FLASH: Administration sources, RTA Chairman Jim Reilly and House Speaker Michael Madigan all claim the federal government has approved the governor’s temporary mass transit bailout proposal.
* CTA calls off “doomsday”
* Blagojevich again calls for capital plan in conjunction with transit deal
* Raw audio of the governor’s press availability from Metro Networks…
* The governor wants a leaders meeting on Tuesday
* “BIMP” bill expected to be on governor’s desk by the end of today
Scroll down for more info.
———————————–
* 10:10 am - The House’s nine o’clock session is about to start. Listen here.
* 10:46 am - Transit fare hike on the way? From WBBM Radio…
Senate Republican leader Frank Watson (R-Greenville) wrote RTA Chairman Jim Reilly this week that “a modest and reasonable fare increase for riders who benefit must be part of the solution.”
In his reply, Reilly wrote Watson, “Certainly if the Governor and four leaders agree on that approach we would most definitely implement it.”
How much, or when, the fare hike would occur is unclear.
RTA Executive Director Steve Schlickman reiterated that position Thursday.
“If the legislature decides to actually mandate a specific fare increase for next year, obviously we will adhere to that,” Schlickman said before leaving for Springfield to join Reilly and CTA President Ron Huberman, in making last-minute pitches for votes.
You can read Chairman Reilly’s entire letter to Sen. Watson here.
* 11:30 am - I’m not sure if we had this here or not. From Hiram’s blog…
Yesterday’s Daily Journal reports that Robert Gorman will be dropping out of the 11th District Democratic Primary, leaving Illinois State Senator Debbie Halvorson uncontested in the primary to succeed outgoing Congressman Jerry Weller.
*** 11:38 am *** The Tribune has some details of the governor’s proposed temporary transit bailout proposal and react…
Seeking to avert a transportation “Doomsday,” Gov. Rod Blagojevich today authorized a direct grant to the Chicago Transit Authority and Pace for $27 million to maintain operations until the end of the year, according to a letter he sent to lawmakers today.
Blagojevich made clear that the short-term funding is not a loan. “It is new money we are providing them to keep serving their riders,” he wrote. […]
CTA Chairman Carole Brown said the governor had offered $21 million to her agency from a federal grant for capital expenditures.
But she said it was not yet clear if the federal government would allow money that is supposed to go for capital expenditures to be diverted to operating expenses.
The governor also sent a letter to House members regarding this proposal. Read it here.
* 12:57 pm - The Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability’s monthly state revenue report is out. Read it here.
* 1:42 pm - I meant to post something about this and got distracted. From the AP, the House has passed a BIMP bill…
In another twist in the state budget drama, the Illinois House has approved legislation to spare schools from financial hardship.
The measure authorizes spending about $550 million in additional education money. It passed 111-0 and now goes to the Senate, although there’s no guarantee the Senate will act soon. […]
That measure has been held up for months amid arguments between the House and Senate.
* 1:47 pm - From a brief House debate on transit today…
On the House floor, Rep. Julie Hamos (D-Evanston), who leads the House mass-transit committee, said she understands the governor’s proposal would take “leftover” money available from a bond fund. Because bond funds are usually used for things like buying buses or construction projects, there are technical questions that must be reviewed and approved by federal officials before the money can be used by the transit agencies, she said.
“I personally wish the governor might have checked with them first,” Hamos said. “That would have been better. But we’re waiting . . . because I think this whole ‘Doomsday’ scenario depends on this one critical fact.”
* 2:04 pm - I just talked to a House Democrat from Chicago who made a pretty good point and gets our “Quote of the Week” award…
“We’re waiting on a Republican administration in Washington, DC at 3 o’clock on a Friday afternoon to bail out a Democratic governor.”
* 2:09 pm - Despite the above pessimism, a Blagojevich spokesperson just claimed that progress was being made in the negotiations.
* 2:19 pm - Man, this is like watching paint dry on a bomb that’s about to explode.
*** 2:23 pm *** Two administration sources claim the federal government has approved the governor’s short-term bailout plan. An official announcement is expected shortly.
*** 2:25 pm *** RTA Board Chairman Jim Reilly just told reporters that it’s a done deal.
*** 2:27 pm *** House Speaker Michael Madigan is speaking on the floor of the House about the temporary bailout plan. Listen here.
Madigan confirmed the above reports. Madigan will adjourn the House today. Madigan said he and Tom Cross have already met today on the gaming and capital plan and will meet “quite frequently” over the next seven to ten days to work out a final deal.
Madigan said the House will not meet Monday.
Madigan: The governor will transfer $27 million of Series B bond money to RTA. It will then offset the use of federal capital money for operating purposes, which they’ve been doing for a few years.
*** 2:40 pm *** Governor Blagojevich will hold a news conference outside his office at 2:50.
*** 2:58 pm *** Statement from RTA Board member Judy Baar Topinka, who ran against Gov. Blagojevich last year…
“To give him and the leaders yet another extension is just to give them more time to waste. I can’t believe that he has allowed the issue to come to this when there was plenty of time to straighten it out early on. To make people dependent upon public transportation ride this roller coaster of they have a bus, they don’t have a bus, is really insensitive and sad as it leaves nothing but anxiety and fear out there. He didn’t have a transportation component in his campaign, he has no plan now.”
“We are not moving forward with the service cuts and fare increases,” Karen Rowan, the general counsel for CTA, told reporters Friday afternoon.
*** 3:11 pm *** Blagojevich statement…
Governor Rod R. Blagojevich announced this afternoon the Chicago Transit Authority and Pace accepted a $27 million direct grant to maintain operations until the end of the year. The short-term financial assistance package will ensure that transit riders in the Chicago area will be able to continue relying on the service they need while lawmakers work to pass a plan that provides long-term funding for mass transit as well as funding for infrastructure projects statewide.
“Now that the CTA and Pace accepted the $27 million in short-term assistance I authorized today, transit riders in the Chicago area will be able to continue relying on the service they need while we continue our negotiations on a plan that will ultimately result in stronger and safer roads, bridges, schools and mass transit systems across Illinois,” said Governor Blagojevich. “There is general consensus that a mass transit plan for the Chicagoland region should be passed in conjunction with a capital plan that would meet infrastructure needs across the state. The leaders believe that this can be completed in the near future.”
The $27 million grant will come from state transportation capital funds. $21 million will be directed to the CTA and $6 million to Pace. The additional state capital funds will free up allocated federal capital money that can then be used for operational needs related to preventative maintenance and para-transit. The transit agencies have used federal capital funds for preventative maintenance and para-transit operations in the past. By replacing the converted federal capital money with State capital money, there will be no loss to either CTA or Pace’s capital plan.
House Minority Leader Tom Cross (R-Oswego) said the stopgap funding is “in the interest of preventing a shutdown.”
“This may not be the best solution, but it is what is here and now and available,” Cross said.
*** 3:30 pm *** Raw audio of the governor’s remarks, kindly provided by the fine folks at Metro Networks…
*** 3:32 pm *** The governor did not answer questions, but says he’s invited the four legislative leaders to a Springfield meeting next Tuesday at 11 am.
*** 3:52 pm *** The Senate Executive Committee has passed the BIMP bill. The full Senate is expected to pass it later this afternoon. Exec is discussing mass transit now and then the full chamber will meet. I’m told that’ll be in about 45 minutes or so.
*** 4:25 pm *** The Senate is convening. Listen here.
*** 4:32 pm *** The BIMP passed the Senate without debate.
Oh PLEASE, stop this madness. The Governor (and everyone else) has known this was brewing since at least 2004, when the House Mass Transit Committee was formed. What can he accomplish in another 59 days that he hasn’t been able to in the last 1,100?
Part of me wants the feds to step in and say “no, you can’t play these tricks with our money.”
(To answer an earlier ad hominem accusation, no, I do not work for any public agency.)
Yeah, further alienating the FTA by using the capital grants for operating costs is definitely a good idea, especially since the state has done such a great job funding CTA capital improvements and maintenance, as demonstrated by our world-class system.
Ugh.
Say what you will about the CTA’s front-line workers being lazy, inept, or overpaid (for every shred of the truth to that there are probably many more competent, hard working employees), but you can’t help but feel sympathetic for people who have their jobs — or at least a few paychecks — hanging over their heads with the holidays right around the corner. I hope that as in New York the unions have a contingency fund to help these folks out. And I wouldn’t blame the unions for suing in this instance, either — much like us riders the blue-collar CTA workers are mostly just pawns in a big game.
So the “Super Secret Plan” is the money the RTA/CTA didn’t get in Sept. 2007, boy is Rod clever or what?
Could imagine playing Monopoly with Rod when he was kid. Do ya think he cheated? I sure Rod’s rules were invoked when started to lose.
BTW, I wish someone would point out the absurdity of using the phrase “bailout.” As PCC wrote this has been a problem for years. The CTA is underfunded. It doesn’t get enough state money to fund its operations, nor cover its long-term obligations, nor maintain and improve the system. Nothing new this morning that wasn’t a problem six months ago or a year ago or two years ago. And it’s not like CTA/RTA ran over their budget estimates or something. How come whenever other government-financed projects like Block 37, Millennium Park, and highways run way over budget there’s barely a peep, but the CTA asks for new revenue stream just to make ends meet and it’s a “bailout”?
WMAQ-TV is reporting that the CTA will agree to the Governor’s second bailout provided the feds are okay with it. A decision from the FTA is expected later today.
I hope the FTA turns down the state request. The capital budget of transit around here is shrunken enough as it is without diverting another $27 million for operations. It’s about time some adults put state officials in their place.
- disgusted in chi boogie - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 1:18 pm:
Rich, any thoughts about if the RTA could prevent the CTA from accepting the governor’s “generous” offer of a bail out, don’t they have final budget oversight for the CTA?
- Common sense in Illinois - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 1:19 pm:
Situation normal…the governor’s letter makes no mention that the money is FTA, that it’s for capital and that the feds would have to okay it. Lord why can’t a guy who cloaks himself in FDR tell the truth just once?
- Ti-iii-me Is on My Side - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 1:49 pm:
(- PCC - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 12:28 pm:
Oh PLEASE, stop this madness. The Governor (and everyone else) has known this was brewing since at least 2004, when the House Mass Transit Committee was formed. What can he accomplish in another 59 days that he hasn’t been able to in the last 1,100?)
I think this actually plays right into Madigan’s hands, (while giving everyone else a false sense of victory for the time being) and Mass Transit funding through the end of calendar year will allow him to ride this out, and then come back on January 1st and resolve this, without the Governor using Republican’s as leverage to preclude him from passing what he wants to have passed.
Once this is done; the pressure will be back on the Senate to show up as well, and take it up and pass it as is also; or very quickly negotiate with the Democratic House majority to arrive at a consensus solution, but with time again as their enemy.
After the Senate finishes their work on it, the Governor will then have to make a determination if he wants to veto it, in which case if he does, it will be the Governor that wears the jacket, and not the House Dem’s, the majority of which will have voted overwhelmingly in favor of the Sales Tax incerease, or whatever other consensus plan is negotiated.
At this point, Madigan does not want anything else to advance, because whatever transpires will allow the Governor to leverage the Republicans against him in order to thwart any aspect of his agenda that he wants to advance.
Madigan has tied the Capital Bill to the Gaming Bill, rather than the Mass Transportation Bill, in order to asuage the Republicans, in an effort to try to round up enough votes for this version of the Mass Transit Bill.
Since the Governor (with his 5 pocket votes withheld) and the recalcitrant House Republicans refusing to play along, Madigan is now intending to show them why they should have trusted a deal with him, rather than rely on trying to negotiate something with the Governor, who will also abandon them as soon as it becomes expedient after January 1st, when he will no longer need them either, since they will be unable to block anything in the House, and if they coalesce with the Democrats in the Senate to block something Madigan sends over, then Emil will wear the jacket for that one as well.
Without a Gaming Bill, there is no money for Capital. Without Madigan’s reforms in place with respect to the Gaming Board and regulatory oversight, there is no Gaming Bill. I suspect they will work to seprate the regulatory and oversight issues into a seprate bill; to be addressed and passed and signed first, rather than combining those provisions into a bill that simultaneously allows for gambling expansion.
Madigan can fritter away the next 59 days; not including the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, (Special Sessions aside) by manipulating the calendar and committee process to have the gaming regulatory and oversight issues consume all of that time, while they pretend to continue to negotiate some other alternative to Mass Transit funding, which nobody seems to want to put forth in the form of actual legislation.
Once this is all done (with Madigan’s simple majority, or with the Senate Democrats or Governor wearing the jacket in early January), then it will be time to sit down and negotiate the FY 09 budget. At that point, we can probably expect the Governor’s Budget Address (ummm, Press Release) and subsequent statewide campaign, to begin sometime around April 1st and run until just bvefor the next over-time session begins in June of 2008.
See what we have to look forward to?
(To answer an earlier ad hominem accusation, no, I do not work for any public agency; and more importantly I am not a Madigan Democrat, but rather a Republican leaner, who see’s the writing on the wall, and will be lamenting having missed this opportunity to negotiate with Madigan now, who we at least know will live up to, and stand behind his agreements).
Fore-warned is fore armed, but right now I am feeling defenseless, and being used by both sides of the Democratic civil warring factions, but only for supporting their own initiatives (and blocking the other guy’s), and nothing that advances the Republican agenda at all in the end other than whatever crumbs can be had along the way.
I am a daily Mass Transit user; and I hope either the federal government; or the RTA Board steps into stop the madness here and force a resolution now for the sake of the rider-ship that can least afford the doomsday service cuts and fare increases. If they do that now however; don’t hold your on that capital bill anytime soon, unless they come around to Madigan’s way of thinking (or something acceptable to him) as the agreed upon solution this weekend.
I think the taxpayers of Chicago and suburbs are willing to pay a small retail tax increase. We are only talking .25 of one cent and I think it is .50 of one cent in the collar counties.
It is shameful how Emil Jones,Frank Watson and the two bossom buddies (Rod and Tom Cross - old legislative roommates and Tom’s father baptized both of Rods kids)can hold the CTA and RTA hostage. This should be a CTA - RTA bill only. Again shame on these people for their petty feuds against Madigan.
It is the heighth of bureaucratic mismanagement to use capital funds for operating expenditures — even if the Governor puts an IOU in the box for those funds.
And if the FTA lets him get away with this, then shame on them.
At about this time, I would expect to see that the democrat House of Representatives have put through a special bill which Senator Durbin can then take credit for in the Senate. and which GWB will sign authorizing replenishment of the FTA Capital money. That would be the only thing which the Governor may have waited for all this time.
Using capital funds for operating purposes is completely inappropriate. The feds are unlikely to be imp[ressed with Blago’s fiscal ledgerdemain I’ll be surprised if the feds approve it. I’ll be ven more surpirsed if they make a decision one way or another in time to prevent doomsday. However. PACE and CTA may be recluctant to pull the ddomsday trigger until the feds say no.
Let’s not forget the upside to the CTA crisis: There will now be significantly less traffic outside of the Hideout.
– SCAM
- Ti-iii-me Is on My Side - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 2:13 pm:
(Rep. Julie Hamos (D-Evanston)-“I personally wish the governor might have checked with them first,” Hamos said. “That would have been better. But we’re waiting . . . because I think this whole ‘Doomsday’ scenario depends on this one critical fact.”)
Conversation from earlier today-
Madigan: Hello Bill (Lipinski), I need you to make a call to Secretary Peters in Washington; and get some; (uhhm) “clarification” for me on something, ASAP; and here’s how I would like it to be “clarified”…..
Let me know as soon as you hear back.
The remaining question is; with the answer in hand, does Madigan break the bad news to everyone right away, or does he simply allow the Governor enough rope to hang himself with here on this one, and wait for him to have to come forward and admit that this approach will not work?
Those of you that think he waits I believe are correct, because he has already thought out the next three chess moves if this falls through anyway, and of course Ti-iiime, is on his side, yes it is.
If this falls through the Governor will have to scramble to come up with a Plan B (when he may have pulled Plan A out of his hat just this morning), and what are the chances that anyone in the Administration actually thought that far ahead to have a Plan B ready anyway?
In the mean time; Madigan will make sure the transit agencies know the answer themselves, probably about 4:30 this afternoon, when it is too late for them to do anything else but set the “Dooms Day Plan” into motion.
Didn’t realize Tom Cross and Rod Blagojevich were so close, thanks Lula May. Guess Tom doesn’t realize when he’s dealing with the devil.
I’ve just become very disappointed in Tom.
The boy who cried, “All clear! There’s no wolf here!”?
Tribune: ‘Seeking to avert a transportation “Doomsday,” Gov. Rod Blagojevich today authorized a grant to the Chicago Transit Authority and Pace for $27 million to keep a full schedule of buses and trains running through the end of the year.’ http://tinyurl.com/2lq9d2
CBS2: ‘CTA officials plan to accept an offer from Gov. Rod Blagojevich to save the CTA from its “doomsday plan” with a grant from the Federal Transportation Administration.
‘Gov.Blagojevich offered a $27 million to be split between the CTA and the Pace suburban bus service. The money is in the form of a grant that would allow the CTA to continue operating normally without raising fares and cutting service — but only until the end of the year.’ http://tinyurl.com/3czeqx
I’m not sure the quote of the week is accurate. Aren’t we actually waiting for a bailout of a Democrat Speaker of the House? It’s the House the can’t get the bill passed, even though he has 67 Dem members. Last time I looked, there were 4 GOP votes for the measure.
Note to cafe coffee: I suspect you were not aware of the fact that the minister father of Rep. Cross presided over the christening ceremonies for both of Blagojevich’s daughters.
One of the downsides of the bailout (and there are many) is the “Boy Crying Wolf” aspect. How many times are commuters going to tune out “MASSIVE CUTS COME MONDAY” when they don’t pan out? Come January 2, when there’s still no transit bill, we’ll be in the same mess. And when one of these bailouts are rejected and the cuts actually occur, commuters won’t be ready because they will have tuned out this circus.
YDD, I agree. Daley could axe his buddy GWB. But does Daley want to make Rodney look good? Would he take credit? Should Obama or Hillary try to get a press release to “pressure” the White house?
“Interesting,” maybe. Relevant, hardly. You can’t point to anything this year that Cross has done to “prove” that he is somehow unduly influenced by Blagojevich.
Another temporary bailout. Well I hope the state can come up with some money but temporary plans I hope won’t be the order of the day.
- Shell Game - Illinois Style - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 3:23 pm:
Don’t get to excited, it’s just a $27 million band-aid and it only lasts till the end of this year. It will be awfully cold walking or riding a bike to work come January 2008.
This is not leadership…this is window dressing…a pox on all your houses…
btw Southern Illinois legislators calling the shots in Springfield? Now I’ve heard it all…
Does Blaggo understand he just tapped a fund with about $281 million bond fund to pay a grant/gift/freebee for day to day operations? There may never be a CTA bill.
Unless, of course, HE forces the shut down.
They are dumber than we think.
The CTA, Metra and Pace have all been shifting capital dollars to operations since the end of Illinois FRIST in 2004. They have been noting this transfer as one of the principle reasons for a comprehensive solution. So, unfortunately, this is not an unusual tactice. But all it does it limit the ability of the transit agencies to make critical improvements and address maintenance needs and while not setting them back in an accounting sense, it does create a “maintenance” backlog that only makes the entire situation worse over the long run. Like anything - either you do’s it now or you do’s later…
- On the taxpayers backs - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 3:46 pm:
Democrats or Republicans doesn’t matter, they’re all in-bed with each other. All this hoopla about the RTA/CTA Doomsday, has everyone forgotten Illinois hasn’t approved a budget for 2008?
Bush and Daley are friends as unusual as that may seem - My guess is that Daley pulled this off with W. I just worry that Blags will be so greatful he will try to become a Republican. We simply cannot have that!
An interesting comparison is the Gov’s handling of this crisis v. the electric rate crisis earlier in the year. The most pain from the electric rate increases early on was downstate. The Gov sat back and did nothing for months, actually he never really did anything.
When the pain is in Chicago he has twice bailed it out before the “train comes off the track”. Interesting where his true priorities lie.
I am just waiting for Blago to say…”We must do this for the kids….” Sickening, Sickening. The biggest phony I have ever seen. Anyone else agree?? I never was before, but I am a Madigan fan now. I’ll just vote straight Republican barring State Rep.
- Lucas - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 11:08 am:
Geesh, I forgot Watson was even down there.
- Go Cat Go - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 11:42 am:
Heard a funny thing, Rod’s in his office playing video games.
- the commuter once known as So Ill - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 11:57 am:
Which one, Cat…
Frogger? Dodge the CTA Buses!
The lemonade game? Raise money for the state!
Hoyle Card Games 2007? Brush up on your skills for the new casinos!
Or maybe just a hacked-out version of Halo where all the monsters have Madigan heads?
(I could go on all day, this is a great QOD)
- Papa Legba - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 11:58 am:
Good golly. That dollar amount sounds awful close to the money that has been held back by the Guv’s office.
Is Rod going to ride the same white horse in to save the day? Does he have a new trick? Issue the same money twice.
- plutocrat03 - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 12:12 pm:
It would be just like Blago to offer money from one fund to another purpose regardles whether t\it is legal or not.
After all the concequences are small to non-existant
- PCC - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 12:28 pm:
Oh PLEASE, stop this madness. The Governor (and everyone else) has known this was brewing since at least 2004, when the House Mass Transit Committee was formed. What can he accomplish in another 59 days that he hasn’t been able to in the last 1,100?
Part of me wants the feds to step in and say “no, you can’t play these tricks with our money.”
(To answer an earlier ad hominem accusation, no, I do not work for any public agency.)
- Anonymous Lawyer - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 12:30 pm:
Yeah, further alienating the FTA by using the capital grants for operating costs is definitely a good idea, especially since the state has done such a great job funding CTA capital improvements and maintenance, as demonstrated by our world-class system.
Ugh.
Say what you will about the CTA’s front-line workers being lazy, inept, or overpaid (for every shred of the truth to that there are probably many more competent, hard working employees), but you can’t help but feel sympathetic for people who have their jobs — or at least a few paychecks — hanging over their heads with the holidays right around the corner. I hope that as in New York the unions have a contingency fund to help these folks out. And I wouldn’t blame the unions for suing in this instance, either — much like us riders the blue-collar CTA workers are mostly just pawns in a big game.
- Go Cat Go - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 12:30 pm:
So the “Super Secret Plan” is the money the RTA/CTA didn’t get in Sept. 2007, boy is Rod clever or what?
Could imagine playing Monopoly with Rod when he was kid. Do ya think he cheated? I sure Rod’s rules were invoked when started to lose.
- Anonymous Lawyer - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 12:33 pm:
BTW, I wish someone would point out the absurdity of using the phrase “bailout.” As PCC wrote this has been a problem for years. The CTA is underfunded. It doesn’t get enough state money to fund its operations, nor cover its long-term obligations, nor maintain and improve the system. Nothing new this morning that wasn’t a problem six months ago or a year ago or two years ago. And it’s not like CTA/RTA ran over their budget estimates or something. How come whenever other government-financed projects like Block 37, Millennium Park, and highways run way over budget there’s barely a peep, but the CTA asks for new revenue stream just to make ends meet and it’s a “bailout”?
- Rich Miller - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 12:38 pm:
===So the “Super Secret Plan” is the money the RTA/CTA didn’t get in Sept. 2007===
That’s incorrect.
- Mr. Ethics - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 12:39 pm:
Where do they keep finding this new money? Is there some secret fund.
- GA Watcher - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 12:41 pm:
WMAQ-TV is reporting that the CTA will agree to the Governor’s second bailout provided the feds are okay with it. A decision from the FTA is expected later today.
- fedup dem - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 12:48 pm:
And if the feds say that Rod’s screwy scheme isn’t legal (which would not surprise me), then what?
- Angry Chicagoan - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 12:57 pm:
I hope the FTA turns down the state request. The capital budget of transit around here is shrunken enough as it is without diverting another $27 million for operations. It’s about time some adults put state officials in their place.
- So.... - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 12:58 pm:
….nothing this time for Meta/RTA? Great job, Rod.
- Rich Miller - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 12:59 pm:
===And if the feds say that Rod’s screwy scheme isn’t legal (which would not surprise me), then what?===
Take a taxi on Monday or walk, I think.
- Yellow Dog Democrat - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 1:07 pm:
Um, no, you can’t use capital money for operating expenses.
But, if Mayor Daley calls in a favor from his pal G.W. Bush, it might happen anyway.
If its rejected, we can all just blame George Bush, right?
- MIDSTATE - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 1:10 pm:
This link does not work.
12:57 pm - The Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability’s monthly state revenue report is out. Read it here.
- Rich Miller - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 1:12 pm:
It could be your firewall. It works for me.
- disgusted in chi boogie - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 1:18 pm:
Rich, any thoughts about if the RTA could prevent the CTA from accepting the governor’s “generous” offer of a bail out, don’t they have final budget oversight for the CTA?
- Common sense in Illinois - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 1:19 pm:
Situation normal…the governor’s letter makes no mention that the money is FTA, that it’s for capital and that the feds would have to okay it. Lord why can’t a guy who cloaks himself in FDR tell the truth just once?
- Ti-iii-me Is on My Side - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 1:49 pm:
(- PCC - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 12:28 pm:
Oh PLEASE, stop this madness. The Governor (and everyone else) has known this was brewing since at least 2004, when the House Mass Transit Committee was formed. What can he accomplish in another 59 days that he hasn’t been able to in the last 1,100?)
I think this actually plays right into Madigan’s hands, (while giving everyone else a false sense of victory for the time being) and Mass Transit funding through the end of calendar year will allow him to ride this out, and then come back on January 1st and resolve this, without the Governor using Republican’s as leverage to preclude him from passing what he wants to have passed.
Once this is done; the pressure will be back on the Senate to show up as well, and take it up and pass it as is also; or very quickly negotiate with the Democratic House majority to arrive at a consensus solution, but with time again as their enemy.
After the Senate finishes their work on it, the Governor will then have to make a determination if he wants to veto it, in which case if he does, it will be the Governor that wears the jacket, and not the House Dem’s, the majority of which will have voted overwhelmingly in favor of the Sales Tax incerease, or whatever other consensus plan is negotiated.
At this point, Madigan does not want anything else to advance, because whatever transpires will allow the Governor to leverage the Republicans against him in order to thwart any aspect of his agenda that he wants to advance.
Madigan has tied the Capital Bill to the Gaming Bill, rather than the Mass Transportation Bill, in order to asuage the Republicans, in an effort to try to round up enough votes for this version of the Mass Transit Bill.
Since the Governor (with his 5 pocket votes withheld) and the recalcitrant House Republicans refusing to play along, Madigan is now intending to show them why they should have trusted a deal with him, rather than rely on trying to negotiate something with the Governor, who will also abandon them as soon as it becomes expedient after January 1st, when he will no longer need them either, since they will be unable to block anything in the House, and if they coalesce with the Democrats in the Senate to block something Madigan sends over, then Emil will wear the jacket for that one as well.
Without a Gaming Bill, there is no money for Capital. Without Madigan’s reforms in place with respect to the Gaming Board and regulatory oversight, there is no Gaming Bill. I suspect they will work to seprate the regulatory and oversight issues into a seprate bill; to be addressed and passed and signed first, rather than combining those provisions into a bill that simultaneously allows for gambling expansion.
Madigan can fritter away the next 59 days; not including the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, (Special Sessions aside) by manipulating the calendar and committee process to have the gaming regulatory and oversight issues consume all of that time, while they pretend to continue to negotiate some other alternative to Mass Transit funding, which nobody seems to want to put forth in the form of actual legislation.
Once this is all done (with Madigan’s simple majority, or with the Senate Democrats or Governor wearing the jacket in early January), then it will be time to sit down and negotiate the FY 09 budget. At that point, we can probably expect the Governor’s Budget Address (ummm, Press Release) and subsequent statewide campaign, to begin sometime around April 1st and run until just bvefor the next over-time session begins in June of 2008.
See what we have to look forward to?
(To answer an earlier ad hominem accusation, no, I do not work for any public agency; and more importantly I am not a Madigan Democrat, but rather a Republican leaner, who see’s the writing on the wall, and will be lamenting having missed this opportunity to negotiate with Madigan now, who we at least know will live up to, and stand behind his agreements).
Fore-warned is fore armed, but right now I am feeling defenseless, and being used by both sides of the Democratic civil warring factions, but only for supporting their own initiatives (and blocking the other guy’s), and nothing that advances the Republican agenda at all in the end other than whatever crumbs can be had along the way.
I am a daily Mass Transit user; and I hope either the federal government; or the RTA Board steps into stop the madness here and force a resolution now for the sake of the rider-ship that can least afford the doomsday service cuts and fare increases. If they do that now however; don’t hold your on that capital bill anytime soon, unless they come around to Madigan’s way of thinking (or something acceptable to him) as the agreed upon solution this weekend.
- Lula May - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 1:57 pm:
I think the taxpayers of Chicago and suburbs are willing to pay a small retail tax increase. We are only talking .25 of one cent and I think it is .50 of one cent in the collar counties.
It is shameful how Emil Jones,Frank Watson and the two bossom buddies (Rod and Tom Cross - old legislative roommates and Tom’s father baptized both of Rods kids)can hold the CTA and RTA hostage. This should be a CTA - RTA bill only. Again shame on these people for their petty feuds against Madigan.
- Truthful James - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 1:58 pm:
It is the heighth of bureaucratic mismanagement to use capital funds for operating expenditures — even if the Governor puts an IOU in the box for those funds.
And if the FTA lets him get away with this, then shame on them.
At about this time, I would expect to see that the democrat House of Representatives have put through a special bill which Senator Durbin can then take credit for in the Senate. and which GWB will sign authorizing replenishment of the FTA Capital money. That would be the only thing which the Governor may have waited for all this time.
- Captain America - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 2:00 pm:
Using capital funds for operating purposes is completely inappropriate. The feds are unlikely to be imp[ressed with Blago’s fiscal ledgerdemain I’ll be surprised if the feds approve it. I’ll be ven more surpirsed if they make a decision one way or another in time to prevent doomsday. However. PACE and CTA may be recluctant to pull the ddomsday trigger until the feds say no.
- VanillaMan - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 2:06 pm:
Of course Halvorson is unopposed. Name another credible candidate that couldn’t be swayed by a phone call from the Majority Leader and Speaker?
Who holds the purse strings for the organizations any opponent would hail from?
Ring! Ring! Someone from the Illinois Senate would like to speak to you Mr. Weber about your school funding next year!
- so-called "Austin Mayor" - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 2:10 pm:
Let’s not forget the upside to the CTA crisis: There will now be significantly less traffic outside of the Hideout.
– SCAM
- Ti-iii-me Is on My Side - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 2:13 pm:
(Rep. Julie Hamos (D-Evanston)-“I personally wish the governor might have checked with them first,” Hamos said. “That would have been better. But we’re waiting . . . because I think this whole ‘Doomsday’ scenario depends on this one critical fact.”)
Conversation from earlier today-
Madigan: Hello Bill (Lipinski), I need you to make a call to Secretary Peters in Washington; and get some; (uhhm) “clarification” for me on something, ASAP; and here’s how I would like it to be “clarified”…..
Let me know as soon as you hear back.
The remaining question is; with the answer in hand, does Madigan break the bad news to everyone right away, or does he simply allow the Governor enough rope to hang himself with here on this one, and wait for him to have to come forward and admit that this approach will not work?
Those of you that think he waits I believe are correct, because he has already thought out the next three chess moves if this falls through anyway, and of course Ti-iiime, is on his side, yes it is.
If this falls through the Governor will have to scramble to come up with a Plan B (when he may have pulled Plan A out of his hat just this morning), and what are the chances that anyone in the Administration actually thought that far ahead to have a Plan B ready anyway?
In the mean time; Madigan will make sure the transit agencies know the answer themselves, probably about 4:30 this afternoon, when it is too late for them to do anything else but set the “Dooms Day Plan” into motion.
Tick, Tick, Tick………..
- cafe coffee - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 2:15 pm:
Didn’t realize Tom Cross and Rod Blagojevich were so close, thanks Lula May. Guess Tom doesn’t realize when he’s dealing with the devil.
I’ve just become very disappointed in Tom.
- so-called "Austin Mayor" - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 2:17 pm:
The boy who cried, “All clear! There’s no wolf here!”?
Tribune: ‘Seeking to avert a transportation “Doomsday,” Gov. Rod Blagojevich today authorized a grant to the Chicago Transit Authority and Pace for $27 million to keep a full schedule of buses and trains running through the end of the year.’ http://tinyurl.com/2lq9d2
CBS2: ‘CTA officials plan to accept an offer from Gov. Rod Blagojevich to save the CTA from its “doomsday plan” with a grant from the Federal Transportation Administration.
‘Gov.Blagojevich offered a $27 million to be split between the CTA and the Pace suburban bus service. The money is in the form of a grant that would allow the CTA to continue operating normally without raising fares and cutting service — but only until the end of the year.’ http://tinyurl.com/3czeqx
- wordslinger - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 2:21 pm:
This is a plan? Need more time?
Just when you thought it couldn’t get more absurd…
- Six Degrees of Separation - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 2:25 pm:
PCC-
Slightly OT: Is your nickname derived from the President’s Conference Committee (PCC) streetcar?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCC_streetcar
They were used by the CTA until the late 1950’s:
http://www.umcycling.com/cta1a.htm
- True Comparison - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 2:27 pm:
“We’re waiting on a Republican administration in Washington, DC at 3 o’clock on a Friday afternoon to bail out a Democratic governor.”
Rich, that should definitely be elevated beyond the “Quote of the Week”.
- the commuter once known as So Ill - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 2:29 pm:
that’s disappointing, but oh well. Cheaper CTA rides for me for now.
- Frank K. - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 2:52 pm:
I’m not sure the quote of the week is accurate. Aren’t we actually waiting for a bailout of a Democrat Speaker of the House? It’s the House the can’t get the bill passed, even though he has 67 Dem members. Last time I looked, there were 4 GOP votes for the measure.
- Rich Miller - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 2:57 pm:
Frank, that’s a pretty simplistic analysis of the House vote.
- fedup dem - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 3:06 pm:
Note to cafe coffee: I suspect you were not aware of the fact that the minister father of Rep. Cross presided over the christening ceremonies for both of Blagojevich’s daughters.
- Rich Miller - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 3:07 pm:
What does that have to do with anything? Seriously. Can anyone say that Tom Cross is a Blagojevich puppet? No. Move along.
- Loop Lady - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 3:11 pm:
hey Rich, I think that is somewhat relevant–or just plain interesting…
- South Side Mike - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 3:12 pm:
One of the downsides of the bailout (and there are many) is the “Boy Crying Wolf” aspect. How many times are commuters going to tune out “MASSIVE CUTS COME MONDAY” when they don’t pan out? Come January 2, when there’s still no transit bill, we’ll be in the same mess. And when one of these bailouts are rejected and the cuts actually occur, commuters won’t be ready because they will have tuned out this circus.
- Wumpus - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 3:15 pm:
Go Cat Go, Railroad Tycoon
YDD, I agree. Daley could axe his buddy GWB. But does Daley want to make Rodney look good? Would he take credit? Should Obama or Hillary try to get a press release to “pressure” the White house?
- Rich Miller - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 3:16 pm:
“Interesting,” maybe. Relevant, hardly. You can’t point to anything this year that Cross has done to “prove” that he is somehow unduly influenced by Blagojevich.
- Levois - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 3:20 pm:
Another temporary bailout. Well I hope the state can come up with some money but temporary plans I hope won’t be the order of the day.
- Shell Game - Illinois Style - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 3:23 pm:
Don’t get to excited, it’s just a $27 million band-aid and it only lasts till the end of this year. It will be awfully cold walking or riding a bike to work come January 2008.
- Loop Lady - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 3:29 pm:
This is not leadership…this is window dressing…a pox on all your houses…
btw Southern Illinois legislators calling the shots in Springfield? Now I’ve heard it all…
- Mr. W.T. Rush - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 3:35 pm:
Does Blaggo understand he just tapped a fund with about $281 million bond fund to pay a grant/gift/freebee for day to day operations? There may never be a CTA bill.
Unless, of course, HE forces the shut down.
They are dumber than we think.
- Transit Supporter - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 3:42 pm:
The CTA, Metra and Pace have all been shifting capital dollars to operations since the end of Illinois FRIST in 2004. They have been noting this transfer as one of the principle reasons for a comprehensive solution. So, unfortunately, this is not an unusual tactice. But all it does it limit the ability of the transit agencies to make critical improvements and address maintenance needs and while not setting them back in an accounting sense, it does create a “maintenance” backlog that only makes the entire situation worse over the long run. Like anything - either you do’s it now or you do’s later…
- On the taxpayers backs - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 3:46 pm:
Democrats or Republicans doesn’t matter, they’re all in-bed with each other. All this hoopla about the RTA/CTA Doomsday, has everyone forgotten Illinois hasn’t approved a budget for 2008?
- so-called "Austin Mayor" - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 3:51 pm:
Uh…
yay?
– SCAM
- A Citizen - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 3:54 pm:
Bush and Daley are friends as unusual as that may seem - My guess is that Daley pulled this off with W. I just worry that Blags will be so greatful he will try to become a Republican. We simply cannot have that!
- Rich Miller - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 3:57 pm:
===has everyone forgotten Illinois hasn’t approved a budget for 2008?===
Huh? The budget passed weeks ago. The BIMP will likely be signed tonight.
- True Comparison - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 4:31 pm:
An interesting comparison is the Gov’s handling of this crisis v. the electric rate crisis earlier in the year. The most pain from the electric rate increases early on was downstate. The Gov sat back and did nothing for months, actually he never really did anything.
When the pain is in Chicago he has twice bailed it out before the “train comes off the track”. Interesting where his true priorities lie.
- j - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 4:41 pm:
“Huh? The budget passed weeks ago. The BIMP will likely be signed tonight. “
Wouldn’t the correct term now actually be “months”? Time sure does fly.
- Rich Miller - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 4:44 pm:
true.
- EL SALSA - Friday, Nov 2, 07 @ 6:19 pm:
Wow, Juday Baar Topinka was just relevent for the first time in almost a year.
Glad her plush, Republican board appointment finally allowed her to sling some mud at the Governor again. Bet she missed it.
Too bad it all sounds too much sour grapes to me.
BTW, congrats to Blago and the other leaders on coming together on something. Hopefully gaming and capital plan are next!
- anon - Saturday, Nov 3, 07 @ 11:48 pm:
I am just waiting for Blago to say…”We must do this for the kids….” Sickening, Sickening. The biggest phony I have ever seen. Anyone else agree?? I never was before, but I am a Madigan fan now. I’ll just vote straight Republican barring State Rep.
- Ahem - Sunday, Nov 4, 07 @ 10:32 pm:
The doomsday is dead. Get another gimmick.