Breuder saga at College of DuPage mandates presidential contract controls‏

     

The extensions given to current COD president Robert Breuder which pushed his lavish contact out to June 30, 2019, are a disgrace. They set the stage for the costly and long running soap opera that will plague the COD community for another 13 months and beyond, depending on possible new revelations of his seemingly bottomless mis-management.  He appears to lack any sense of civic duty to do the right thing and leave today with the near fortune in goodies already lavished on him by an irresponsible Board.

The next president should be hired for a two year term that cannot be renewed or extended till the final 3 months and only after strong input to the Board from the faculty, the students and the community. And don't worry about scaring off good potential candidates. There must be oodles of great educators who would vie for the opportunity to restore COD to an educational institution which truly values its students, faculty, and mission to educate, rather than serve as its president's Hearst Castle.

Bush III laments good ol' days of criminal war

Jeb Bush is seeking to be the third Bush family member to ascend the Presidency. While he claims he's his own man when it comes to foreign policy, he's hired 19 former advisers to his brother and father's administrations. He sighs when blaming the current Middle East civil war on President Obama for not continuing brother George's criminal war. Jeb says he's "lucky to have had family members who shaped American foreign policy from the White House." Relatives of the hundreds of thousands killed, and millions injured or displaced in that criminal venture most certainly disagree.

Roskam to 6th District: Highway infrastructure logjam not my problem

Apparently, my congressman Peter Roskam (IL 6) doesn't do significant infrastructure investment. He was the only one of Illinois' 18 congressman who wouldn't sign a bi-partisan letter to US House leadership requesting Congress end the decade long delay in a long term highway and transportation infrastructure projects that will employ hundreds of thousands while re-building our crumbling infrastructure. As a 42 year veteran of the transportation industry, I can attest how vital, vibrant infrastructure is to our economic well being. Co-sponsors of the letter, Democrat Dan Lipinski (IL 3) and Republican Reid Ribble (WI 8) as well as 298 other House members of both parties get it. Here's what the letter said in part:

"We are troubled by the significant uncertainty that has plagued federal highway and transit policy in recent years. In the last decade, there have been nine short-term extensions of highway and transit programs. This kind of uncertainty impedes economic growth and makes it difficult for our country to fulfill its competitive potential. The ninth extension is due to expire May 31. Now is the time to end the cycle of short-term extensions that kick the can down the road. We support efforts to develop a long-term sustainable revenue source for our nation's transportation network as soon as possible."

Least you think Congressman Roskam is not interested in infrastructure, consider his fevered support of the XL Keystone Pipeline. XL will speed transportation of the world's most toxic oil through and around our vital heartland aquifers. Of course, Roskam knows XL will never get through a principled presidential veto. But while bridges and roads crumble around him, he'll have a principled talking point for his next re-election campaign.