IL Taxpayers Fund $20,000 of Cross Repair, Court Allows it

Illinois issued a grant of $20,000 to help repair the 111 foot Bald Knob Cross of Peace in Alto Pass, IL. Robert Sherman sued the state claiming that the state violated the first amendment and requested that the money be paid back. The 7th circuit court ruled that there was no "legislative intent" to fund the cross, as it was part of a 5 million dollar appropriation to fund pork barrel projects.

So it appears that legislators can take your tax dollars and give it to churches, who don't pay taxes, so long as they don't specify what the money will be spent on when they approve it. This appears to be a terrible loophole in the law, allowing them to fund clearly unconstitutional projects without any restrictions. Based on this ruling there would be nothing to stop a legislator from getting pork barrel money approved and then giving it to a church in their district to expand or rehab a church.

This is a case of legislators buying votes in their district with our money. This money was secured by Democratic Illinois State Senator Gary Forby.
Benton Office (In-District)

903 West Washington,

Suite 5

Benton, IL 62812

 P. 618.439.2504

Springfield Office (State Capitol)

 537 Capitol Building

Springfield, IL 62706

   P. 217.782.5509

At a time where the state can't balance the budget and they are raising income tax on Illinois workers, perhaps they should not be handing money out to churches who don't pay any taxes.

Do you think that legislators should be allowed to grant pork barrel money at their own discretion?