Deputy Governor Sheila Nix stood with other top gubernatorial staff today to announce next steps the Blagojevich Administration will take to work with the General Assembly and leaders in order to reach a budget by the end of the state’s fiscal year, June 30th. The Governor wants to avoid relying on last minute budget negotiations, such as those that took place in the end of May that resulted in no budget bills reaching his desk by the end of session.
To help move the process forward, the Governor will call for meetings with all four legislative leaders at the start of each week, with additional meetings throughout the week as needed. He will also call for meetings with all caucuses at the end of each week and regular meetings with the budgeteers. He has already called for a leaders meeting tomorrow, Tuesday, June 5.
“The Governor and his top staff want to be helpful over the next few weeks to keep the dialogue going. We will all be assembled here, as we have been throughout session, to assist legislators and leaders in any way we can. It’s our hope that by beginning the month of June with an aggressive schedule, the General Assembly can avoid dealing with tough budget choices too late in the process. We don’t want a repeat of what happened at the end of May,” said Dep. Gov. Nix.
Nix said that the Governor and top staff responsible for the budget, health care, capital and education will be on hand throughout the month of June to help legislators and leaders address any questions and issues in these key policy areas.
*** UPDATE 1 *** Rep. John Fritchey posted this graphic and the following over at Illinoize…
This overtime was avoidable.
The Governor attempted to lead by edict, with a plan that was doomed from the start no less. I can count on one hand, with fingers left over, the number of colleagues that feel that they have a positive working relationship with the man. It didn’t have to be that way.
And style aside, he is attempting to foist an $8 billion dollar increase upon the Legislature, and the people of the State, to support programs that many experts feel are substantively unworkable.
Here is a math equation for future Governors to remember:
Bad funding plan + Unproven massive fiscal expenditure + alienated legislators + Complete unwillingness to compromise = Overtime
*** UPDATE 2 *** I haven’t checked yet to see what the hotel situation is, but I imagine it might be tough to get a hotel room tonight or tomorrow…
As many as 4,000 high-end performance machines are expected to roll into the Illinois State Fairgrounds on Tuesday as part of the Hot Rod Magazine Power Tour, a seven-day, seven-city tour that is one of the largest of its kind.
*** UPDATE 3 *** Blogger Dan Curry makes this observation about Nix’s announcement…
After more than four years in office, there’s an exciting announcement from Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich: He’s going to keep a regular work schedule, just like the other 49 chief executives.
Curry also posts this suddenly relevant ad from the 2002 campaign…
Let’s get to work. That’s the message today from Governor Rod Blagojevich’s office. […]
The governor’s office says frequent negotiations now can prevent another deadlock at the end of June.
But Blagojevich didn’t attend the news conference announcing this proposal. And his aides would not answer questions about the governor’s heated argument last week with a state senator.
*** UPDATE 6 *** I’ve been meaning to link to this for days, but considering Nix’s press conference it seems a good fit here. Eric Zorn’s Gov. Nocommentevich
*** UPDATE 7 *** Fritchey has another post up about the Nix presser, and it’s quite something. “Is Rodacity a Word?”
Do NOT make the mistake that I made of listening to the Sheila Nix press conference, posted at Capitol Fax. Unless of course, you will feel encouraged by the Governor’s position that we ‘really need to get to work’ and that we can’t ‘just engage in 3 day workweeks’ as the Speaker has proposed.
Does the Governor’s office really think that it is smart and/or productive to continue to antagonize the very people that he claims to want to work with? And especially on the issue of how much time we spend working in Springfield of all things?!
He ends with this cryptic passage…
All I know is that none of my constituents have been calling complaining about seeing me jogging in the neighborhood in the middle of the day. (Although I could definitely use the exercise.)
Besides this site, what’s your favorite blog? It doesn’t even have to be political. Explain why.
Also, Illinois political bloggers should use this thread to promote their own sites. Paul is revamping our blog list and could use some help finding more links.
* It’s pretty much the consensus that the governor’s outsized health insurance proposals (and the tax increase to go with it) have led directly to the spring session’s demise. This is from my syndicated column…
The simple truth is that very few legislators in the General Assembly have ever campaigned on providing universal health insurance, which is usually considered a federal issue. Many, including Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, go so far as to say that universal insurance ought to be a solely federal issue. […]
While the vast majority haven’t campaigned on universal health insurance, most legislators have been campaigning for school funding reform and infrastructure development for the past 20 years or more.
As a result, the public and the politicians are far more familiar and comfortable with those concepts, and they were super-ripe for passage this year.
Instead, what the governor did was essentially attempt to conjure a gigantic, expensive issue from scratch, gin up a groundswell of support statewide and ram it through the legislature in three and a half months, along with billions of dollars for education funding reform and infrastructure development.
So far, he has failed on all counts. That sort of thing just doesn’t happen here, or in any other democracy for that matter.
How could you squander this unique opportunity to craft the lavish political legacy you crave?
First, you unfurl something you didn’t mention during your campaign — your plan for the biggest tax increase in your state’s history. But you don’t do the hard groundwork of building constituencies in advance. You just toss this out in your budget address — itself a peculiar, populist rant that tries to pit your state’s people against one another. […]
When labor, business and government groups suggest that what your state really needs is a transportation program, you issue an ultimatum. You’re determined to fund health insurance coverage and education. You declare, “That’s the priority, and unless we do that, as far as I’m concerned nothing else is on the table.” […]
When the legislative session ends with a whimper, and your party has nothing to show for all the expenses legislators have rung up in the state capital while doing zip, you might want to lie low. There’ll be plenty of opportunities in an overtime session to demand that your agenda prevail. Plenty of time to posture as the victim.
At this point, of course, you have nothing. Nothing except speaking points for the day your state government finally adopts a budget.
Presumably, Blagojevich was emboldened this time by his easy re-election in November. But he promptly misplayed his victory by calling for an enormous tax increase that he failed to mention during his campaign. Never was there a mandate for a $7.6 billion tax increase that could damage the state’s businesses. Nor did his declaring health care the state’s top priority necessarily make it so for most state residents. Many Democratic lawmakers realized as much, which is why the regular session closed with virtually no support for the gross receipts tax and only scattered support for expanding health care. The governor compounded his problems by avoiding Springfield, failing until late in the game to sit down with legislators, and implying that those skeptical of his agenda were on the wrong side of a basic moral equation.
Add to this basic disagreements between Jones and Madigan, Jones’ unseemly ComEd links, and downstate legislators’ refusal to budge on any other issue unless their constituents receive electric rate relief. The result is a classic case of how to waste what once appeared to be limitless political capital.
* Eric Krol has a George W. Bush comparison. I specifically warned the governor about the danger of this during the bus tour, but he brushed it aside…
Blagojevich won re-election last November, but he was unable to score a majority of the vote in what was nominally a three-way race. The governor found himself in a position similar to President Bush, who, after narrowly winning a second term, still tried to boast that he earned “political capital” and intended to “spend it.” […]
“I think the governor has to give back his flight suit and roll up his ‘mission accomplished’ banner,” said state Rep. Jack Franks, a Woodstock Democrat, making an allusion to Bush’s famous visit to that aircraft carrier declaring the Iraq war won.
* The Post-Dispatch editorial board, which backed the governor’s massive health insurance proposal, now piles on…
It was a bold plan and this page supported it. But neither Mr. Madigan nor most House members would stand behind it. The business lobby despised it, of course, and it crashed and burned with a 107 to 0 vote against it.
At that point, Mr. Blagojevich would have been wise to seek middle ground in order to rescue at least part of his health insurance plan. A consensus has been slowly building in Springfield for a plan that would raise income taxes, while cutting unpopular property taxes. By twiddling with the tax numbers and adding some business taxes, Mr. Blagojevich might have rescued part of what he wanted on health care as well as schools.
Instead, he dug in his heels and stood firm on his campaign pledge not to raise personal income taxes no matter what. He’s been hinting that he’ll keep lawmakers in session until they bend to his will.
* And Kristen McQueary has some harsh words for Senate President Jones, comparing him to former Republican Senate President Pate Philip and echoing some complaints I’ve heard a lot at the Statehouse lately…
Education funding reform. Philip blocked the most significant piece of legislation to date on school-funding reform. While the Democratically controlled House passed Gov. Jim Edgar’s 1997 swap plan, Philip sat on the proposal like a fat goose. […]
At the time, Jones wrote a letter to the Daily Southtown calling Edgar’s plan “the best way to accomplish those goals because the income tax offers a steady stream of revenue, the plan has a continuing appropriation that allows education spending to keep up with inflation, a dedicated growth fund for property-tax relief, and it’s fair because those who can afford to make the most sacrifice for children would make the largest sacrifice.”
Jones criticized Republicans for following their leaders in the House and Senate “like sheep.”
Then two months ago, Jones followed Philip’s playbook. He declared Sen. James Meeks’ tax-swap bill dead and advocated for Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s gross-receipts tax instead.
When it flopped, he turned to gambling, just as Philip introduced stiffer taxes on riverboats as an alternative to Edgar’s plan.
With Jones in charge, the Senate is no closer to narrowing the gap between rich and poor school districts than it was under Philip.
The whole thing is a mess.
* More budget and end-of-session stories, compiled by Paul…
Considering all the comments on Friday, you’re probably done with this issue, but there were several stories over the weekend, so let’s take another crack at it, shall we?
Here’s some of what led up to the fight over the Western Illinois Unviversity money…
For example, Jacobs said, the governor promised school construction funding for Silvis, but then didn’t deliver because lawmakers didn’t pass a capital spending bill.
“The governor came in and presented a $13 million check that bounced,” Jacobs said. “That’s been in my craw.”
“But on the whole … we’ve enjoyed a pretty good relationship. I don’t want to willy-nilly knock him. But I will tell you that … other people have said to me, `You can’t trust him; you can’t trust him.’ Everybody keeps telling me this … After a while, you begin to think, well, maybe you can’t.”
Jacobs initially agreed to vote for the [governor’s] health insurance bill [on Thursday], but reportedly changed his mind when he came to the conclusion that he couldn’t trust the governor to keep the promise he made. The governor reportedly offered to release $75 million for a college expansion in Jacobs’ district in exchange for his vote on SB5.
Some might say he came to his senses, others might say he double-crossed the guv, depending on their perspective.
* Much of what was said behind closed doors is in dispute…
Jacobs said Blagojevich specifically threatened funding for a Western Illinois University extension campus. The university is slated to receive $73.2 million in construction funds in Blagojevich’s capital budget for next year — a budget the Legislature hasn’t passed yet. Of that total, $14 million is for a new university building in Moline, which is in Jacobs’ district.
Jacobs said Blagojevich offered to make sure that the $73 million went to WIU in exchange for Jacobs’ support on the health care bill. When Jacobs refused, he said, Blagojevich “blew up.”
WIU Associate Vice President John Maguire confirmed that the governor’s office called university President Al Goldfarb on Friday but denied that the office threatened to withhold any funding. “The outcome of that was the president was asked to call the senator to encourage his support (of the health care plan),” Maguire said. “We did so.”
I’m so sure that the governor’s office routinely calls university presidents to lobby their legislators. Not. This was obviously part of the threat against Jacobs.
“Senator Jacobs wanted a commitment of a $75 million project in his district in exchange for his vote to provide health care for everyone,” Blagojevich spokeswoman Rebecca Rausch wrote in an e-mailed statement. “The governor refused.”
Told of the statement, Jacobs heatedly denied that he ever asked the governor for $75 million.
“The guy’s a liar,” the senator said. “I dare him to hook himself up to a lie detector test to prove it.”
As I told subscribers this morning, that’s just not true (on both sides). But you’ll have to subscribe to find out why.
* The Sun-Times also had some quotes from Jacobs’ fellow legisltors backing him up…
“That’s wrong, absolutely wrong,” said Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson (D-Crete), who supports the governor’s plan. “I just don’t understand how people think fighting legislators for their votes works. It doesn’t.”
No one else wanted the state to do health care. It cost too much money. The state had other programs in need of funding.
But Baby Blago got so mad Friday at a state senator who refused to vote for his health care plan that during an argument he reportedly used profanity, balled up his fists and threatened to ruin the man’s political career.
If Blagojevich had talked that way to him in a tavern, said state Sen. Mike Jacobs (D-East Moline), “I would have kicked his tail end.”
Apparently calling people “fat cats, fat cats,” didn’t work, so the governor has become a potty mouth.
The legislative pay raise has been attached to the widows and orphans fund for soliders for weeks, so I’m surprised that it wasn’t really an issue until the Sun-Times splashed the story over the weekend…
On its own, a plan to grant Gov. Blagojevich, his Cabinet, statewide officeholders and rank-and-file lawmakers nearly 10 percent pay raises might as well have had an anvil tied to it.
But tie the politically unpalatable plan to a funding bill that also provided money to the families of deceased soldiers, police officers or firefighters, and the $1.4 million in pay raises are on a fast track to the governor to approve. […]
“It’s just outrageously ludicrous. To hang their pay increase, and it is theirs, on to a bill that has line-of-duty pay for the loss of our sons and daughters in Illinois is just outrageous,” said Jim Frazier, a St. Charles resident whose son Jacob, a member of the Illinois Air National Guard, died while on duty in Afghanistan in 2003.
The program Frazier cited provides survivors of Illinois military members who died while serving in Afghanistan or Iraq payments of $283,130. The funding bill contains $7.7 million for that program.
The idea is to make it politically unpalatable to vote against the pay raises. If a legislator votes “No,” then he or she could be blasted in the upcoming election for voting against the survivor benefits. It is also designed to provide cover for members, who can say that they had no choice in the pay raise matter because they wanted to help out those survivors.
But attaching their salary boost to this particular issue is more than a little reprehensible. Yes, it’s all part of the supplemental funding bill, but this move ought to have some consequences. Considering the way the map was drawn and the likely high Democratic turnout in next year’s presidential race, however, it probably won’t mean all that much.
*** The Sen. Mike Jacobs interview claiming that the governor threatened to run someone against him in the next election and made other threats is below. It’s a must-listen. ***
OK, here it is. The file crashed my server. I used more bandwidth today than in all of May. They had to move it to another server because it was so popular. Thanks to the fine folks at Microchip Computer Solutions for taking the time to help…
*** Raw video of CBS2’s interview can be found by clicking here.***
*** And Animal Farm has the transcript of the audio file above. ***
———————————————
* 11:17am - The most prevalent rumor at the Statehouse right now is that Gov. Rod Blagojevich will call the General Assembly back this weekend for a special session.
Out-of-towners are especially concerned because hotel check-out time is at noon and they need to know what to do. I’m getting bombarded with e-mails, instant messages, text messages and calls asking what’s going on.
Unfortunately, I can’t give you a definitive answer yet because no decision has reportedly been made at this moment. I can say that a trusted source says a weekend session is unlikely but not 100 percent out of the question.
Sorry that I couldn’t be more helpful. I guess you could always check back into your rooms if a decision is made.
Meanwhile, let’s all keep our fingers crossed, tap our heels together, close our eyes and say in unison: “There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home.”
Hey, it can’t hurt.
* 11:33am - I should also point out that last night Senate President Emil Jones said they would likely go home for the weekend unless the Republicans don’t cooperate. If the Republicans made trouble, he said, then he would keep everyone in. As usual, nobody knew whether he was completely joking or not.
*** UPDATE 1 *** 11:50 am - The Senate has a new amendment to SB5, which takes out the effective date. SB5 is the governor’s health insurance program.
Last night, an amendment with the substance of the package fell a vote short of 30, which was an embarrassment for the governor.
*** UPDATE 2 *** 12:05pm - I guess I should add that this new amendment means the bill only requires 30 votes to pass instead of an extraordinary majority. If the bill becomes law, it won’t take effect until June 30 of next year.
The guv’s people thought they had 30 votes to pass the amendment last night, but at least one SDem flipped very late and voted against the amendment. If that Senator is back on board, then they may very well have the 30 votes to send this to the House.
*** UPDATE 3 *** 12:10pm - The House has adjourned until Tuesday.
*** UPDATE 4 *** 12:30pm - The governor’s office has told Speaker Madigan’s office that no special session is planned. So that’s good news, but I get the impression that they’re not holding their breath. Trust is at a premium right now.
*** UPDATE 5 *** 12:49pm - I’m hearing that the governor is putting extreme pressure on Sen. Mike Jacobs to get him to switch positions and vote for Blagojevich’s health insurance bill. Sources say that the governor was very intense during the “loud” meeting and threats were allegedly made to run someone against Jacobs in the next election. Oy.
Jacobs initially agreed to vote for the health insurance bill yesterday, but reportedly changed his mind when he came to the conclusion that he couldn’t trust the governor to keep the promise he made. The governor reportedly offered to release $75 million for a college expansion in Jacobs’ district in exchange for his vote on SB5.
Jacobs is expected to talk about the meetings either on the floor during debate or with reporters later.
I don’t think from what I’ve heard that the gubernatorial pressure has worked so far. Now that the threat has been made to run someone against him, it would be difficult for Jacobs to go along. Stay tuned.
If you’re listening to the Senate right now and can’t figure out why they aren’t moving anything, the Jacobs situation is the likely reason.
*** UPDATE 6 *** 1:45pm - The Senate has adjourned. Looks like Jacobs withstood the pressure.
*** UPDATE 7 *** 1:47pm - Jacobs is talking to reporters. Paul will have audio up as soon as he can.
*** UPDATE 8 *** 1:58pm - Jacobs was pretty heated in his remarks. We’ll get the audio up as soon as we can.
*** UPDATE 9 *** 2:28pm - Wow. Just wow. You really should listen to this audio…
[The audio file is up at the top.]
According to Jacobs, the governor said he would “wreck my political career.” Jacobs also claimed the governor’s office called his local university president to say he had just forfeited a $14 million state grant that Jacobs obtained for the school last year.
“He acted like a spoiled child who wasn’t willing to compromise on anything.” “I’ll be darned if I’m going to let anyone run over me.” “If he wants to play this game, I’ll play it with him.” “This governor of Illinois has done a terrible job.”
“I’ve been around long enough to know when someone is shaking me down.”
“If this governor would have been in East Moline, Illinois in one of my local taverns I would have kicked his tail end.”
“He blew up like a ten year old child.”
“There was a lot of profanity involved.”
“The governor [was] doubling his fist and acting like he wanted to punch me.”
“If the governor of Illinois wants open warfare with me, that’s his goal? Come at it, son. Come at it.”
“If he wants a fight, I’ll fight him.”
“I’ve been around this game a long time, and I’ve never had anybody ever speak to me in that manner.”
“A governor of Illinois should have higher ethical standards.”
[I think his anger got the better of him when he got to this point.] “The governor told me that he’s going to run people against me, well I’ve got news for the governor of Illinois. This Senator is going to run against Gov. Rod Blagojevich.”
*** UPDATE 10 *** 3:12pm - From Rebecca Rausch, the governor’s spokesperson…
“Senator Jacobs wanted a commitment of a $75 million project in his district in exchange for his vote to provide healthcare for everyone. The Governor refused.”
*** UPDATE 11 *** 3:53pm - Small Newspapers has its story up…
A furious Sen. Mike Jacobs said Friday he’ll run against Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who he says tried to strong-arm him into voting for the administration’s universal health care plan and threatened to destroy his political career if he didn’t.
“I’ve been around long enough to know when someone is shaking me down,” the East Moline Democrat said. […]
Sen. Jacobs’ accusations were just the most sensational example of the frustration in Springfield over Democrats’ failure to pass a state budget. The budget has been complicated by Gov. Blagojevich’s call for a massive new program to guarantee health insurance for everyone in the state.
Gov. Blagojevich was desperate to win Sen. Jacobs’ vote for the health plan Friday. Jacobs says that when he wouldn’t agree, the governor threatened to do everything possible to throw him out of office.
A state senator complained Friday that Gov. Rod Blagojevich made unethical threats against him and that the two nearly came to blows in a disagreement over health care.
“There should never be a time when the governor of Illinois threatens someone in a political and personal manner. It’s beneath the decorum of this building,” said a visibly angry Sen. Mike Jacobs, D-East Moline. “I thought we were going to come to blows.”
A Senate committee hearing yesterday showed just how bad things are between the two parties in that chamber. Sen. Susan Garrett was trying to pass a sweeping ethics bill that would normally receive bipartisan support, but things quickly devolved…
Before the committee could take further testimony, Sen. Christine Radogno, R-Lemont, said she supported the legislation and would become a co-sponsor, “except I don’t like to participate in scams.”
It contains good ideas from both parties, Radogno said, but “we both know this is not going to become law. This is going to be exactly what’s happened for the last two years, when we swap these bills at the end of session and absolutely nothing happens - it dies in the opposite chamber.”
“So I’ll put my name on it,” Radogno said, “but just so everyone knows, it’s baloney. It’s not going to happen.”
Democratic Sens. Debbie Halvorson of Crete and Rickey Hendon of Chicago defended Garrett, with Hendon telling Republicans that Garrett has “more morals and ethical bones in her probably than the entire other side of the aisle.”
Republican Sens. J. Bradley Burzynski of Clare and Dale Righter of Mattoon complained they resented the personal attacks. Garrett then said that “I’m going to do something you’re probably not expecting me to do.”
She said she would take the bill out of the record and attempt to call it for another vote today.
Question: What solutions would you offer to help heal the partisan wounds in the “upper” chamber? Snark heavily encouraged.
* As if things weren’t bad enough already for Gov. Blagojevich, what with the session in ruins and the future of his ambitious health insurance plan in serious doubt, the feds added a cherry on top yesterday afternoon…
A former top official in Gov. Blagojevich’s administration was indicted Thursday for allegedly using his state post in a loan-fraud scheme that already ensnared gubernatorial fund-raiser Tony Rezko.
While executive director of the Illinois Finance Authority, Ali D. Ata is accused of signing a letter bearing the state agency’s name to help Rezko fraudulently secure $10 million in loans.
Federal authorities say Ata, 55, of Lemont, signed the letter at Rezko’s request to make it appear an investor had won partial state backing for a deal to acquire two groups of Rezko’s Papa John’s pizza restaurants in Chicago and Milwaukee.
* Ata was also a significant campaign contributor…
A longtime Rezko friend and business associate, he has contributed $65,000 to Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s campaign fund
* His position at the board was quite important. He was an integral prt of the governor’s big plan to reinvent government, but his legacy was mixed, to say the least. The Trib has more…
Ata was selected as the first executive director of the Illinois Finance Authority, an agency Blagojevich created by combining five statewide bonding authorities into one. The finance authority issues taxable and tax-exempt bonds and makes loans for businesses, non-profit corporations, agriculture and local government units across the state.
In 2005, Illinois Auditor General William Holland’s office said the finance authority did not have a comprehensive accounting system when it opened its doors, resulting in “numerous accounting and financial reporting problems.”
Ata left after that audit and the agency was about to give him a sweetheart consulting contract of more than $150,000 when the Chicago Sun-Times revealed the scheme and caused it to be withdrawn.
If I were a reporter or federal investigator I’d be looking very closely at those 2004 actions by the new agency. With Ata as executive director and Tony Rezko’s next door neighbor in Wilmette… David Gustman, as board chairman, the lights were all blinking red for millions of dollars in insider deals.
* There are more problems with the Senate’s gaming bill than just the fact that the notorious Shaw organization might end up with a piece of the pie. The Post-Dispatch fills us in on one aspect…
The Pennsylvania-based owners of the Argosy Casino at Alton have given Illinois politicians almost a half-million dollars in the past three years.
On Thursday, Illinois Senate leaders who got much of that money were poised to give something back: A change in state law that will let the company keep the casino, overruling state gambling regulators who’d ordered the company to sell.
Legislation filed Thursday would change state gaming law specifically for the benefit of one company: Penn National Gaming of Wyomissing, Pa., which owns the Argosy and two other Illinois casinos in Aurora and Joliet. […]
“This is the attitude of the casinos: If the (Illinois) Gaming Board doesn’t do what they want, they come to Springfield,” said Anita Bedell of the anti-gambling group Illinois Church Action on Alcohol & Addiction problems.
There’s also a provision in there that would let the riverboats off the hook for part of their forced subsidies of the horse racing industry. But instead of reducing the subsidy for the horse people, guess who is forced to pick up the tab? Go ahead, guess.
Answer: Taxpayers, of course.
* More gaming-related stories, compiled by Paul…
* Illinois session goes into overtime Senate Oks casinos
I know it may seem like I’m keying in on the clergy lately, what with all the goofy comments from preachers recently about state legislative matters. I’m not. They’re citizens like everyone else and they have the right to inject their opinions into the public debate. But when they do, they need to remember that they’re open to criticism just like everybody else in the arena.
The latest attempt by a coalition of 24 religious leaders from throughout the state to oppose casino expansion and address the needs of the poor, school children and those without health insurance started off innocuous enough..
A group of clergy appealed Thursday to lawmakers and Gov. Rod Blagojevich to act morally in drafting a state budget by adequately funding education, health care and human services.
“We must and we can do a better job,” Sen. David Koehler, D-Peoria, said at a Statehouse news conference. Koehler is a minister for a rural Stark County United Church of Christ congregation.
“We call upon our leaders to reach beyond mediocre solutions to acts of moral leadership,” said the Rev. Alexander Sharp, executive director of the Chicago-based Protestants for the Common Good. He and others in the group, Faith Leaders for Fiscal Integrity, oppose an expansion of state gambling.
But then, as always seems to be the case these days, it devolved into weirdness…
“I think the governor made a pact with the devil to get elected,” said the Rev. Larry Greenfield, executive minister of the Baptist Churches of Metro Chicago, who jokingly offered to perform an exorcism.
Somebody could make a lot of money providing media skills training to these guys. What the heck is accomplished by crud like that?
* Because the session ended so late, some of the latenight antics that I blogged about yesterday happened after most newspaper deadlines. The Sun-Times was able to get some stuff into the bottom of today’s article, however…
The Senate did not take up a bill passed late Wednesday by the House to cap property tax assessments in Cook County.
The Senate did not vote on a proposal the House passed unanimously earlier Thursday to allow telephone companies like AT&T to compete in the state’s cable television marketplace.
And in a test vote, a piece of Blagojevich’s universal health care package did not win backing from a majority of the Senate. There were 29 votes in favor, 28 against and two not voting.
In another test vote, a bid to exempt riverboat casinos from a recently passed statewide smoking ban failed in the Senate.
That disastrous health insurance vote might have led everybody’s stories if it hadn’t been taken at midnight. It’s now gonna be tough, particularly considering Mayor Daley’s newfound opposition to the proposal, to keep this thing on the table. But if you can count on one thing with this governor, it’s his dogged determination to do something about this issue, so even last night’s failure may not succeed in knocking him off his talking points.
* Despite all the failures this year, with the session laying in ruins at their feet, legislators still managed to summon the chutzpah to raise their own pay…
Late Thursday, the Senate approved a massive expansion of gambling the House has yet to consider and a supplemental spending bill that includes money for lawmaker pay raises. The supplemental spending has already passed the House, so it goes to the governor.
Normally, I refuse to comment on pay raises. Lawmakers don’t make nearly enough money for the work they usually do, so I don’t judge them on votes like that. But voting themselves a boost right before the session crashed with a loud thud was not the best message they could have sent the folks back home.
“With a majority of 37, you can’t pass a budget. You can’t do the business of the governor.You can’t get it done,” Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson (R-Greenville) said from the floor. “I think you have to be embarrassed. And I know many of you are.
“To have 37 votes and pound your chest, ‘How great we are.,” Watson continued, before having his microphone cut by the Democrats.
* And this quote indicates that the Senate Democratic leadership still overestimates what it can accomplish during the overtime…
“It [the House-approved budget plan] is a starting point,” said Sen. Donne Trotter, D-Chicago, a lead budget negotiator for the Senate Democrats. “We feel there should be more (spending) there because the people of Illinois deserve more.”
They couldn’t pass their own budget plan because they didn’t have the votes, despite holding 37 seats. I’m not sure how they think they can squeeze out more money for their priorities now that the Republicans are at the table.
But Illinois tollway officials don’t like the strings attached to the offer and are threatening to retaliate. They’re balking at a requirement that I-PASS users register with the state of Indiana to receive the toll discount — something that Illinois does not ask of Hoosiers who participate in electronic tolling and receive a 50 percent discount compared with cash tolls.
* Judge upholds decision to yank Ryan pension; more here
Blagojevich has used his executive powers to provide $15 million in grants over the past two years without approval from lawmakers. The new legislation would make the grants a formal part of state law. It would ban cloning for the purpose of creating a new human being — a process known as “reproductive cloning.” But it would allow “therapeutic cloning” to create a batch of cells for research purposes.
At present, the law permits, but does not require, teachers to “observe a brief period of silence with the participation of all the pupils therein assembled at the opening of every school day.” The law specifies that the period of silence “shall not be conducted as a religious exercise but shall be an opportunity for silent prayer or for silent reflection on the anticipated activities of the day.”
* Just after midnight, the Senate takes up SB5, which is the guv’s health insurance bill. Right now, they’re doing amendments.
* 12:15am - The actual bill won’t be called. They passed the “guts” of the proposal on an amendment, which passed with less than 30 votes (29-28). It will be tough to claim a victory on this one, even though the amendment passed.
* 12:18am - An amendment to a different bill to exempt riverboats from the smoking ban just failed.
