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* This was buried in a GateHouse story about the possibility of overriding the governor’s vetoes in the Senate, but I thought it was the most important part…
[Democratic state Sen. Terry] Link said [Senate President Emil] Jones might be using the cuts as leverage to get agreement on a mass transit assistance package and a long-stalled construction bond program.
“I am not in disagreement with what the president is trying to do,” Link said. […]
Link said a lot can still change if lawmakers can reach agreement on other issues, like mass transit assistance and a capital bill.
“Nobody is getting heartbroken because they don’t feel this is the final, final cut,” Link said.
How real is this possiblity of cutting a deal on the veto overrides? You should probably subscribe to find the answer.
* Meanwhile, the vetoes weren’t confined to the budget…
Gov. Rod Blagojevich in recent months has been vetoing legislation at a rate not seen in the past 15 years, according to a Post-Dispatch analysis of legislative data. As of Friday afternoon, he had rejected or altered more than one of every 10 pieces of legislation he has acted upon this year — despite the fact that the Legislature sending him those bills is completely controlled by his own party.
The paper doesn’t go into any detail on the vetoes, but you can find them at these links…
* And the fallout from the budget vetoes continues. The cuts to public broadcasting, for example, were deeper than anyone expected…
Included among the $463 million in cuts Blagojevich announced last Thursday were $100,000 for grants to public television and radio stations for operating costs and $1.36 million for administrative expenses.
The reductions mean public broadcasting will receive as much as 30 percent less this year from state government than last year, said Chet Tomczyk, president and CEO of WTVP-TV in Peoria, and a board member of the national Association of Public Television Stations and the Illinois Public Broadcasting Council.
* And, as far as I can tell, nobody else has picked up on these two cuts…
Two hundred fifty thousand dollars for a capital punishment reform study committee was zeroed out, as well as a $240,000 grant to the Downstate Innocence Project, which works to release wrongly convicted prisoners.
* And this one has been ignored as well…
[A] $500,000 for a program to track birth defects, backed strongly by some House Dems, also was removed
* And then there was this…
Roughly $3 million in funds for museums, park districts and zoos was erased from the state budget when the governor used his veto powers to cut $463 million in spending.
* But he left the pay raises intact, of course…
Left untouched by the governor’s action were pay raises that lawmakers gave themselves, the governor and a number of high-ranking bureaucrats. Blagojevich stands to see a $20,000 raise during a year in which he has struggled to win support for his initiatives.
“A budget should reflect the priorities of the people who elected us to make their lives better. That’s why I’m removing almost $500 million in special pet projects and other spending that we simply can’t afford,” Blagojevich said in a prepared statement.
* Those priorities that we can afford apparently included this…
After slashing funding for the developmentally disabled and elderly veterans, Gov. Blagojevich’s administration is moving ahead with plans to repaint and refurbish a state plane the governor has used dozens of times.
The Illinois Department of Transportation has extended a deal put in place earlier this year with an Arkansas firm, Central Flying Service, to perform a $133,900 makeover of the plane.
Perfect.
* Some of the legislative reactions have been quite harsh, as you might imagine…
Rep. George Scully, D-Flossmoor, called the vetoes an “insult” and “a blatant act of retaliation.”
“The cuts were done with complete disregard for the merit of the projects (and) based purely on who was the sponsor,” said Scully, who had more than $1 million of projects in his districts vetoed. […]
Rep. David Miller, D-Dolton, in an Aug. 29 press release called the veto “rank budget thuggery.”
* More budget and veto-related stories, compiled by Paul…
* After a busy 2007, Chicago moviemaking looks thin next year
* House Dem projects got axed, GOP’s were spared
* Editorial: If not term limits, then we need political power limits
* Chambers: Why nothing gets done
when these 3 Dems get going* Winners and losers in state budget battle
* Little gained in overtime session
* Editorial: Funding reform could have helped schools
* House Dems projects were axed, GOP’s were spared
* South Suburbs come up short in battle over ‘pork’
* Blagojevich cuts create financial difficulties for South Suburban College
* Lost funds hurt, but doesn’t cripple Central School
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Sep 4, 07 @ 7:23 am
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No surprise Blago wanted public broadcasting cut; he hates any media he hasn’t paid for or otherwise managed.
Comment by Gregor Tuesday, Sep 4, 07 @ 7:42 am
Have you ever been to Flossmoor? The median income there is slightly over $100,000 a year.
Communities with median incomes over twice the national average don’t need $1,000,000 worth of goodies from the state Legislature….from us, in other words.
Comment by Cassandra Tuesday, Sep 4, 07 @ 8:24 am
Cassandra, Scully’s district includes a whole lot more than just Flossmoor.
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Sep 4, 07 @ 8:28 am
I found it somewhat difficult to review the budget material since my only source was some PDF files rather than spreadsheets. And, when I did tally up the cuts in the Gov’s message, I got something over $470M rather than just $464…but the SJ-R carried a figure similar to mine.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Sep 4, 07 @ 8:40 am
I also noticed that about 3.7% came from payments to Employees retirement, and 2.7% from payments to Social Security. I found it interesting that some Correctional facilities were hit harder than others ones…wonder why?
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Sep 4, 07 @ 8:44 am
The veto included $1.18M from Public Health for Expenses associated with Pandemic Flu Preparedness.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Sep 4, 07 @ 8:59 am
You can view the entire list of vetoes or find them broken down by category here:
www.ctbaonline.org
It is over $470 million.
Comment by BLAH Tuesday, Sep 4, 07 @ 9:03 am
If anything is going to be the Governor’s undoing in the court of public opinion, it’ll be that state plane. First, it was the nearly $6K daily flights to/from Springfield. Now, it’s the plane’s $134K makeover - particularly in comparison with so many of the worthy projects that were reduced or eliminated by veto.
I’ve got an older relative in northern IL who doesn’t pay all that much attention to state gov’t and political news. But he not only knows about that plane business, he repeats it over and over: “How dare the Governor put himself on that level, far above everyone else’s concerns?” And this from a guy who once supported the Governor.
It’s incredible that Team Blago doesn’t seem to be able to understand this.
Comment by Linus Tuesday, Sep 4, 07 @ 9:16 am
Thanks, BLAH! Still PDF files but at least they can be exported into spreadsheets more easily. Much more interesting to review. Don’t see any tally of the entire budget on their web site. That’d be helpful also.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Sep 4, 07 @ 9:21 am
If Blagojevich was a Republican, we can just blame blind partisanship and poor leadership skills for his behavior. He would just look like an idiot politician playing partisan games.
But the reality is far more frightening, isn’t it?
This guy is not only nuts, he is burning-down-the-house-around-him nuts.
Can he get any uglier? We sadly, have three more years to find out, don’t we?
Comment by VanillaMan Tuesday, Sep 4, 07 @ 9:31 am
Anonymous - check out the first report on the website. It is here: http://www.ctbaonline
.org/All%2
0Links%20t
o%20Research%20A
reas%20and%20Report
s/Budget,%20Tax%20and
%20Revenue/Governor’s%20Veto
%20Analysis%20CTBA.pdf
Comment by BLAH Tuesday, Sep 4, 07 @ 9:47 am
http://www.ctbaonline.org/
All%20Links%20to%20Research%
20Areas%20and%20Reports/Budget,%20
Tax%20and%20Revenue/Governor’s%20Veto
%20Analysis%20CTBA.pdf
Sorry, that first link didn’t work.
Comment by BLAH Tuesday, Sep 4, 07 @ 9:48 am
The plane story is a good one. I liked it better when I read it last Thursday and Friday in the downstate papers.
http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/
2007/08/30/news/doc46d70a8888638860195472.txt
Comment by Steve Trachsel's fan club Tuesday, Sep 4, 07 @ 11:22 am
I am just so thankful that Blagojevich did away with “business as usual” in the State of Illinois!
Comment by one of the 35 Tuesday, Sep 4, 07 @ 11:52 am
Rich, just to give everyone a chance to show how easy it would be to veto $450-500 million out of a budget, why don’t you ask a qotd having them do just that (real numbers, of course, not fantasies)?
Comment by steve schnorf Tuesday, Sep 4, 07 @ 11:54 am
Question for Annoymous @ 8:59 am–was wondering if this cut in Pandemic Flu Preparedness was due to additional federal funding ? There was an announcement on 28 June from US Dept HHS and then additional grant money announced on 31 Aug. Do we get the federal funds and thus the state fund was cut or do we lose any of the federal funds because Rod cut state funding? The announcements I read didn’t say anything about states having to match funds, but as this governor has failed to match and thus lost other federal funding, I’m not sure how this flu money stands.
Comment by Princeville Tuesday, Sep 4, 07 @ 12:09 pm
I noticed that quite a few of the cuts in the state agencies involved personal services and
(presumably related) restirement contributions.
Some of these agencies (DHS, DCFS, etc) were getting additional staff in the new budget, so the cuts presumably involve additional staff who will now not be hired.
It’s not necessary for the cuts to affect the front lines. The agencies could cut porky management jobs and still hire additional front line staff, even with the personal service cuts. With no pain to the management employees, many of whom are well past eligible for early retirement, which is, believe it or not (rule of 85) still available in Illinois stae government.
Mangement employees are far more likely to have a political sponsor though. The cuts will go to the
front lines.
Comment by Cassandra Tuesday, Sep 4, 07 @ 1:11 pm
Princeville, you’re asking the wrong guy. It could be a missed Fed match, or maybe a reaction to the flu shot fiasco…I don’t know.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Sep 4, 07 @ 2:00 pm
The Governor’s decision to “rob Peter to pay Paul’s just makes the Peters angrier than they already were with his “slash and burn,” “scorched earth” political strategy. It seems like a “lose-lose situation for the Governor, particularly since he’s likely to have to go back to the legislature for a suppleamntal appropriation when the health care money inevitably runs out before the end of the fiscal year.
Comment by Captain America Tuesday, Sep 4, 07 @ 3:26 pm
Steve Schnorf, You assume that snatching $465M for your own agenda warrants looking at alternative ways to snatch the money. Making less subjective “cuts” would be easier IF the descriptions of the items was just a little more insightful. For example, experience says that the State Agencies “pad” their budgets in anticipation of budget cuts in the committees, legislature, and governor’s office. If you take just a flat cut of 3% across the agencies, you come up with $465M. I took a quick swipe at some of the less “questionable” items and came up with another $17M - left the vague stuff alone at this point. With a little less politics and more fiscal restraint, it could be done and with less backlash.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Sep 4, 07 @ 5:12 pm
Oh, and that 3% only came from the agency items the Governor reduced, not all of the agencies.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Sep 4, 07 @ 5:16 pm
anonymous 5:12,
unless you want to cut grants to agencies serving the disabled and elderly, elementary and secondary school aid, rates to docs serving the poor, etc, you have to cut just the operations budgets, and 3% doesn’t get you very much. Then, when you decided to really go looking for real cuts, you found$17m. Congratulations.
I’m assuming nothing about “snatching”, I’m just saying you don’t get there without making some people and groups unhappy, so you have to choose who you want to p–s off.
My point was making the cuts is never easy if the number’s very big. And, almost half the total spending isn’t GRF, so you’re limited in what you can do with the money.
Comment by steve schnorf Tuesday, Sep 4, 07 @ 7:53 pm
Steve, my feeble attempt at making a point is that the Gov could have taken the wimpy way out and done a .9% reduction across the $58B budget plus a few obvious veto moves and got his $464M. Having done so, everybody would still have gotten a piece of the pie with less pain and little backlash. Maybe the Veteran’s Home wouldn’t get an 80-bed addition, but would have enough for a 70-bed one - now they got nothin’ as a result. Of course, a lot of it is GRF and limited, but the Gov seems unconcerned about being limited…
Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Sep 5, 07 @ 7:35 am
Or, if the Gov had applied his cuts uniformly/categorically rather than with political revenge in mind he would appear more fiscally responsible and taken less criticism for his cuts.
Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Sep 5, 07 @ 7:41 am