Will it be a boom or a thud?
Thursday, Jan 17, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Mark Brown puts legislators on notice…
Gov. Blagojevich’s out-of-the-blue maneuver to hold up the mass transit funding legislation until he gets his free rides for senior citizens was sneaky, brazen, silly, selfish, reckless, manipulative, disingenuous and downright cynical. […]
What you may not have considered is that if the Illinois Legislature fails today to give its final go-ahead to the transit bill by approving the governor’s proposed changes, it won’t necessarily be Blagojevich’s fault. […]
After voting for the measure last week, there is no good excuse why any legislator would take a powder when it comes back before them today.
I say that with the hope of putting them all on notice. Legislators are often made to feel like anonymous fish in the sea while toiling under the Capitol dome, but if anybody from the Chicago area pulls back from this bill now, I can pretty much guarantee they will be identified and made famous for their foolishness. It’s not so difficult to study a roll call and find the rats.
He’s mostly right. Legislators just need to put away their Rod hate, hold their noses, and keep the system running.
* But silly and unnecessary stunts like trucking in a crowd of ringers to yesterday’s House Transit Committee hearing just underscores what sort of a game-player the governor is and will always be…
Angry transit advocates turned out in full throat for the two-hour hearing in a hot meeting room at the James R. Thompson Center. They carried signs that read “Vote yes for seniors and mass transit” and “No Service Cuts!”
They loudly booed any legislator who expressed disapproval of the measure
* Even so, some Downstate Senators in both parties are reconsidering their votes from last week, not wanting to alienate seniors in their districts…
Some central Illinois lawmakers who voted against a Chicago-area mass transit funding bill last week may have changed their minds now that free bus rides for seniors have been added. […]
“I probably would vote for it,” said Sen. Larry Bomke, R-Springfield, who voted against House Bill 656 last week. […]
“I was conflicted the last time we voted. The bill is a good bill for downstate,” [Sen. Dave Koehler, D-Peoria] said. “My inclination is to support it (now). I won’t make a firm commitment until I’ve talked to other Democrats.” […]
“I think our opportunity to do capital was last week,” [Sen. John Sullivan, D-Rushville] said. “To me, this is a different issue. Everybody is going to have to make their own decision on it.”
* The House is where the real problem is right now. And a trailer bill could help ease its way through…
But members of the House committee also discussed plans to introduce a separate trailer bill today that would only provide free rides to low-income seniors and people with disabilities.
The trailer bill, if it passes, would allow the General Assembly to put caps on the governor’s plan to give seniors free rides without jeopardizing a transit funding bill that would avert Jan. 20 service cuts and fare hikes at the CTA and Pace by raising the sales tax in Cook and the collar counties.
* But the 2nd Floor has problems with the idea…
Blagojevich spokeswoman Abby Ottenhoff said the governor supports giving free rides to people with disabilities, but said the Circuit Breaker proposal adds unnecessary hurdles.
“It seems to make more sense to use the existing reduced fare card system that the RTA has in place,” Ottenhoff said. “It’s less complicated, it helps more people and that’s why the governor included that language in the amendatory veto.”
If they don’t come up with an alternative, there will be a huge uproar today. Should be fun to watch. The show starts at 11 o’clock.
* Here are a couple more stories…
* Rod Blagojevich: This time we can get what we need — with compromise
* Analysts disagree on effect of governor’s recent support of increase
- Commonsense in Illinois - Thursday, Jan 17, 08 @ 10:06 am:
So the governor is touting his life lessons learned from the Rolling Stones? Well, Jumpin’ Jack Flash…
- Justice - Thursday, Jan 17, 08 @ 10:10 am:
I think most senior citizens, self included, would rather the fare be reduced to all instead of giving us a free ride. If a senior is still working out of need, then by all means help them, but that can be said of all our working poor. Don’t try and sell a solution by using the seniors. We are all in this together and all need to shoulder the burden. Blagojevich is a uninformed and disingenuous person as far as I’m concerned. The man has no character what-so-ever and will use any one or any group to play off on someone else. He is an embarrassment as a man and most certainly as a governor! And yes, you can quote me on that!
- JJ - Thursday, Jan 17, 08 @ 10:18 am:
Rich, just want to be frank about something -
I think it is a good idea to limit the free rides generally to those with more modest means.
Here’s the problem: Any bureaucrat will tell you that it is a huge, long, messy, and difficult process to collect and verify income. That is probably especially true for seniors who don’t all have to file income taxes in Illinois.
So, if you have the transit agencies do the income verification, I am guessing it would cost millions of dollars to set up and run an income verification operation for hundreds of thousands of seniors.
Even with circuit breaker, where they already do income verification, you are going to see all kinds of seniors having to go through the circuit breaker process just to get their free pass.
That does seem to be a hassle given the difficult of the circuit breaker application process.
Plus, with hundreds of thousands more seniors flocking into circuit breaker, how much is that going to cost the state?
Like I said, I like the idea of keeping millionaires off the free-ride dole. But I just don’t know if you are saving any money by doing this.
It is such a low-cost benefit that it doesn’t seem to be worth the amount of money the state would have to spend on it.
That’s just my two cents from my experience in government in a related field.
- lake county democrat - Thursday, Jan 17, 08 @ 10:19 am:
Oh Gawd, is the free senior ride that bad of a compromise between the legislative and executive branch? I think the “trailer” idea would be better and you could easily argue that this process produced a pretty good bill. And as Brown notes, the CTA/RTA kept some wiggle room in the budget anyway — is free seniors rides (trailer or no) such a bad use for that? To quote Mayor Torture, just pass the thing!
- Levois - Thursday, Jan 17, 08 @ 10:20 am:
Well I wish I knew what to say. His sleight of hand was slick but it’s still slick and very disingenous. He has to play hero, the fact that transit bailout legislation was coming down to the wire underscores that. What’s unfortunate or maybe fortunate to somebody is that he just might win this round. And let him because if it fails it’ll be a big problem if CTA is forced to raise fares and cut services.
- Garp - Thursday, Jan 17, 08 @ 10:31 am:
Mark Brown is incorrect. If the bill fails it will be the Governor’s fault. His amendment made this bad law and a legislature should not be blamed for not voting for bad law. They should send this right back to him the way they found it and let him decide to kill it. Free rides for seniors should be a seperate bill that needs discussion and planning.
- anon - Thursday, Jan 17, 08 @ 10:32 am:
I think with recent antics, and I were the legislature, I would pass a budget as early as possible in the session this spring, to let the veto process play out before May 31. I cannot imagine too many gubernatorial initiatives getting getting favorable votes, but the last word will go to the body with more time to burn.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Jan 17, 08 @ 10:33 am:
If you’re gonna insult Brown, at the very least explain why you disagree with what he said. I’m already deleting some comments. More to come if it doesn’t stop.
- R U Kidding? - Thursday, Jan 17, 08 @ 10:51 am:
“Holding ones nose” and “Blagojevich” go hand in hand, so to speak, no?
- Bill - Thursday, Jan 17, 08 @ 10:56 am:
The Governor improved what he considered a bad bill by mitigating the adverse effects on one easily identified group. Trying to alleviate the hardships perpetated on seniors by the GA’s insistence on raising taxes hardly gives the legislature an excuse to kill the bill. Its the bill they wanted despite the existence an attractive alternative that they rejected. They can always blame the Governor if the bill fails. Everybody blames him for everything. This time I don’t think that will fly with their constituients. Just hold your nose pass the thing. Quit screwing around.
- Snidely Whiplash - Thursday, Jan 17, 08 @ 11:06 am:
Ok, my post on Brown’s dubious political and governmental expertise was deleted, so I’ll state what is obvious just from the experpt you’ve posted, Rich. First, Brown rips Blago to shreds for messing with the bill and criticizes what he did to it, yet in the same column he arrogantly puts legislators “on notice” that he will expose anyone who votes AGAINST the amended bill he just tore to shreds as “rats.”
Really? So, we should teach Blago that he can use an “amendatory veto” to put his vote pandering mark on any bill he’d like, and the legislature will reward him for it? Because Mark Brown says so? I think he also shows some naivete in accepting the cost of free senior rides at $30M. That’s likely only an estimate based on currently-issued senior reduced fare cards.
That doesn’t count the hordes of senior homeless who couldn’t get such cards and will basicly live on the trains after this. This doesn’t count the ones who don’t take it now, but just can’t turn their nose at a freebie. This doesn’t count governmental agencies’ abominable track record of grossly underestimating costs.
And, to top it all off, it’s just not right. If your leg is broken, do you want it set right now, even if it’s be set by a vet’s assistant, or will you wait a while longer, so that a qualified specialist can do it correctly, and you will not be crippled in the long run?
This matter is too important to just bandaid, and you can bet no one wants it to come up again for a very long time. This solution is one we will be stuck with for several years. Let’s not just do it — let’s do it RIGHT!
- Ghost - Thursday, Jan 17, 08 @ 11:30 am:
I think this is all a tempest in a tea kettle. A number of people are annoyed with the gov and want to vent to the media, but there is no way this won’t pass. I’d stake Rich’s money on it.
- The Curmudgeon - Thursday, Jan 17, 08 @ 11:42 am:
I truly wish all those who voted against the bailout in the first place would join hands with those who voted for it and override the Governor’s amendatory veto.
The message from the legislature announcing the override could be accompanied by an elementary school level book on Civics for our beloved Governor. Is there a “Civics for Dummies” book in that series?
What Blago has done here (”improving” the bailout legislation) perverts both the amendatory veto and the legislative process. Sadly, no one seems to notice — wouldn’t you think that at least one elected official would remember that oath about upholding the Constitution, wouldn’t you?
- Pandering - Thursday, Jan 17, 08 @ 11:53 am:
Will we now see a rise in the number of people claiming they have a disability? Will people start getting fake IDs claiming they’re 65?
I know many many people with disabilities who do not want to be thought of as not being like other people…yet here the governor specifically targets them and is making them stand out…class act.
- taxactivist - Thursday, Jan 17, 08 @ 11:59 am:
Obama and Clinton are talking about economic stimulus packages with tax incentives and rebates to help our economy by putting more money into the hands of the middle and lower classes. Madigan, Blago, Jones and the Chicago machine are doing the opposite by raising taxes and taking more money out of the economy and away from the middle and lower classes.
Can someone please ask Madigan, Blago, and Jones if they support Obama’s economic stimulus package, and if so, why they are negating any possible good effects that might have?
Then, can someone ask Obama if he supports these tax increases in his home state where the people he is suppose to represent live, when they will negate any positive effects his economic stimulus package might create?
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Jan 17, 08 @ 12:00 pm:
taxactivist, a quarter point will negate a federal economic stimulus?
- taxactivist - Thursday, Jan 17, 08 @ 12:23 pm:
… and Chicago’s tax increases with Cook County’s to come soon, and don’t forget about the fare hikes, and higher utility rates without any utility tax relief. I should’ve added the Chicago machine to the 1st question.
- Transit Watcher - Thursday, Jan 17, 08 @ 12:31 pm:
There’s a potential problem with the trailer that the politicos are ignoring. Much of the money for downstate rural transit districts comes from federal funds for the handicapped and seniors.
If the state decides this should be free, there’s no reason for the feds to fund it. If the feds pull the funds that will cause major problems with the rural mass transit districts.
Somebody needs to start talking to these people before lawmakers run the bus off a cliff.
The governor’s amendatory veto won’t cause most of the districts too great a problem, but if the lawmakers go farther then the law of unintended consequences may override the politicians’ good intentions.
- WARDOG - Thursday, Jan 17, 08 @ 1:00 pm:
Two areas that are taboo to mess around with are Seniors and Veterans issues, very dangerous!! Also, if you want to take care of the tax problems for federal and state simply implement and pass the Fair Tax. Rich–I have been wondering around at a few of the primary sites(Iowa, Michigan for example) and hear quite a bit of talk about the Fair Tax issue. To some candidates they won’t even talk about or avoid answering any questions about it, exception Huckabee. Just thought you would like to know.
- Interesting - Thursday, Jan 17, 08 @ 1:08 pm:
What does the second floor think of this?
Gov. Blagojevich’s wife, Patti, made more than $50,000 in real estate commissions through a client who bought, then resold, a home from a development firm that donated money to the governor’s campaign and includes political power broker William F. Cellini.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Jan 17, 08 @ 1:09 pm:
That’s such a stretch. How many degrees of separation do we have to go through before it’s no longer a story?
Paging Kevin Bacon!
- Keef - Thursday, Jan 17, 08 @ 1:14 pm:
Rod has dropped Elvis quotes for Rolling Stones? Well, I think a more accurate choice of song for Rod’s Editorial letter would have been “Sympathy For The Devil”. He’s practically turned Springfield into Altamont already. It must be hell.
Rod, Since your close adviser was felled by the tumbling dice, we think perhaps you’ve had your 19th nervous breakdown over Tony and Mahajan being Mother’s Little Helper. Still you ain’t too proud to beg for more campaign contributions, you’re All Sold Out.
Any Way You look At It illinois is Always Suffering,
Your complain you can’t always get what you want but You’re a fool to cry.
Before They make me Run, let me say this:
According to the polls, Illinois thinks re-electing you was the Biggest Mistake. The party is fractured by your shennanigans as Blue Turns to Grey. Seems like only an indictment can Break The Spell, then it’s Bye bye Johnny. For your capitol bill there will be no casino boogie, says Madigan, who says Don’t Bother Me and would like to send you dead flowers, along with Dick Mell. Then again, you are waiting to see what happens from the feds when the whip comes down.
You’re Down In The Hole. And it’s because when people ask you to stop campaigning and asking donors: Did everybody pay their dues? your answer is: Do You Think I Really Care? No progress gets made here until you got the silver.
We hate your grandstanding tactics, you think you’re a King Bee. You frame every issue like you’re coming to our Emotional Rescue. But when we ask for details, you say take it or leave it and just give us your far-away eyes and get defensive and tangential. Your mean disposition turns us off.
Now you’re getting off your cloud and taking flight 505 back to Chicago under cover of the night because you are going to a go-go with Hanna Montana instead of working.
Good times, bad times, you know we’ve had our share, but mostly the latter under your poor stewardship. We’ve had it with you. Your heart’s for sale to any lobbyist for any amount. How many times do we have to tell you. If you really want to be my friend, stop goofing off and do your job.
“He’s never down here”, is the refrain. People in Springfield say they just want to see his face, maybe he can balance a budget but Rod says let it bleed. Look what you’ve done.
George Ryan is singing “Oh, not you again”. And “I’m just waiting for a friend”.
Well, no use crying. Mel’s prodigal son is pretty beat up. You’re no longer respectable. And you’re still a fool to try to rip off the state like a thief in the night. You are too rude to Madigan. Try a little harder to be a statesman and compromise. Yesterday’s papers ask Who’s been sleeping here at the mansion? They left the water running.
I’d like it if you could walk and don’t look back.
Well, you can’t say we never tried.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Jan 17, 08 @ 1:15 pm:
Keef, that was brilliant.
- Ghost - Thursday, Jan 17, 08 @ 2:19 pm:
Thanks to Fritchey we get both a thud then a boom!
I have to give him points for letting us have our cake and eat it too
- Squideshi - Thursday, Jan 17, 08 @ 3:19 pm:
Doesn’t “trucking in ringers” constitute lobbying for a position in a matter of public policy?
- Ivote - Thursday, Jan 17, 08 @ 8:55 pm:
I am FLABBERGATED at the article by Rod in todays State J-R. Did he just today find the word “compromise” in the dictionary? What a GREAT idea, Rod! Apparently, the word never came up in grade school, high school college or law school government classes? Well congatulations! You’ve found a NEW word, and a NEW idea. Study it—it could serve you well in this, your final term, as Governor!