other web sites. 

Our General Meeting at CLC on April 27 was not as well attended as we had hoped.  Nancy Cook was elected President; Mike Corn, Vice President; Nancy DeMuro, Secretary; Fran O’Hern and Barbara Richardson, Members-at-Large.  Jim Beaudoin continues as Treasurer, and Marv Jonson and Sue Lanius continue as Members-at-Large, and Frank Nickels assumes the role of Immediate Past President.  Nancy DeMuro as secretary has the responsibility of keeping our membership list and mailing labels up-to-date, since Karinne Flary, newly retired  as Counseling’s Administrative Secretary, has volunteered to take notes at this and future General Meetings.  Congratulations to all our newly elected officers!  Bob Kerr, chair of the Faculty Senate and economics instructor, was our guest speaker who introduced us to some of the fascinating economics of Illinois and their various consequences.

            Nancy wants all to know that she’s here to serve us.  She will try to convince more retirees,  especially those about to retire, to join our political efforts to effect legislation favorable to our needs.  She expects that our new web site will make it easier for all to “click and send” to our legislators, and to facilitate getting current information and issues to our members.

At the meeting, things to note included the following: watch HR82 & S206 – Windfall Elimination Fairness Act of 2007,  and The Lock Box bill that opposes anymore theft of social security trust funds. .. Anyone who does not understand about our pensions should remember that we have contributed to SURS all the years we worked, and that the average annuity of 65% of SURS retirees is $50,000 or less. .. HB & SB 750 from the Center of Tax and Budget Accountability is back again; key components include raising K-12 per pupil spending by nearly $2 billion over 4 years, and raising $300 million for higher ed; remove the state’s massive pension debt; cutting property taxes by $2.7 billion, and income taxes for the poor and middle class by $900 million.  Among other things, included  is a tax on all personal services and raising the state income tax for wealthier citizens to 5%.  This bill was first introduced by Ralph Martiere who talked about it at CLC three or four years ago.  ..  Watch SB 0246 that limits annuities to no more than $100,000 annually, and HB 0823 to renew the two-year sick leave credit.  A great web site to keep up on state proposals and actions is Illinois Channel.com

            Enclosed is an envelope addressed to Frank Nickels.  Be sure to return the envelope to him ASAP with your current e-mail address, clearly printed, even if we already have it in our records.  If we don’t receive the envelope back, we will presume you do not have an e-mail address.  Therefore, any future communication with you will have to be mailed to you.  Also, whether you have an e-mail address or not, we ask that you consider making a minimum $10 donation to SUAACTION to help support future campaigns of Illinois legislators favorable  to our interests.  Even if you’ve already sent a check, we need to collect as much free-will donations as possible to reach our goal. Please make checks payable to SUAACTION.

Thoughts of an

Immediate past President

Frank Nickels

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I’m no longer the president of CLCAA

Responsibilities are less, but my loyalty will stay.

Nancy and the Board will do just great –

As long as we ALL COOPERATE!

In the past five years we accomplished a lot….

You can bet I’ll stick around to help improve what we’ve got!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

            I really am hung-up on CLCAA!  I worked very hard during these last five years, and I’m very proud of our record.  We’ve received membership awards from SUAA each year.  We started the Legislators Breakfast four years ago.  Now we have our very own web site to keep us better informed and to e-mail many of our legislators directly.  I’ve attended many of SUAA’s general meetings, either in Springfield or Champaign.  We’ve sent out three or four Newsletters each year.  Our annual general meetings are better attended and much more substantive.  We’re recognized in Springfield as an active Chapter.  I’ve tried to keep the Officers better informed about state happenings that especially pertain to us by forwarding e-mails I received from SUAA itself and SUAA affiliates.  The Executive Director of SUAA has traveled from Springfield to speak to us at our General meetings.  The CLCAA name has come to be recognized as a respected group of retired and current CLC staff, not a bunch of former alcoholics.  The ROMEOs and LUNCH-BUNCH members keep growing; they meet monthly to emphasize the social part of our Association.  And the list goes on….. .

            But there’s still much more to accomplish!  We need to find the means to maintain regular contact with all current CLC staff, and encourage them to join CLCAA.  They will benefit more from our efforts, then we who have already retired -- and their membership will greatly increase our numbers and effectiveness in Springfield.  (And frankly, other than recruiting newly retired CLC staff members, I think that’s about the only way we can increase our membership!)  We must make a concentrated effort to substantially increase each member’s donations to SUAACTION so that SUAA can begin to financially support candidates most empathetic to our needs.  Each member must get to know his or her state legislators, especially by meeting with them face-to-face, to better understand each others’ priorities.  And finally, each one of us with access to a computer must bookmark and read our web site regularly; this will facilitate getting important information to you immediately, as well as save printing and mailing expenses.