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Let’s just look at the ledes.
Millions of taxpayer dollars earmarked in private political deals for everything from a Little League program to street work for a Chicago alderman were detailed in state documents released Tuesday.
There’s $50,000 to encourage “car sharing” in Illinois. Another $75,000 is going to the Puerto Rican Parade Committee to promote “cultural awareness.”
Engineering costs for a new tollway ramp in Rosemont, street improvements in Chicago’s 13th Ward and a new football field for a Southwest Side college where a state lawmaker once coached are among hundreds of special projects Gov. Blagojevich’s administration recently signed off on, documents released Tuesday show.
Democratic lawmakers agreed to pass Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s $56 billion state budget last month after cutting secret side deals for items ranging from police cars and tornado sirens to millions of dollars for after-school programs, documents released Tuesday show.
AP:
Gov. Rod Blagojevich wanted a budget. Democratic lawmakers wanted projects to take home to their districts in an election year.
You get the feeling that the spin went against the pols on this one?
The AP has also posted the list. Most of the projects are defensible, but there’s always a few that jump out at you.
posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Jun 21, 06 @ 9:12 am
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Yeah, like Deanna Demuzio’s district getting a lot of state funds during a year in which she could be defeated by Jeff Richey. Illinois Valley is probably the only real needy recipient out of the entire 49th District pork locker.
Comment by Team Sleep Wednesday, Jun 21, 06 @ 10:08 am
Money for all these porkers will be paid from the increases in income and sales tax receipts resulting — I say once again — from the Bush tax cuts.
The State as always kep these revenue libe items at the prior year’s level when estimating the budget. Like last year, receipts are going to be up at least 12%.
“If you collect it, they will spend.”
Comment by Truthful James Wednesday, Jun 21, 06 @ 10:20 am
And spend some more
Comment by Truthful James Wednesday, Jun 21, 06 @ 10:20 am
Has anyone cross-walked the MOU pledges by legislative district? That might give an informative look at the cost per legislative vote.
Comment by Budget Watcher Wednesday, Jun 21, 06 @ 10:33 am
[…] Capitol Fax has a bunch of MSM links, and had the list up last night. […]
Pingback by IlliniPundit.com » Blog Archive » Memoranda of Understanding Wednesday, Jun 21, 06 @ 11:25 am
Simple explanation - Blago is the Matthew Lesko of IL. I can just see him in that suit with question marks all over it yelling “$10 million to keep a political opponent out of the race?!?! NO PROBLEM! Its all free government money!!! $50 million on a program nobody can see working?!?! NO PROBLEM! Its all free government money!!!”
Comment by anon Wednesday, Jun 21, 06 @ 11:34 am
Yeah, anon, I’m looking at coverage of the collapse of Tennesee’s “TennCare” program and it is looking very much like an indication of the future of “AllKids”… oh, sorry about that, “Governor Blagojevich’s All Kids”. Gotta give the credit where due.
Comment by Gregor Wednesday, Jun 21, 06 @ 12:39 pm
A lot of this stuff is actually needed. The pathetic part is the fact that Democrats do not trust a governor who is from their own party.
Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Jun 21, 06 @ 12:49 pm
Looks like good causes to me. All this without raising my taxes. As a person who has worked their entire life in the private sector I think this is great. We need another four years of this kind of fiscal discipline. On the other hand we could have a Governor like JBT who has already said she will raise our taxes.
Comment by Anon Wednesday, Jun 21, 06 @ 12:51 pm
fiscal discipline?? perhaps you did not know that the governor and the senate and house democrats did not fund the state employees retirement fund by a little more than 2 billion
dollars these last 2 years, all he did is postpone those payments for sometime in the future perhaps by your children or grandchildren,
that is not my idea of fiscal discipline.
Comment by bullwinkle Wednesday, Jun 21, 06 @ 1:34 pm
Its odd that someone would make a statement like “All this without raising my taxes” and not be aware of the fact that the state is paying for this by not paying their current bills. At some point in the future this will all come to a head and at that point the bills must be paid and then the only way to do that will be to raise taxes or severely cut services to everyone.
The state can’t print their own money like the feds can so that’s not an option out of this mess. At some point the bills will need to be paid and then the entire state citizens will suffer.
This governor had a chance to make things right and has failed miserably. To tout the fact that he hasn’t raised taxes shows a complete lack of understanding the grave situation in which the state is prodding headlong.
Comment by Sound Reasoning Wednesday, Jun 21, 06 @ 1:56 pm
Anything that takes money out of the pocket of a business owner, a comemrcial enterprise, a trucking company, a family is a tax. Call them fees if you will. It is a tax. It passes through bureaucratic hands. some sticks to them. That is an enefficient tax. It is doled out to contractors and clients of the governor. That is corporate and individual welfare. It is returned to the politician to aid in his reelection. That is graft.
Comment by Truthful James Wednesday, Jun 21, 06 @ 2:10 pm
Anon, just who do you think is paying for all of this pork and will be paying for all of this pork? Taxes will have to be raised after this loser sells off all of the available state assets and steals all the money from the state worker’s retirement funds. I can’t believe that you’d think that this was fiscally sound spending. The citizens of the state of Washington had the right idea to stop this kind of abuse - force a referendum on the ballot to make any increases to spending a matter to be voted upon by the citizens of the state, not the legislature. Line item veto all of the pork out of a bill and then vote on the meat of the matter. Is it fiscally responsible to be spending a half million dollars on road signs with the gov’s name on them before an election that hopefully we won’t win? I guess those 4 lane wide signs will boost his ego one last time before he’s booted out (hopefully), but the taxpayers of Illinois get to foot the bill for taking them down just months after they’ve been installed by his cronies and either replaced or destroyed again at taxpayer’s expense. Anyone out there that is paying attention knows that taxes are going to have to be raised to pay for all of these programs. Government doesn’t earn any money itself, it takes it from the working citizens of the state to provide its funding. The bills are about to start coming due - we’ll all be singing “I owe, I owe it’s off to work we go” well into our 90’s to pay for all of the gov’s pork barrel projects. It’s not government’s job to try to take care of people from their cradle to their grave - it’s there to provide infrastructure and services that an individual can’t do alone, like build a street or a bridge, not take care of someone’s kids or pay transportation costs for taking a kid to school, transportation costs for someone out looking for a job, bike trails for a small niche of society - there has to be an end to this. The employment base is about to start shrinking as the baby boomers retire, leaving a larger part of the bills to come out of a smaller number of workers pockets. Where’s the sensibility in that?
Comment by BBishere2 Wednesday, Jun 21, 06 @ 2:42 pm
Looks like god news in a whole lot of places. Most items already announced by local agencies. The big “secret deal” headlines look a little silly, but its June and circulation is down. Wonder if the media plans to pay attention to rest of the $56 billion budget was prepared. Only 55,930,000,000 or so left to detail for the readers.
Comment by Reddbyrd Wednesday, Jun 21, 06 @ 2:43 pm
Does anyone think that the general public cares about the State’s pension system? Outside of Sangamon county, who cares about State workers?
Comment by In The Know Wednesday, Jun 21, 06 @ 3:08 pm
Jeff Richey doesn’t stand a chance.
Comment by B Hicks Wednesday, Jun 21, 06 @ 3:48 pm
I travel all over the state and speak with people who work in the private sector all the time. I have not met one person yet who wants their taxes raised. If JBT is going to run her campaign on, I will raise your taxes so I can employee more state workers and give them more money and better pensions then we will have four more years of Blagojevich and that’s a good thing.
Comment by Anon Wednesday, Jun 21, 06 @ 4:16 pm
Were are all those that brag about being “fiscal conservatives”, both Dems and Republicans. I know there is always going to be pork, but there needs to be some legislators with the ethics to slash when appropriate. This is a good argument for term-limits.
Ashur Odishoo
Candidate
State Representative 11th District
Comment by Ashur Odishoo Wednesday, Jun 21, 06 @ 4:28 pm
Unbelievable!!! Spending money like a bunch of drunken sailors.
Comment by Anon. Wednesday, Jun 21, 06 @ 4:33 pm
Somewhere the piper has to get paid. Sure my taxes did not go up and if all I cared about was my personal situation then I am sitting pretty. At some point those debts are coming back, demanding payment with interest. The same people who do not want to raise taxes now will be screaming when services they want/use are cut and money runs out as some future governor says a tax increase must happen. Since it does not effect them personally right now then everything is fine, right now. In the mean time spend that pork, do not bother to save. Keep the suckers stupid and they will pay everytime and think they got a deal.
Comment by zatoichi Wednesday, Jun 21, 06 @ 4:40 pm
Two points
First, I have not heard any criticism of my calling out the corrupt way budgetis finessed in Illinois to include after the fact all the goodies from the deliberate underestimation of revenue. It freezes out the good guys.
Anon 4:16
Don’t think that Judy B will go after a tax increase to raise spending, but to truly balance the budget. Somebody — Judy B or Blagowill have to do it if the mad dog legislature doesn’t get frugal. We can’t ride on the largesse generated the Bush tax cuts forever. Any volunteers to play the part of Dick Ogilvie
Comment by Truthful James Wednesday, Jun 21, 06 @ 4:42 pm
Well, I can sleep easy tonight: Bill Cameron from WLS radio asked the governor today why he had to have his name on those expensive tollway signs in an election year. The governor was recorded saying it was not his idea, he did not authorize that. And of course, he doesn’t know who did that or why.
Ahhhh, the tender arms of Sweet Morpheus beckon… I rest secure in the stewardship of these fine, honorable people…
Now the governor is on record saying it wasn’t him, I want Abby to tell us who DID authorize that. it should be easy to do… just follow the money.
I would like Judy to make an easy, inexpensive campaign promise: if she wins, no such signage shennanigans any more. Official stationery, OK, most of that is blank paper with the logos and etc applied in the computer printer as it comes out, easy to change, click, done. No Governor’s name need be on the front of any State pamphlets, the back cover is OK, but keep it reasonably modest. No Governor’s name on the many, many, buildings. Scrape that junk off and let it just represent the people of the State of Illinois, as it should be. No Governor’s name on the title of state programs like Allkids, Bright Start, freepuppiesforkids, or any damn thing. No Governor’s name on the top of charity events done by state workers like the winter coat drives, how about the workers that donate get all the credit for a change.
Let’s just pledge that all that egomaniacal nonsense ends with the new administration, let her works be her memorial, let the people’s happiness and general welfare be her legacy… not this childish tagging of every rock and tree stray dog with the family name. Even Carnegie didn’t demand his name be on the outside of all his libraries, and he PAID his own money for the damn things. he knew the better memorial was the benefit the people got from using them.
Comment by Doktor Caligari Wednesday, Jun 21, 06 @ 6:52 pm
Illinois First redux. OINK-OINK!!!
Comment by Snidely Whiplash Wednesday, Jun 21, 06 @ 7:08 pm
Something is incredibly wrong with this picture. These are taxpayer dollars going toward member initiatives when they could be going to the Capital Development Board to hand out for public buildings that have gone under scrutiny and approved for building. OR even better, toward the large back log of medical the state owes OR even better - all kids OR even better homeland security — pick it friends, dog parks and baseball diamonds are community base projects and not statewide projects. This is about getting people elected and passing a budget that’s flawed.
Comment by Mary Fioretti Wednesday, Jun 21, 06 @ 7:13 pm
Thanks, In the Know: Next time you need a service from the workers of the state of Illinois, I hope the money, forms, tax refunds, etc. are there for you. I hope there are people there to send it all to you. What a nice attitude you have. I hope none of your relatives are state workers because they are taking the same hit everyone else is in pension payments and non-raises along with the gift of 3 persons’ jobs. Remember, we pay the same taxes you do and deserve the same respect.
Oh, and by the way, I got my job through my education (BS, MA) and my experience of 20 years.
Comment by Disgusted Wednesday, Jun 21, 06 @ 7:22 pm
Mr. Hicks, Jeff Richey will win. I’m predicting a 53-47 win come November 7. This is the year the GOP topples the Demuzio stranglehold.
Comment by Team Sleep Wednesday, Jun 21, 06 @ 11:06 pm
Looks like the “secret” MOU story has trickled out. What will the haters and hand wringers rant about now?
How about we start asking Judy Bore and Brickhead the Executioner where their long simmering education plan is?
P.S. anyone seen the strike zone? if so send it back to our pitchers
Comment by Reddbyrd Thursday, Jun 22, 06 @ 7:21 am