This just in…
Tuesday, Jul 17, 2007 - Posted by Rich Miller
* 2:35 pm - I don’t believe there’s a leaders meeting today, but this is from a letter sent by the governor to Speaker Madigan and the two GOP leaders about the impasse over a new gaming bill…
We have an important task to complete in the coming days and weeks. The people of Illinois deserve a balanced budget that meets their needs. I understand your desire to pass a capital plan. But a budget that invests in infrastructure without providing resources for education and healthcare is not an option. We must find a way to meet all of our obligations.
Tomorrow at 2:00 p.m., I will convene a leaders meeting in my office to discuss viable options for funding education. Now that you have effectively taken gaming off the table, I am asking you to take time today to consult with your caucuses and identify potential revenue sources for education that you could support without raising taxes on people. I look forward to hearing your ideas and getting negotiations back on track tomorrow.
The entire letter can be downloaded here.
* 2:45 pm - Only 1,365 signatures? Judging from comments here and elsewhere on the Intertubes, I thought they’d get more. From a press release…
Citizens to Impeach Blagojevich delivered via email today the signatures of 1,365 Illinoisans on a petition calling for House Speaker Madigan to launch an impeachment investigation of Governor Blagojevich in accordance with Section 14, Article IV of the 1970 Illinois Constitution.
The ongoing budget crisis has clearly shown that Rod Blagojevich has become to Illinois what Gray Davis was to California. Unlike the Golden State, however, Illinois has no recall provision upon which the people can act. Therefore, a group Illinoisans launched a petition website (www.impeachblago.com) in an effort to give voice to their fellow citizens who have grown frustrated with the near criminal mismanagement of the state’s finances.
* 2:48 pm - I told subscribers in a password-protected post earlier today that House Speaker Madigan and Senate President Jones were meeting today to put final touches on the electric rate agreement. Here’s more…
The proposal would spread out the consumer breaks over four years, Clayborne said, adding that negotiators had “pretty much closed” a $50 million gap since last month, when lawmakers said the utilities had agreed to a $950 million package.
Among the issues still unresolved are whether credits should be given to consumers or checks should be mailed to them, said Clayborne, who chairs the Senate Committee on Environment and Energy.
Lawmakers need to work out what parts of the package need to be voted on in legislation and what parts should be in a memorandum of understanding worked out with utility interests, Clayborne said. He said he would like to vote on a deal this week.
* 3:31 pm - The folks at Chicago Tonight say they hope to post the video soon of House Speaker Madigan’s appearance last night. It may end up here. Check the main site as well. Here are some excerpts…
Madigan: What’s happened is that the governor is not getting what he wants. He wants a 7% increase in state spending [Madigan later corrected himself and noted it was a 30 percent increase that the governor wanted].
His proposals have failed before the legislature. He really doesn’t see anywhere to go to get what he wants and so he’s resorted to name calling. And i called upon him in the past and i will call upon him again, stop the name calling. Bring people together. Join together in good faith, and try to solve these problems. Adopt a budget for the state of illinois. Many people in Illinois are very dependent upon the government of the state of Illinois. Every school district in the state gets support from the government. Those that are developmentally disabled and residents of nursing homes all depend upon support from the government of the state of illinois. They deserve to have this budget impasse solved now. We should get to work and solve our problems, not with the divisive leadership but rather the leadership which was designed to bring people together, not divide them. […]
Carol Marin: …This would be, at this stage, a pretty much do nothing legislature being wouldn’t it?
Madigan: We are very hopeful that this week we will announce rate reductions on electric service that will amount to $1 billion statewide. This is an issue where the governor has been asked, but he’s declined to participate to bring down electric rates all across the state. As far back as last fall, during the veto session, i was calling for the advancement of legislation that would freeze the rates. I passed that bill on to the house. We passed it out of the house again at the beginning of the year. Never any support from the governor. It was the advancement of rate freeze legislation which brought the utilities to the table. We have negotiated with them over several weeks and we are now prepared to announce a rate reduction plan, which will cost in excess of $1 billion. That’s $1 billion in savings for the electric ratepayers all across state of illinois. […]
Carol Marin: Do you regret being Blagojevich’s [campaign] co-chair the last time?
Madigan: No, i’m not going to regret that. I supported the Democratic nominee for governor. I’m a Democrat. I wish the governor would understand that. 37 Years of service in the House of Representatives. Always elected as a Democrat. Over 20 years as the speaker. Always elected as a Democrat.
Carol Marin: Where is this going to go? I mean, by the time we get to july 24th this will be the longest special session in history and it will be under a complete super Democratic control. What does this say about the party?
Madigan: It says that the Democratic Party is a very different element. It’s not very easy to bring it together. We will work real hard to get the job done. We hope we will get it don’t before the end of the month but, again, people have to come together and recognize that there are differences differences within the democratic party. There are differences within the state of Illinois. We need to work real hard to reconcile those differences so that we can solve this budget problem and continue to provide support to local school districts and the mentally ill, the developmentally disabled and those in nursing homes. That’s why we are here. We should get to work and get the job done and let everybody in the state go about their business.
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Caption Contest!
Tuesday, Jul 17, 2007 - Posted by Rich Miller
Everything’s so serious in comments today. Let’s lighten it up a bit…
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Congressional stuff *** Updated x1 ***
Tuesday, Jul 17, 2007 - Posted by Rich Miller
* I’ve been wondering about this for weeks, mentioned the theory in Capitol Fax and I think here as well…
But a source close to [Chicago Democratic Congressman Luiz Gutierrez] said it is not yet certain that the congressman would stick with his decision to retire. Gutierrez had flirted with the idea of challenging Mayor Richard Daley in the February election, before changing tack and giving the mayor his warm endorsement.
Now the source said Gutierrez is “giving some serious thought to running again” for his seat in the U.S. House. The recent failure of an immigration-reform plan in Washington is among the factors that could prompt a change of heart for Gutierrez, the source said.
Gutierrez did not return calls seeking comment Monday.
* Meanwhile…
State Sen. Chris Lauzen (R-Aurora), among several conservatives eyeing [Denny] Hastert’s seat, has raised about $9,000 for a potential run.
Democrat Mark Pera received more than $54,000 and lent his campaign $86,000 as he prepared a primary challenge to U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.), who raised almost $200,000, in the 3rd Congressional District on Chicago’s Southwest Side and suburbs.
* And…
• Illinois’ 8th District (Northwest Cook County — Schaumberg; parts of Lake and McHenry counties). Two-term Democratic Rep. Melissa Bean has raised more than $1 million in the first half of this year, after a second quarter in which she raised $552,000; most of the incumbent’s sum came from political action committees. Bean had $803,000 on hand on July 1 as she prepares for a 2008 campaign in which she may be opposed by Republican Steve Greenberg, who filed candidacy papers earlier this month.
• Illinois’ 10th District (North and northwest Chicago suburbs — Waukegan). This contest surely will be among the most expensive in the nation. Republican Rep. Mark Steven Kirk, a prominent GOP centrist in this politically competitive district, took in $617,000 in the second quarter, bringing his year-to-date take to $1.3 million — more than the $1 million that Kirk raised in the first six months of 2005 prior to his last contest. The Feb. 5 primary will include Dan Seals, a marketing executive who was Kirk’s 2006 Democratic opponent; he raised $251,000 in the second quarter and $264,000 since the beginning of this year. Seals does not have a clear field to a rematch, though. His primary opponent, lawyer Jay Footlik, raised $287,000 in the second quarter; Footlik served in the Clinton administration as a liaison to the American Jewish community, and his report includes donations by some former Clinton administration officials.
This is - yet another - 2008 congressional campaign open thread.
*** UPDATE *** If Congressman Gutierrez is running again, his fundraising this quarter doesn’t show it. Gutierrez raised just $10,500 this quarter and he had a bit more than $81,000 in cash on hand.
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Question of the day
Tuesday, Jul 17, 2007 - Posted by Rich Miller
I broke this story in Monday’s Capitol Fax. There’s no mention of that, of course, but here’s the setup for our QOTD…
State leaders are quietly exploring the possibility of doubling Illinois’ cigarette tax to almost $2 a pack in an effort to fund Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s universal health care plan. […]
To pay for the plan, the administration is suggesting a 3 percent tax on businesses that don’t provide health insurance to their employees. But that and other business-tax proposals have hit stiff resistance in the Legislature, and the administration has continued looking around for other funding sources that might be more palatable to lawmakers. […]
“I’m not saying it was our idea, and I don’t know that we’re ready to take a position on it,” [Blagojevich spokesperson Rebecca Rausch] said.
But others close to the negotiations say the administration has specifically brought it up recently, including a mention from Blagojevich himself while talking with lawmakers in his office late last week.
“He said something to that effect while he was rattling off a few things” that could raise money, said state Rep. Gary Hannig, D-Litchfield, a key budget negotiator for the House Democratic majority.
It was, indeed, Blagojevich who mentioned the idea.
Question: Could you support a dollar a pack increase on cigarettes to help fund the governor’s health insurance program, as an alternative to the proposed 3 percent payroll tax on businesses that don’t currently provide coverage? Explain.
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* As I pointed out in today’s Capitol Fax, Sen. Barack Obama’s advice to the deadlocked Statehouse crowd looks very familiar…
“The problem, my sense is, is that everybody was trying to take too big a bite this year,” Obama said after marching with striking workers outside a downtown Chicago hotel. […]
“My advice would be to come together and recognize not everybody’s gonna get everything they want but it’s still possible to craft a budget that takes care of the basics - that transportation is adequately funded, that we are making some expansion of the health care system particularly when it comes to covering kids, that there … is an infusion of education dollars so that schools at least aren’t falling behind but are moving forward,” Obama said.
A former state senator from Chicago, Obama also questioned the wisdom of a major gambling expansion to fill budget gaps and pay for things that “we should be willing to pay for out of our tax dollars.
Obama’s observation that “everybody was trying to take too big a bite this year,” the modest compromises he suggests and the reticence to approve gaming expansion sure sounds more like Michael Madigan than Emil Jones, his self-described political mentor.
* Meanwhile, to illustrate my point, here’s the latest from the gaming talks…
House Speaker Michael Madigan said Monday that no gambling expansion will emerge from the General Assembly because of a disagreement over how the money should be used, a setback to lawmakers hoping gambling money would help resolve the budget impasse. […]
“Based on this meeting, there’s a lack of an agreement,” Madigan said. “That means there won’t be a gaming bill.” […]
The gambling meeting ended abruptly when Madigan, Cross and Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson (R-Greenville) made it clear that gambling revenues should be used only for capital projects, prompting Jones to say the meeting should be shut down if that restriction is put on the money, said Rep. Robert Molaro (D-Chicago).
* A few more session-related items, compiled by Paul…
* Illinois budget talks losing steam
* Duncan: CPS needs state funds
* Tax hike may be urged for Chicago schools
* Editorial: Governor in a different world
* Editorial: Let’s make money off state sideshow
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* This could cause quite a bit of hilarity next week…
More than 100 religious leaders from the Chicago area are threatening to take over the Illinois legislature if lawmakers fail to pass a state budget in the next week. The potential protestors say they will storm the capitol and occupy every seat in the Illinois House. […]
“We are prepared to take our complete delegation to the capital to take over,” said Rev. Ira Acree, Ministers Alliance.
The budget battle in Springfield escalated Monday as more than 100 activist ministers claiming to represent 500,000 parishioners threatened to take over the Illinois House in Springfield next Monday, sit in the lawmakers chairs and vote on a symbolic budget with more money for education, health care and mass transit if Governor Blagojevich and the other elected officials can’t agree on a real budget by then.
“Since we have elected officials down there fighting, we are going to say enough is enough. People are suffering, because folks want to play politics,” said Rev. Roosevelt Watkins, Ministers Alliance.
“You have seven days to get it together. Seven days,” said Rev. Steve Jones, Ministers Alliance.
* More…
Rev. Steve Jones, President of the Baptist Pastors Conference, says ministers by the bus-load will descend on Springfield next Monday if no budget is passed by then, and he says they’ll take over the House Chamber and try to pass their own budget:
* If you use the Google on all the names mentioned in the stories you’ll see that every one of the ministers endorsed Gov. Blagojevich’s health insurance proposal. Interesting, that. I can’t help but wonder whether the governor was behind this stunt. I also wonder how the House will react when the ministers show up next week. Should be fun.
In addition, Rev. Watkins co-founded the Ministerial Alliance Against the Digital Divide. The group’s name was apparently shortened in the story. MAADD, which never answered an e-mail or a phone message I left with it several weeks ago, has been shilling for AT&T’s effort to open up cable competition.
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Morning Shorts
Tuesday, Jul 17, 2007 - Posted by Paul Richardson
* Sun-Times Editorial: Let ‘green’ idea ripen
* Eric Zorn: Blago’s makeup bill just dandy
* Crystal Lake woman at center of governor’s makeup controversy
* Some state facilities in disrepair, documents show
While Illinois lawmakers and Gov. Rod Blagojevich haggle over a spending plan for the coming year, documents show some state facilities are literally falling apart.
From leaky roofs to broken air conditioning systems, state documents show that bureaucrats are spending millions of dollars to try and stay one step ahead of the deterioration.
* IlliniPundit: Illinois flash index increases
* Could Obama end centuries of corruption?
Dufendach says publicly funded election campaigns would end most of politicians’ questionable ethics. She strongly supports the nonpartisan Fair Elections Now Act co-sponsored by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) to reform campaign financing.
Yes, it is a good start (especially when one observes how often Obama is forced to step off the campaign trail to attend fund-raisers). Obama’s ethics proposals are praiseworthy. But I guess I’ve lived in scandal-ridden Illinois for too long — I think there are some in Congress who don’t really have an appetite for righteousness. I guess I am what Obama calls a cynic, but I laud his efforts. If at first you don’t succeed…
* Ald. Flores ahead in campaign for cash
* Cheryl Reed: Progressive voice of reason and passion reflect city strength
* Daley endorses public assistance to newly merged exchange; more here
* City remains mum on police complaints; more here
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