C.J. Summers took a look at the figures, and it turns out that the pro-museum push poll conducted by the County of Peoria actually found that at no time, under no circumstance mentioned, do voters support any kind of tax increase to pay for the regional museum that Caterpillar and other movers and shakers want to build on the former Sears block:
Those who do not support a tax: 602 respondents (309 who answered “no†to question 1, plus 293 who answered “yes†to question 1 and “undecided or no tax†on question 2).
Those who support a tax: 398 respondents (those who answered “yes†to question 1 and chose a tax option in question 2).
For those of you who like percentages, that’s 60.2% against a tax increase, and only 39.8% for a tax increase. I frankly don’t see how the survey administrator could have come to any other conclusion. If they don’t consider “no†votes on question 1 as “no†votes against a tax, then in my opinion, they’ve invalidated the survey because they’ve screened people who, by the County’s own admission, would have most likely voted against a tax increase in question 2.
Can we now please, please, allow the idea of using additional tax money on this white elephant die the death it deserves. I know that most politicians in this town would rather gouge out their eyeball with a dull spoon than say “no” to Caterpillar, but at some point politicians have to learn to be afraid of voters as well as be fearful of Caterpillar’s wrath.
Oh, and I’m not going to hold my breath waiting for the county government to apologize to voters for this deliberate attempt to deceive taxpayers.
Tags: Caterpillar, Museum, peoria county
Billy Dennis is a former reporter and editor at small daily and weekly newspapers in Illinois and Missouri. He comments on media, news and politics. He also owns and operates 
[...] are statistics and then there are statistics. People who are against the museum like CJ and the pundit. They are irate, or at least, in print, about what they call a “deliberate attempt to deceive [...]
Sheesh, Bill, you’re changing the posts while I’m writing comments.
This is the most telling paragraph of the Journal Star story:
“Nearly 32 percent support a temporary sales tax increase of 0.025 percent in Peoria County; about 21 percent support a multicounty property tax increase; and just about 5 percent support a property tax increase for Peoria County voters.”
The most likely of the three taxes is the one least supported. You’d have be terminally naive to think a sales tax hike would be temporary. I don’t know about Tazewell, but I know Woodford County Board members would be drawn and quartered if they voted for to raise property taxes for this boondoggle.
If a property tax increase on people in Pennsylvania to pay for the Peoria museum had been one of the choices, that likely would have been the most popular.
The most likely result is a tax on just Peoria County.
But it’s all irrelevant, because important people want this rat hole. Resistance is futile.
I took down that other post because I took a second look at it, and the point I was trying to make wasn’t as valid. A brain fart on my part. I thought it best to remove it.
It takes a big man to admit that. And you are a big man. Me, too.
My comment got messed up in all the copying and pasting and hitting of the back button.
Really, the most likely tax is a temporary sales tax that effectively becomes permanent, like the HRA tax.
[...] that deliberately deceptive poll conducted by the county makes sense. You know the one that claimed a majority of respondents favored using tax money for [...]