Jeanne Weber

I’ve been in Illinois since I was 3 years old. It’s home. I have six children and eight grandchildren. My grandchildren are all here in Illinois. They’re not going to have a future in Illinois if Amendment 1 passes because it’s so broad and vague.”

“Union bosses would practically have carte blanche to demand things, and the hard part is that only a fraction of Illinois workers are going to benefit. Everyone else is going to have to pay for it, including my kids and grandkids. I want to fight for there to be something left for them. That starts with blocking Amendment 1.”

“I was surprised that there isn’t really anyone talking about Amendment 1. It’s like the SAFE-T Act. They passed that without people knowing about it, and they are trying to do the same thing here. We have the correctional center here, so a lot of people that have state pensions are saying to vote ‘yes.’”

“But one of my friends who worked at the prison sees the bill for what it is, so she’s helping tell people about the amendment. Other than that, there’s nothing being posted about it.”

“This is a good state. I’ve loved living here despite my family members leaving. My family has property in Arkansas, so my mother’s there and two of my brothers have joined her. My youngest brother moved to Florida. They all left Illinois to escape the tax and business climate. The oldest even closed the family plumbing and electric company of nearly 40 years to escape Illinois.”

“Amendment 1 will only make our taxes worse and it will further solidify the pension clause into the constitution so we can’t do anything about it. And we will be barred from getting our budget under control.”

“That means we will be paying in perpetuity for a handful of people who have a really cozy retirement. Everybody deserves a decent retirement, but not $300,000 and $400,000 per year and increasing annually. They shouldn’t even be making that every year. They’re not presidents.”

“I want there to be a life for my kids but the way Illinois is currently being run, our debt is bankrupting the state and its people. The current system takes from the poor and middle class to create the rich and 1%. Amendment 1 will take our voting power away to stand up for ourselves and break this cycle of debt, dwindling public services and higher taxation.”

Jeanne Weber
Retired group home manager
Pontiac, Illinois