PHOTO SLIDESHOW: ‘Tea Party’ draws large crowd in Kane County

An angry crowd — including one man wielding an actual pitchfork — gathered outside the Kane County Government Center in Geneva on Tax Day to protest what those assembled see as runaway government spending.

The “Taxpayer Tea Party,” which drew about 200 people, was hosted by the Conservative Catholic Women’s League of Kane County. It was held in conjunction the events across the country that were designed to “stand up against bailouts, wasteful spending, increased taxes and giveaways that reward bad behavior,” organizers said.

The assembled protesters circled around speakers that included state Sen. Chris Lauzen, R-25th District, of Aurora and state Rep. Tim Schmitz, R-49th District, of Batavia. The crowd carried signs with messages such as “Free Markets not Freeloaders” and “Say No to Socialism.”

Speakers criticized leaders both in Washington and Springfield for tax-increase proposals, bank bailouts and the $782 billion federal economic-stimulus package.

Bob McQuillan, 52, of Geneva drew loud reactions from the crowd with his remarks. McQuillan is a member of the grassroots group Fair Accountable Controlled Tax Spending, also know as FACTS. Its members attend local government meetings and e-mail summaries to the rest of the group.

“At 30-plus years of business experience, I’ve been downsized, right-sized and outsourced three times since 1995,” McQuillan said. “The one constant in the last 36 years is I’ve always paid my taxes.

“I’ve paid income taxes, Social Security taxes, state taxes, county taxes, local taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, gas taxes. And when I die, my kids are going to pay funeral taxes. And thank God I don’t smoke, or I would have been paying taxes on those.”

McQuillan received a round of applause when he quoted a famous line from the 1976 film “Network.”

“I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!” he said.

Lauzen decried what he called “an internal cancer of uncontrollable appetites to spend and indulge ourselves in our government.”

He criticized Gov. Pat Quinn’s proposed 50 percent increase in the state income tax, from 3 percent to 4.5 percent, and called on all levels of government to “live within your means without a tax increase.”

“Our political and economic freedom is in jeopardy,” Lauzen said, before leading the crowd in a call-and-response chant of “less taxes, more freedom.”

People who attended the rally lined up to sign petitions urging local lawmakers “to promote legislation which encourages economic responsibility at the personal, local, state and federal levels.” The petitions include tea bags, which will be sent to the Batavia office of U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, D-14th District, of Geneva.

Michael Stanek of Batavia, a 20-year-old Waubonsee Community College student, criticized Foster for his recent request for $51.3 million in appropriations for district projects, including $550,000 for pedestrian traffic signals in Batavia.

“I’m afraid that Mr. Foster is out of touch with the hard-working Americans who put him in office,” Stanek said. “And the worst part about it is, I don’t see Congressman Foster here today.”

Foster’s office did not immediately respond Wednesday night to a request for comment.

While conservatives nationwide were assailing his economic and tax policies, President Obama met in Washington with several families whom the White House said have benefited from tax cuts included in the economic-stimulus package.

“Since the Recovery Act was signed into law we have delivered real and tangible progress for the American people,” Obama said in a written statement. “I am proud to announce that my Administration has lessened the tax burden on working families while also restoring some balance to the tax code.”