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Sherman for State Rep
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Sherman Show on WJJG Chicago, Chicago's best Morning Drive talk show
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Latest Updates
Friday, October 3:
Concert tonight. Rob Sherman Concerts presents Brock and Abrams,
tonight from 8 p.m. to midnight, at Louie's Chop House in Shorewood. For
more details, see Rob Sherman Concerts.
Thursday, September 25:
Three newspapers publish candidate surveys, with my answers. Visit
Rob Sherman for State Rep to view their
questions, and my answers, from the
Chicago Tribune Candidate Survey, the
Daily Herald Candidate Survey, and
the Pioneer Press (Chicago Sun-Times)
Candidate Survey.
Sunday, September 21:
Sherman proposes new law to provide Illinois consumers with relief from
unjust credit card company late fees. Proposal would require a minimum of
twenty-eight days from statement closing date to pay your credit card bills.
Credit card companies have come up with a new scam to screw you unjustly for
undeserved fee money. What they do is push up the due date for when your
payment is due, specifically so that they can play Gotcha and charge you a late
fee, for nothing, when you don't get your payment in by the artificially early
due date. At least one national credit card company uses a due date of
just twenty days after the statement closing date. By the time they print
and send you the bill, about a week goes by between the closing date and when
you get your bill. You need to send in your payment about a week before
the due date in order to make sure that the payment gets posted by the due date.
That leaves you with about a week, maybe even less, to get the bill paid.
If you are out of town for just one week or even if you're just busy doing what
you do, and you don't get your payment out within a few days of that bill
showing up in your mail, you get screwed with a late fee, for no good reason at
all. The early due date is simply arbitrary, and done for the specific
purpose of generating an unjust Gotcha fee. The late fee is assessed
automatically by computer. They'll just have to set the date for the
automatic charge later. I will sponsor legislation to require that
no late fee be allowed for credit card bills where the payment is received
within twenty-eight days of the statement closing date. Vote for Rob
Sherman for State Rep, and instead of them pushing us around, how about we push
them around for a change. That's not going to happen with the incumbent.
You need me for this. To view my full
campaign platform and learn more about my campaign, see
Rob Sherman for State Representative.
Wednesday, September 17:
Sherman posts answers to newspaper candidate surveys.
The Pioneer Press, the Daily Herald
and the
Chicago Tribune have submitted candidate surveys to me in regards to my
Green Party campaign for Illinois State
Representative for the 53rd District. Today, I've posted their
questions and my answers from both the Pioneer
Press candidate survey and also the
Daily Herald candidate survey.
Tribune later this week. See also Rob Sherman for State Rep.
Tuesday, August 5:
Ricky and Dawn photo
by Celeste.
Rick is 26 years old. He is part-owner of computer company
Ferrum Technology Services and lives in
the Northwest suburbs.
Dawn is 15 years old. She's a sophomore at
Buffalo Grove High School.
Monday, July 28:
New pictures of the Flying Shermanator.
Pilot
Side view
Saturday, July 26:
Sherman scores big win in court case to block Rod's plan to donate of one
million state tax dollars to Pilgrim Baptist Church.
For details, see the story written by Mike obinson of the Associated Press, which was
published, today, in newspapers across the country, including the
Fort Mill Times (Fort Mill, South
Carolina) under the title
Atheist gets green
light from court, and in the
Chicago Tribune under the
same title. The Daily Herald
published Robinson's AP story in their newsprint editions under the title,
"Judge: Atheist can sue to block funding." See also the story written by Adriana Colindres,
which was published, today, in newspapers across Illinois, including the Peoria
Star Journal under the title
Lawsuit to block state grant can go forward, judge says and the
State Journal-Register (Springfield,
Illinois) under the title
Judge allows suit challenging state grant to church. In Adriana's story,
the word, "perp," is law enforcement slang for "perpetrator."
Thursday, July 24:
Dawn Sherman to receive prestigious John Peter Altgeld Award this Saturday
from the Chicago Tribune McCormick Freedom Museum and the Newberry Library for her
vigorous and successful defense of the First Amendment in the "Moment of
Silence" lawsuit. Dawn
will receive the award shortly after noon this Saturday at Washington Square
Park, which is located about a mile north of downtown Chicago, at 900 North
between Dearborn and Clark Streets. For more details, see the Newberry
Library press release:
http://www.newberry.org/media/Bughouse2008.html
.
Tuesday, July 22:
Rob Sherman Airplanes opens for business!
See the Flying
Sherman-ator and find out more about my new airplane business. For
details, see Rob Sherman
Airplanes. Also,
Chicago Tribune columnist
Eric Zorn talks about Rob Sherman 2.0 in his column, today, entitled
Atheist aims new weapon in his crusade. Meanwhile, the
Daily Herald still refuses,
five days later, to report any news about my
lawsuit (large pdf file --
may be slow loading) to stop Rod's
attempted million tax
dollar donation to Pilgrim Baptist Church (even larger pdf file -- may also be
slow loading). The first court date on
that case will be this Friday, July 25th, in Springfield.
Sunday, July 20:
Sun-Times, Tribune publish major stories on Sherman lawsuit against Pilgrim
Baptist grant. Chicago's
two major daily newspapers have published stories regarding my
lawsuit (large 17-page pdf
file -- may be slow loading) to
block the State of Illinois million
dollar grant (large 33-page
pdf file -- also may be slow loading) to
Pilgrim Baptist Church. In
today's Chicago Sun-Times,
in both the print edition and online,
Dave McKinney's story is entitled,
Grant to church spurs suit. PILGRIM BAPTIST | Atheist activist says state
can't give $1 mil to repair fire damage. Dave got it exactly right
when he quoted me as saying:
"We all know Rod did this two
months before his primary election victory over Edwin Eisendrath. January 2006, when the fire
happens, and he's in the March primary
against Eisendrath, Rod was pandering for
black votes. I understand that. But you
can't have the state donating $1 million to
a church. You can't do that with tax
dollars."
In the
Chicago Tribune,
Eric Zorn's blog
Change of
Subject, in Friday's online edition but not in any of their newsprint
editions, has a story entitled,
Lawsuit seeks to block Blago from giving money to Pilgrim Baptist Church,
with reader comments below Zorn's story. Meanwhile, the
Daily Herald has refused to touch
the story so far. Also, Chicago Public
Radio WBEZ provided generous broadcast coverage on Friday, as well as a
story on their website entitled,
Atheist Activist Seeks
to Sue Governor, with reader comments below.
WBBM NewsRadio 78 and
WGN
Radio also provided generous broadcast coverage of the story.
For details about my lawsuit, see my
July 18th "Latest Update," below.
As you consider the merits of my
contentions, please keep in mind these two things, which are the key points that
I will be making to the Judge in court:
First,
Article Ten, Section
Three of the
Illinois Constitution states, in pertinent part, that "No grant or donation
of money shall ever be made by the State to any church, or for any sectarian
purpose." The key word, here, is the final "or." That clause in the
State Constitution means two very specific and distinct things. The State of
Illinois is prohibited from donating or granting money to any church for ANY
purpose, regardless of whether that money is for secular (non-religious) or
sectarian (religious) purposes. In addition (this is where that key word,
the final "or" of the clause, comes in), the State is prohibited from
donating or granting money to any other party for any sectarian purpose. The
State is arguing that their money is being granted to the church for secular
purposes, but it doesn't matter that the purpose is secular. The
constitution clearly and unambiguously prohibits the State from granting money
to Pilgrim Baptist for any purpose at all, even if that purpose is purportedly secular.
Organizations that are NOT churches can receive grants or donations of state
funds, so long as the money will not be used for sectarian purposes, but
churches are prohibited from receiving ANY grant or donation of state money for
ANY purpose. It's an important distinction which the State either doesn't recognize or is
choosing to ignore. That's why I'm asking a judge to review the matter.
Second, a church certainly qualifies
to act as the agent for the State in providing state-designated secular services. That
means that if the State wants to conduct a feeding program in Bronzeville, or
provide clothing to the needy or some other secular program, such as drug
rehab or anything else, in Bronzeville, Pilgrim Baptist certainly qualifies as an organization
which can act as the agent for the state, by providing these state-designated services in a
non-discriminating manner without proselytizing and being reimbursed for the
expenses that it incurs in providing the state-designated program.
"State-designated" means that either the General Assembly, the Governor or some
state agency has specified what program to offer, how the program shall be
conducted and how much money shall be spent on that particular program. The State certainly could
enter into a service-provider agreement with Pilgrim Baptist for Pilgrim Baptist to operate the
program, with the State reimbursing Pilgrim Baptist for the program costs.
That benefits the State (us taxpayers) because the State saves money by not
having to set up the infrastructure to operate the program by obtaining space
and hiring employees just for the purpose or providing this program, and you can't discriminate against
a service provider simply because the service provider has a religious basis, if
the service provider is willing to
conduct a State-specified program in a secular and non-proselytizing manner.
That's a lot different than what's happening with this
Grant Agreement. In
this "block grant" agreement, Pilgrim Baptist gets to decide, unilaterally, what secular
program or programs it will offer to the community, how much it will spend on
each program and what the program parameters will be. However, Pilgrim
Baptist is not the Illinois General
Assembly. We elected a State Senate, State Representatives and a Governor
to make those decisions for us. The Pilgrim Baptist Church Board of
Trustees has no right to make those program and financial decisions for us, unilaterally. Who
elected them to make those decisions? Not only that. When the
State asserts that the building that is restored with State money can only be
used for secular purposes, that only applies until February 28, 2010.
See the first sentence if
Item 2.5 on page 13 of the Grant Agreement, which says, "The Grantee shall
continue to provide the programs and services specified in the Grant Agreement
for the term of the Grant Agreement" and also
the third paragraph of the
first page of the Grant Agreement, which says that the Grant Agreement shall
exist "from the beginning date of 03/01/2008 through the ending date of
02/28/2010." After that date, Pilgrim Baptist could use the building, paid for with your tax
dollars, for any purpose it wanted, including sectarian purposes.
Friday,
July 18:
Sherman files suit to block million dollar State
of Illinois grant to Pilgrim Baptist Church.
Breaking News
Friday, July 18, 2008 6:00 a.m.
Rob Sherman Files Suit in Sangamon County Court
to Block
Million Dollar Illinois State Grant to Pilgrim
Baptist Church in Chicago
Yesterday afternoon, Rob Sherman filed a
lawsuit in the Chancery Division of the Circuit Court of Sangamon County, in
the Illinois capitol city of Springfield, to block the State of Illinois and
its Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) from donating one
million tax dollars to Pilgrim Baptist Church in Chicago. The Complaint was
assigned to Judge Leslie Graves as Case Number 2008 CH 0831. The first
hearing on the case will be next Friday, July 25th, at 1:30 p.m.
The lawsuit was filed in Springfield
because the "state actors" (that's the legal term) (Governor Blagojevich,
DCEO Director Jack Lavin and State Comptroller Dan Hines) have their offices
in Springfield. Sherman's attorney is Richard Whitney of Carbondale. Rich
Whitney was the Green Party candidate for Governor in 2006 and has announced
for Governor in 2010. Rob Sherman is the Green Party candidate for State
Rep in the 53rd District of Illinois (Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove,
Mount Prospect, Prospect Heights and Wheeling).
The legal brief that was filed with the
Court contains three parts. First, there is a
Petition, a
required document in this type of case, in which I ask the assigned judge
for permission to sue the state actors. Next, there is the
Complaint, which
spells out my many legal arguments as to why it is unconstitutional for the
State of Illinois to donate one million of our tax dollars to Pilgrim
Baptist Church. Finally, there is a copy of the Grant Agreement, which
is my Exhibit A.
Contrary to some news reports earlier this
month, Pilgrim Baptist has not yet received any part of the million
dollars. What actually happened, two weeks ago, was that DCEO executed
Grant Agreement # 08-203176, which authorizes Pilgrim Baptist to spend up to
a million dollars on reconstruction to rebuild their facilities that were
destroyed by fire and then get reimbursed for those expenses. None of those
expenses, if any, have been reimbursed, yet, by the State, so Pilgrim
Baptist has not gotten the million dollars, yet.
Defenders of the Grant contend that the
money will be used solely for a facility that will provide secular,
non-religious services. What the defenders don't tell you is that this
restriction only applies until February 28, 2010, which is the date that the
Grant Agreement expires. After that date, the church can use the facilities
for anything that they want. What this means is that, if it takes until
late in 2009 or until the first the part of 2010 to complete reconstruction
of the facility, the church would only need to provide secular programs for
a few days or a few weeks, at most, to come away with a new building which
they could use, any way they want, including for religious purposes, but
paid for with one million tax dollars. Indeed, if reconstruction doesn't
conclude until after February 28, 2010, then the church wouldn't have to
provide any secular programs at all with the facilities that were
reconstructed with the million tax dollars.
The Grant violates four provisions of the
Illinois Constitution, as well as the First Amendment of the United States
Constitution. Specifically, from the Illinois Constitution:
1) Article X, Section 3, provides, in pertinent
part, that no grant of donation of money shall ever be made by the State to
any church. The grant is from the State DCEO to PB Church. Article X,
Section 3, does not provide for any wiggle room for situations where a
church facility may be used briefly and temporarily for secular programs.
Really, how much clearer does the Article X, Section 3, have to be that Rod
can't do this?
2) Article I, Section 3, provides, in pertinent
part, that no person shall be required to support any ministry or place of
worship against his consent. The grant is for the reconstruction of the
administration building of the church, but what is the root word of
"administration?" Ministry. That's where the church operates its ministry
from. Article I, Section 3, prohibits Rod from sticking the taxpayers
with a church's ministry expenses.
3) Another provision of Article I, Section 3,
provides, in pertinent part, that no preference shall be given by law to any
religious denomination. Article I, Section 3, prohibits Rod
from favoring one particular church over all others by donating a million
dollars to one particular church that Rod, unilaterally, picks out, and
obviously picked out for political purposes.
4) Article VII, Section 1, provides, in
pertinent part, that public funds shall only be used for public purposes.
The Grant Agreement merely requires that the programs made possible by the
Grant be secular and non-religious. Nowhere in the Grant Agreement is there
any requirement that these secular, non-religious programs have a public
purpose. The church literally can do anything that it wants with the
facilities, so long as it's secular and non-religious. Since when does a
church Board of Trustees get to unilaterally decide what programs will be
made possible by state funds? Who elected them to be the Illinois General
Assembly?
I spoke with Minister Keith Gordon, the Pastor
of Pilgrim Baptist Church, last March. Pastor Gordon acknowledged that
there were clearly issues of constitutionality with the proposed state
grant, and said that he would take my concerns to the church Board of
Trustees. Later, Minister Gordon told me that the Board told him that they
were going to go for the money, anyway, and that Gordon should stop talking
to me. Shame on the Pilgrim Baptist Board of Trustees and their Chairman,
Robert Vaughn, for seeking to stick the taxpayers with the cost of their
ministry, particularly after they were told that their proposal is a blatant
and unambiguous violation of numerous provisions of the State and Federal
constitutions.
Thursday, May 29:
Judge bans "Moment of Silence" law statewide.
The federal judge handling the unconstitutional
Illinois public school "Moment of Silence" law case today expanded his
preliminary injunction statewide. Now, every public school in Illinois is
barred from doing the moment of silence at the beginning of each school day.
Previously, the injunction applied only to Buffalo Grove High School and the
other schools in High School District 214. I'm so proud of my daughter,
Dawn. She took on the entire Illinois General Assembly and won. Last
September, Dawn got God banned from homecoming at
Buffalo Grove High School. Now, she's gotten God banned from every public
school in the State of Illinois.
Rob Sherman Delivery
Moving the world,
six pallets at a time, via The Sherman-ator.
Move up to six pallets and up to 7,000 pounds to and from any
of the forty-eight contiguous states.
The basic rate is $2.20 per mile, but call for a quote on your particular needs.
No hazardous materials nor household goods.
Call (847) 870-0700 for a quote on your
next
freight move. You call, I haul!
Rob Sherman Travel Agency
Creating
vacations, one family at a time.
Apple Vacations
Vacation packages to the Caribbean, Mexico, Hawaii, Europe and
Ski Country.
Call (847) 870-0700 to plan your next Apple Vacation.
Rob Sherman Travel Agency has never charged a customer service fee and
never will.
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