Mudron 5's Joliet Gas Tax Needs To End In Joliet: Ferak

JOLIET, IL — Last November is when Pat Mudron's dominance on the Joliet City Council started to crumble. An obedient member of his Mudron 5 voting bloc, Don "Duck" Dickinson, resigned from elected office in disgrace.

At his final Council meeting before resigning, Dickinson accused Joliet Mayor Bob O'Dekirk of being involved in a blackmail scheme, which the mayor vehemently denied.

"Scott, I think a 60-year-old man who's an elected official that's taking pictures of his private parts and sends them to women, I don't think that's appropriate, but if Don thinks that's appropriate, then he should stand up and defend himself," Mayor Bob O'Dekirk told WJOL's Scott Slocum a year ago. "To bring me into this and imply that I had anything to do with this and again, to try to portray himself as a victim, it's cowardly and that's what Don is."

Once Dickinson resigned, Joliet's mayor managed to shift the balance of power back in his favor.

A strong ally of Joliet's mayor, construction company owner Herb Lande, was appointed to serve out Dickinson's term until after the April municipal elections. Of the three open Council seats on the ballot, two of O'Dekirk's preferred candidates, Jan Quillman and Joe Clement, emerged victorious.

Although the Mudron 5 was finished, their footprints on Joliet remain to this day.

For instance, in December 2019, Councilman Sherri Reardon had the backing of the rest of the Mudron 5 — Dickinson, Mudron, Mike Turk and Bettye Gavin — to impose a slew of new taxes upon the residents and non-residents of Joliet.

On the night after Christmas, 2019, Gavin cast the deciding vote to raise Joliet's hotel and motel lodging tax from 7 percent to 10 percent. And when it came time to voting on Joliet's gas taxes, Gavin voted to raise Joliet's 1-cent per gallon fuel tax to 4 cents per gallon to take effect in 2020.

Gavin told the mayor she also surveys the gas prices to determine where to buy her gas. She said the Shell station at Cass and Henderson Streets was $2.99 per gallon on Joliet's east side, compared to several gas stations that were $2.53 per gallon on the city's west side.

"The only way to stop that ... is to stop patronizing them. Stop patronizing them. Go someplace else and get the gas. I hate to admit, I go to Lockport, because at Murphy's, it is two dollars and fifty some cents. But I'm not going to pay $2.98 at this place," Gavin said.

At the Dec. 26, 2019, meeting, Gavin declared, "You know, you can group me in this group of Mudron 5 or however you want to say it. But that is not me. That is not me. So, it was made perfectly clear that tax hikes are on my shoulders. Well, I'll be your Huckleberry. I'll vote aye."

At the time, I reported that Quillman, Larry Hug and Terry Morris all did not support the controversial 3-cent per gallon fuel taxes. I also reported Joliet's mayor was strongly against it.

In less than two months, Joliet's City Council must pass the 2022 city operating budget. Given the tremendous financial burden people are facing nowadays when they pump fuel into their cars, trucks and vans, the time is now for the new Joliet City Council to repeal the tax hike imposed by the Mudron 5 almost two years ago.

Quillman, Hug, Morris and newcomer Clement need to step up to the plate, as well as O'Dekirk.

Fuel prices and taxes around Joliet are high enough. On Halloween, the Mobil station on Jefferson Street and Larkin Avenue had regular unleaded priced at $3.45 per gallon and diesel at $3.68.

Speaking against the Mudron 5 during a City Council meeting over a gas tax increase is one thing. When you have the political power to do something about it, it's time to act.

If Quillman, Hug, Morris, Clement and Joliet's mayor sit on their hands and do nothing, then they've proven to be an enormous letdown.

Abolishing a 3-cent per gallon of gas tax hike might not seem like that much at first, but over the course of two years, it's a decent chunk of change for a lot of people who live in and visit Joliet.