response timeline for La Salle Veterans [Home COVID-19] outbreak questionable
Tags: TV

Residing in an assisted living facility during a pandemic comes with risks. Even when staff members are practicing safety measures inside and outside the doors, no one lives in a bubble and can be 100% protected from COVID-19.

We’ve seen outbreaks at such facilities throughout the past nine months. All are terrifying and sad. Such as the case with the La Salle Veterans Home, which for the first eight months of the pandemic, had, to the staff’s credit, relatively few COVID-19 cases.

And then came November. As of Thursday, 30 La Salle Veterans Home residents — a quarter of the population — have died from complications related to COVID-19.

Nearly all the residents have tested positive, as well as about 100 staff members.

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How did this happen? How do we stop it? What steps did the administration/staff take to control the outbreak? How do we prevent this from happening again? These are questions state Sen. Sue Rezin, R-Morris, is pushing to get answered. Rezin has been a strong advocate for residents and their families for weeks, pushing for legislative hearings, and just as importantly, talking and listening to residents’ families. She’s also heard from staff members looking for help and willing to provide a little insight, even after being told to keep quiet.

The Senate Veterans Affairs Committee finally met last week. Without reason, Rezin was not allowed to participate. To exclude the Senate’s point person in the district, someone who had already spent much time talking with constituents about the issue and likely had more inside information than any other legislator, is unacceptable.

Rezin continues to push for more hearings to get to the bottom of the outbreak. Last week’s hearing left more questions than answers, but did reveal reports documenting areas for immediate change, including replacing all nonalcohol-based hand sanitizers with alcohol-based sanitizers; testing residents and staff two times a week for COVID-19, rather than once a week; and requiring staff to follow strict personal protective equipment guidelines.

State officials pointed to a rise in community spread as a cause, but other veterans homes in areas with high infection rates weren’t seeing the same spikes in cases and deaths.

IDVA Director Linda Chapa LaVia said the agency is committed to a transparent review of the circumstances surrounding the outbreak and has adopted all recommendations from a number of agencies. Let’s hope that’s not just lip service.

And it’s puzzling that the IDPH’s site visit was on Nov. 13–12 days after the initial outbreak. Chapa LaVia said she believes the agency responded as quickly as it could. Rezin, and many others, including this editorial board, are unconvinced. In contrast, when the Quincy Veterans Home had a Legionnaires outbreak, the state conducted a site visit by day three.

The IDVA has asked for an independent investigation, which we fully support, if it’s truly independent. However, the timeline of the investigation could take anywhere between four and six months, which doesn’t help the outbreak raging at the home today.

The typical political timetable of examining a problem and conducting an investigation and producing a report months down the road is of little help. Yes, there needs to be an investigation, but action and answers are needed now.

“The Illinois Department of Public Health should have uncovered the problems detailed in the November 13 site visit report at the beginning of the outbreak, not two weeks into the deadliest outbreak seen at a state-run facility in Illinois history,” Rezin tweeted.

There’s still time to slow the outbreak, and hopefully some of the protocols pushed after the senate hearing last week are helping. The staff and residents deserve clear guidance, and proper oversight to ensure these homes are following the rules.

Our veterans deserve better.

Our View: The list of those to thank this Thanksgiving will never be complete

Nov. 26, 2020

As Thanksgiving approaches, we’ve tried to make a list of people who should be acknowledged during this year of pandemic. It’s impossible because so many people have gone out of their way to help us live as safe and healthy a life as possible in 2020.

We will try to compile a list anyway because many people deserve special recognition. Many who should be on the list are the people who are working in public places while the rest of us have been confined to our household.

Let’s start with all those who are working on the front lines of the health care industry, and everyone who works in a hospital, medical center or doctor’s office. It’s hard to forget the photos that continue to appear on social media of nurses at the end of their long shifts, with weary eyes, slumped shoulders, creases in their skin from wearing a mask and other personal protective equipment for hours. Their work continues without end, and at their own personal risk. We also are learning of others who deserve our thanks, such as the respiratory therapists who are working so closely with COVID-19 patients.

Also on the health care front lines are those who work in nursing homes and group homes for those with disabilities. In many cases, they are the only people with whom the residents have face-to-face contact on a regular basis because they are too susceptible to the dangers posed by the outside world.

Grocery and retail workers have been consistently working to make sure we have what we need to carry on our lives at home. They stock the shelves, check us out at the counter, prepare orders for curbside pickup or delivery and help us find what we need. Then there are the food servers and other restaurant workers, whether indoor or outdoor or serving us at the counter, who also have put themselves at risk. They deserve our thanks.

Educators, school speech and occupational therapists and paraprofessionals are, most often, teaching in virtual classrooms. It’s a difficult, long and sometimes thankless job, but one that will ensure our students are prepared for life after the pandemic. And don’t forget the parents and grandparents who have had to become partners in the teaching of our students.

Thank you to the U.S. Postal Service workers and other delivery workers at every step of the process from ordering a package to delivery to make sure we get our mail and packages. You are keeping us safe.

We are thankful to the libraries, public employees and park district workers who continue to serve our communities.

Let’s not forget the greeters and front-office staff. Too often, they have to deal with people who treat them poorly. Yes, we all are busy and many of us are stressed out trying to navigate this world of pandemic. But we should be treating everyone with respect. One more point: When you call a place of business and get a voicemail, leave a message. Often, the person you are calling is busy, as well, or handling calls from their home. Don’t pester them. Leave a message, be patient and wait for them to get back to you when they have the next opportunity.

We also should acknowledge the 10 million people nationwide who have lost their job because of the pandemic and have not had their job restored or have yet to find new employment. They likely will be needing our help for months to come.

And thank you to the newspaper journalists who are making sure you are kept informed during the pandemic. Many are working from home. A special thank you goes out to the photographers and newspaper carriers who have been working in the community during the entire pandemic.

This list is nowhere near complete. We are sorry for that.

Perhaps you can thank someone who has done you a good deed and isn’t on this list. We will.

One thing is for certain, we all are in this together.

Happy Thanksgiving, and thank you everyone.

OUR VIEW: Local merchants need you now more than ever

By Shaw Media Editorial Board

Nov. 25, 2020

Some 62% of U.S. small businesses reported this year that they need consumer spending to return to pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2020 in order to stay in business. That will be hard to do when many local merchants are being forced to close or limit the number of shoppers, diners or salon patrons who can visit their location because of state-imposed COVID-19 mitigations.

These are the shop owners who pour your morning cup of coffee, the artist who sold you the handmade jewelry you gave your spouse for their birthday, and the bike shop owner who sold you your child’s first bike.

These merchants make our communities unique, and we all need to do our part to keep them busy so they can continue to bolster our local economy.

Nov. 28 is Small Business Saturday, sandwiched between the somewhat subdued 2020 Black Friday and the super-charged Cyber Monday shoppers’ holidays.

Small Business Saturday was created by American Express in 2010 to help local merchants get more exposure during the holiday shopping season. The program has worked. The Small Business Saturday Consumer Insights Survey found U.S. consumers spent a record total of $19.6 billion at independent retailers and restaurants on Small Business Saturday in 2019. And on average, for every dollar spent at local small businesses, 67 cents stays in the local community. The survey also found 95% of consumers who shopped on Small Business Saturday said the day makes them want to shop and eat at small, independently owned businesses all year long, not just during the holiday season.

Look around our northern Illinois communities. There’s probably more locally owned businesses than you realize. Some are new, some have been around for decades.

Now think, what would our towns look like without those businesses? And consider which of our favorites already have gone out of business or moved away for various reasons?

These business owners are our neighbors. They volunteer on beautification and event committees to help our cities thrive. They employ your sons and daughters for their first jobs, and they know your name when you walk in the door.

We likely all are familiar with a small business run by just a handful of people, perhaps a family or even a one-person operation. It’s easy to see how the money stays in town — through income, sales and property tax, payroll to friends and neighbors who work at the shop or restaurant and business-to-business purchases that never leave the ZIP code.

Yes, this notion of money churning through the local economy includes advertising with the local newspaper. We operate office spaces where these small businesses are our employees’ friends and neighbors. But we’re willing to bet those of you who shop at small businesses don’t need us to tell you the value of the local connection, of a store that will go out of its way to make sure you get the right product, the opportunity to find a one-of-a-kind item or the chance to enjoy a hand-prepared meal with ingredients grown in the county where you live.

We’re glad Small Business Saturday has grown in significance in its first decade. If you’re in the fortunate position to spend on gifts this holiday season, we encourage you to shop locally when possible, either this Saturday or whenever fits your schedule.

There’s never a bad time to support the people who work hard to keep the local economy running strong.

OUR VIEW: Congressman Adam Kinzinger is leading by example

Nov. 21, 2020

U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Channahon, is reminding us of what we used to be able to expect from our elected leaders: respect for the Rule of Law, decency and logical thinking.

We’d like to believe our leaders work for us, not their party, or themselves. We’d like to see our leaders reaching across the aisle to do what’s right for their constituents and, ultimately, the country.

Kinzinger is one of the few Republicans who has publicly congratulated President-Elect Joe Biden. And in a tweet last week, Kinzinger wrote: “Our nation deserves two competing parties who can work together when possible, and compete honorably when not.”

Kinzinger is also concerned about President Donald Trump’s insistence to claim victory in the Nov. 3 election despite not having any support for his claim in court or evidence of the election fraud he asserts. This week on CNN, Kinzinger said: “We have a responsibility far beyond what the Twitter mobs say. We have a responsibility to the Constitution of the United States that declares that in January there be a transition of power. That’s our responsibility right now, not to look at the angry retweets. To instead do what’s right for the country.”

Kinzinger said the president’s inability to allow for a transition of power brings about the “potential in the long-term to be really damaging because it takes away from people’s trust in an election system and government. … “This is far bigger than a party, than a man.”

And Kinzinger has used social media for good, debunking rumors and falsehoods about election fraud.

We hope Congress will follow Kinzinger’s lead, and there is an important opportunity now for our leaders to work together on our behalf. It’s been eight months since the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act was passed, providing economic relief for all Americans and many small businesses. That lifeline is long gone and many programs, such as foreclosure and eviction moratoriums, expire in just a few weeks. When that happens, many Americans will be facing additional financial pain.

A new pandemic aid package is needed now. But it will only come when both parties get together and secure more pandemic relief programs. This will take negotiations and true compromise from all sides. This is not about keeping score, and one side or the other claiming victory. When a deal is struck, it is the hope America wins, or at least a course can be set for help now that leads to a true opening for the entire country later.

Kinzinger has set a new tone and example for his colleagues in Congress. He should be commended. We now ask the Illinois Congressional delegation to work together, Democrat and Republican, to take the lead in Washington, D.C., and bring about long-lasting change.

OUR VIEW: Transparency with online election results beneficial for all

By Shaw Media Editorial Board

Nov. 17, 2020

Not long ago, the quickest way to get local election results was to station someone at a government facility where results were tabulated in the county clerk’s office, printed, and then posted in the building.

Candidates, their supporters, and reporters would phone in results to friends and loved ones, and editors and reporters compiling stories in newsrooms.

As county clerks moved to posting results online, we could watch the results on our smartphones or computers. Sure, there’s the occasional snafu with technology and delayed results, but online results have proven a much more convenient and quicker process.

On that note, election results should also be as transparent as possible.

The explosion of mail-in ballots for the General Election was widely reported leading up to Election Day, but when it came to following the local counts online the night of the election, the reporting on clerks’ websites varied.

For instance, it was common to see 100% of precincts reporting, which may have led some voters to believe those were the total unofficial counts for the night. But with the large volume of mail-in ballots, and the various timetables for counting and reporting those vote totals, election night results can be misleading. In fact, noting the number of precincts reporting is now almost meaningless.

As we reported leading up to Election Day, county clerks’ methods for counting and reporting mail-in ballots differed. Some clerks broke down the online results to include how many mail-in ballots were outstanding and how many had been counted. For voters watching the results on election night, this presents a clear picture of how many ballots are lingering and whether a race may be affected by untabulated mail-in ballots.

In one market, with 100% precincts reporting at about 10 p.m., an editor who called the local clerk learned that 10,000 mail-in ballots were about to be dropped into the results. Those merely watching the results online wouldn’t have known this, which could lead to confusion.

As we approach the Consolidated Election in April and with the knowledge that mail-in ballots will likely grow in popularity, we advocate for more transparency on election results websites — specifically having a live count of how many mail-in ballots are outstanding and how many have been counted, throughout the 14-day window leading to certification of results.

This is not a knock on county clerks who had to navigate an unprecedented election with a never-before-seen vote-by-mail count during a pandemic. In fact, we saw very few problems with ballot tallying in our markets.

With this election almost behind us, county clerks can now look forward, and adapt to the new normalcy of vote-by-mail not only with adjustments to their workflow, but also with more transparency online for voters.

Presenting a clearer picture of votes is beneficial to all involved. The new wave of COVID-19 mitigation that threatens a second state closure has left many Illinoisans feeling like their concerns aren’t being listened to. Meanwhile, small merchants such as restaurants, bars and salons are wondering who is looking out to protect their employees and the future of their businesses. Many can point to a lack of cooperation and information at the state and federal levels.

The frustration is clear. Just look at the results of the Nov. 3 general election, from a state resolution to change how we are taxed, to congressional candidates barely eeking out wins, to a local county leader losing his position, voters made a point. Consider:

* U.S. Reps. Cheri Bustos and Lauren Underwood won narrow re-elections to Congress that a year ago would have appeared to be unconscionable. Bustos, chairwoman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which works to elect her party’s candidates, was the most telling race. Bustos won the 17th Congressional District with just 51.9% of the vote (her lowest percentage in five congressional races) against Esther Joy King, a first-time Republican candidate who was an unknown just four months ago.

Bustos said this week she won’t seek a second term as chair of the DCCC to spend more time serving her district. “As a member of the House Appropriations and Agriculture committees, I am well-positioned to turn my focus to strengthening infrastructure and health care in the cities, small towns and rural areas I serve,” she said on Monday.

Meanwhile, on Thursday the Associated Press could finally call incumbent Democrat Lauren Underwood the winner of the 14th Congressional race over Republican Jim Oberweis. Underwood won by 4,288 votes.

* Despite being down by over 9,000 votes (nearly 6%) as of Thursday, incumbent McHenry County Board chairman Jack Franks, a Democrat, finally conceded to Republican Mike Buehler. Franks didn’t do much campaigning while Buehler based much of his campaigning and mailers on a sexual assault allegation against Franks that has led to no charges. Donald Trump and U.S. Senate candidate Mark Curran, along with 14th Congressional candidate Jim Oberweis, lead the voting in McHenry County despite being projected to lose their races overall.

* Perhaps the most voter backlash involved a politician who wasn’t even on the ballot: Gov. JB Pritzker. Pritzker made a $50-million donation to the Vote Yes for Fairness campaign to support the proposed constitutional amendment to change the state flat tax rate to a graduated rate. The governor was also the face of the proposal, which was soundly trounced.

What was most concerning for many voters could have been that the proposed amendment would not prevent the Legislature from raising income tax rates, and, in fact, would make it easier for them to do just that.

This was in the Illinois Secretary of State Office’s pamphlet “Explanation of Proposed Amendment”: “The Amendment gives the Legislature power to increase taxes on any group of taxpayers with no limits and no accountability and without any requirement to use the additional revenue to fund essential needs such as healthcare, education or public safety.”

We still see “Pritzker Sucks” signs throughout the state.

Illinois has an unsettled and dissatisfied electorate seeking answers, and, in some cases, change. Voters deserve a reasonable and moderate approach from the government and its leaders.

Every candidate made promises to work harder to serve their constituents. Each winner needs to be transparent in how they expect to address on their constituents’ behalf the problems they face, and do so in a spirit of bipartisanship.

We face drastic problems of underfunded pensions, a troubled state budget that’s trickled down to the local level and, most immediately, the pandemic that appears to be heading into a winter surge stronger than what we experienced last spring.

Much is expected from our elected leaders but the results fall far short of those expectations. Now each of the last week’s winners have another chance to prove us wrong.

To the victors of Tuesday’s elections, congratulations. To the losers, our condolences.

It’s been a historic and contentious election season. And as the votes are still being counted, we shall see what the future holds for us all.

In the meantime, here’s a reminder to both the winners and the losers, and their many supporters: Be a good neighbor and please remove your campaign signs.

Some communities in northern Illinois set regulations for where signs can be placed on public property and when they must be removed. Campaign signs also are governed by the 2012 Illinois Campaign Sign Regulation Act.

Despite the act prohibiting campaign signs from being “posted on public ways, utility rights-of-way, easements, or any public property,” there are tens of thousands of them on any busy intersection throughout our communities. Municipalities and county authorities in unincorporated areas are ultimately responsible for removal of campaign signs. But candidates or political committees must file with the local authorities or the county board a designated person responsible for the placement and removal of signs.

Violation of the act is a petty offense and can result in a $2 per-day fine for each political sign that is not removed after an election (the Act does not set a deadline).

Municipalities and counties can adopt their own laws regarding campaign signs, but the act does not allow for a less-restrictive ordinance.

And, sort of like some neighbors who keep their Christmas lights up year round, the act allows private homeowners to keep a campaign sign on their property indefinitely. But, thank goodness, the Act requires campaign signs to be made of biodegradable material, so at some point, the sign will wither away.

So, please, candidates, remove your campaign signs as soon as possible. As for property owners, please be neighborly and do the same.

Schools, both public and private, should be transparent about how they’re faring in the age of COVID-19, especially as cases overall continue to climb and some counties face the specter of new restrictions.

Announcements of school closures should be easily found — like they would for snow days or anything else that shutters a school.

Crystal Lake-based Community High School District 155 posted on Facebook the closure of Prairie Ridge High School, but Crystal Lake Elementary School District 47 made that information much more difficult to find for Lundahl Middle School.

Besides the fact that schools can’t assume they have up-to-date contact information for all of their families, the community at large has a right to know if a school has to close.

We understand school administrators are under much pressure from all sides to do the right thing on behalf of students, parents, teachers, the school board and the community.

Some school districts have taken the extra step of creating public dashboards that show how many cases they’ve discovered so far. That’s great, although some could go even further by identifying the school involved, not just the district, and whether the individual who tested positive was student or staff.

Some district officials have said providing this information would violate the student or staff member’s privacy. That is unlikely considering the number of students and staff at schools.

Many more districts aren’t providing this information at all, a lack of transparency that is very disappointing.

No school district superintendent wants to read in the newspaper that their district had a positive case or even an outbreak, but this information — and especially what the school district is doing about it — is important information for the public to have.

As a community, we deserve the right to decide whether it’s really safe to have schools move to hybrid models or whether, perhaps, other restrictions need to be considered so that reopening schools to in-person learning can be done.

We certainly think that in-person education should be a top priority when deciding how to mitigate our community’s risk overall.

School districts don’t exist in a bubble, and the rise in cases in each community has an impact on schools and whether they can continue in person.

We should also be able to learn from each other what’s working and what’s not. Do we need more money for school buses so fewer students have to quarantine after a case, something Crystal Lake District 47 has seen as a trouble spot for them?

What can a school district do to discourage off-campus gatherings — like the ones that led to Prairie Ridge High School’s closure this week — or make them safer?

The scenes last April during the Wisconsin primary election enraged many people. In Milwaukee, as the polls were closing, lines of voters remained wrapped around several blocks, voters spaced a comfortable 6 feet apart, some wearing masks, waiting to get inside their polling place. It was cold and raining, yet people still waited to have their say in the democratic process during a pandemic.

When we vote, we shouldn’t have to experience what Wisconsin voters did last spring. We aren’t sure what we will face when we go to the polls on Election Day, Nov. 3. But we know we want to vote safely, and we hope for the process to be efficient.

If you don’t want to vote in person on Nov. 3, you can vote early or you can vote by mail, which is the safest way because you don’t even have to leave your home.

You can request a mail-in ballot until Oct. 29.

This week, 260,000 Illinois voters already have returned their mail-in ballot. So far, 2 million Illinois voters have requested a mail-in ballot, said Matt Dietrich, Illinois Elections Board spokesman. He said that number is expected to reach 2.5 million by Oct. 29. That’s more than 5½ times the 427,993 who requested a mail-in ballot in 2016. In 2012, 222,055 requested a mail-in ballot.

“We have a very motivated electorate,” Dietrich said. “People want to vote but want to avoid going to the polls during the pandemic.”

The number of registered Illinois voters has increased to 8.2 million. Some 5.5 million Illinois voters cast a ballot in 2016, or 69% statewide, with nearly 8% of the statewide turnout voting by mail. With a similar turnout in 2020, about 45% of voters are likely to vote by mail. Dietrich said between 85% and 90% of voters requesting a mail-in ballot return it.

Some have expressed concern about the validity of vote-by-mail ballots. But Illinois has had more than 10 years’ experience with voting by mail and has not had any widespread obstacles or voter fraud related to vote by mail. Five states — Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah and Washington — host all-mail voting.

The greatest concern regarding mail-in votes appears to be the U.S. Postal Service’s warning 46 states, including Illinois, in August that it cannot guarantee all ballots cast by mail for the Nov. 3 election will arrive in time to be counted.

If you have a mail-in ballot, make sure you fill it out properly and put it in the mail as soon as possible so it gets to your local election office by the deadline to be counted.

For information on local races throughout Shaw Media’s markets, visit Election Central at www.shawlocal.com/election.

Meanwhile, concern remains over how the pandemic will affect the polls. As we reported last month, veteran election judges have backed out of working on Nov. 3 for fear of their safety. Election officials have been recruiting teenagers to be judges. Anyone who will be at least 16 years old on Nov. 3 is eligible to be an election judge.

Don’t allow any of these concerns to stop you from voting. Please vote in the manner you feel most comfortable and safe.

A vote is your voice in democracy — use it.

If you have questions about voting on Nov. 3, check with the Illinois Elections Board by visiting https://elections.il.gov/electionoperations/votingbymail.aspx or calling 312–814–6440.

One of the most difficult things government leaders can do is to win back the public’s trust. In Illinois, trust of government was lost decades ago. Since the 1970s, four governors have gone to prison for crimes occurring during or after their governorships. Promises that state lottery profits would support our schools went unfulfilled. The state now has billions of dollars’ worth of unfunded pension obligations. And thousands of residents have moved out of the state to escape growing property tax bills.

What’s to trust?

On Nov. 3, voters are being asked to “trust me” again by the state to approve a constitutional amendment that would allow for adopting a graduated tax, where income is taxed at rates that rise by income level.

The constitutional amendment request comes from Gov. JB Pritzker, a billionaire who won his first ever election two years ago campaigning in support of the graduated tax plan. The Democratic-controlled state Legislature approved the measure to seek the constitutional amendment. Pritzker made a $50-million donation to the Vote Yes for Fairness campaign to remove a requirement for a flat tax on income.

This is how the graduated tax rate would work:

The first $10,000 in income would be taxed at 4.75%. The next $90,000 would be taxed at 4.90%; and the next $150,000 would be taxed at 4.95% (the current tax rate).

Income over $250,000 would be taxed at 7.75%; then the tax rate would be 7.85% for income over $350,000 for single filers and $500,000 for couples.

Single filers would see a 7.99% tax rate for income over $750,000, or over $1 million for married couples. They would pay that rate on all of their income.

Illinois does not tax retirement benefits, and the proposed amendment would not change that.

Supporters say the amendment is an equitable way to shift the tax burden and generate more revenue for the state struggling to pay its bills. They also say it would reduce or maintain income taxes for 97% of Illinois residents. Meanwhile, income taxes on the richest 3% would raise an additional $3.6 billion annually.

Opponents claim the amendment would make it easier for the Legislature to raise taxes and lawmakers would have less accountability to citizens. They also say the rich will leave the state to escape higher taxes.

Even without the amendment, the Legislature has the power to change income tax rates. For example, in 2010, it increased the state’s tax rate to 5% from 2011 through 2014; then it was reduced to 3.75% from 2015 to June 30, 2017; then it was increased to the current 4.95% level.

Which brings us back to trust.

As opponents say, the proposed amendment does not prevent the Legislature from raising income tax rates, and, in fact, makes it easier for them to do just that. Read this from the first argument against the proposed amendment from the Illinois Secretary of State Office’s pamphlet “Explanation of Proposed Amendment” recently sent to your home:

“The Amendment gives the Legislature power to increase taxes on any group of taxpayers with no limits and no accountability and without any requirement to use the additional revenue to fund essential needs such as healthcare, education or public safety.”

Pritzker should be commended for seeking ambitious opportunities to get Illinois out of its economic mess, but as proposed, this is not the answer. Springfield lawmakers have not proven themselves trustworthy to be given such power over income tax rates without a check from citizens other than the ballot box months or years too late.

The Shaw Media editorial board recommends rejecting the proposed graduated tax amendment..