* Governor Blagojevich: “The General Assembly sent me a pile of horse manure to solve the CTA, and I see a pony in that by giving every senior citizen a free ride on buses and subway trains.”
* AP: A day after including free rides for senior citizens in the mass-transit bailout, the governor said Friday he’ll propose in his next budget that disabled people also ride without charge.
* Crain’s: Metra riders will still see a [ten percent] fare increase starting Feb. 1 regardless of any transit funding legislation that comes out of Springfield.
* Check back a bit later. Fox Chicago interviewed Speaker Madigan and they’ve asked that I share the link once it’s on their site.
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Hopefully, there will be only one day of session left in January, unless the governor gets another wild hair. Anyway, that’s it for the week. It’s been… um… interesting. But aren’t they all with Rod in charge?
* And before I go, this looks like the perfect song to sum up our week. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Chicago Transit Authority’s “I’m a man”…
I’ve got to keep my image
While I’m standing on the floor
If I drop upon my knees
It’s just to keep them on my nose
You think that I’m not human
And my heart is made of stone
But I’ve never had no problems
‘Cause my body’s pretty strong
I’m a man yes I am and I can’t help but love you so
U.S. Rep. John Shimkus says the low-pollution FutureGen power plant planned for Mattoon could be downsized and the project changed to include several sites around the country.
Shimkus, a Republican from Collinsville, told the Mattoon Journal-Gazette he’s heard the Department of Energy is considering that scenario and others to cut the project’s $1.8 billion price.
The power and coal companies developing the plant announced last month they will build in Mattoon. But the Energy Department, providing most of the money, is concerned about the cost.
Shimkus said Thursday he believes downsizing and restructuring FutureGen make it more feasible.
“I’m afraid if we go as planned, we get nothing,” Shimkus said Thursday in a phone interview with The News-Gazette.
“The DOE is scrambling for a way to do it with the current cost escalations,” Shimkus said. “Rescoping means a lot of things. I think it could mean the ability to produce more power and sell it on the grid, (or do) limited research at one site and another aspect of the research at another site.”
* Some earlier triumphalistic background from the governor’s office is here.
With all the legitimate anger over the months-long mass transit funding crisis, Chicagoans are naturally looking for someone to blame, even if the state’s leaders took a big step toward solving the crisis Thursday.
Here’s a list of those who have caused your pain.
* Mayor Daley: Loves to blame Springfield for the CTA’s budget shortfall and service problems, but appointed a political hack to run the agency (Frank Kruesi) who made a complete mess of things and alienated just about everyone at the state capital. He claims to be a top-notch big-city manager but allowed the transit system to decay almost beyond repair. If he worked as hard on fixing the CTA as he has bringing the Olympics to Chicago, there might not be a crisis.
* Gov. Blagojevich: Held the CTA bailout (and CTA riders) hostage for months so he could win passage of a long list of other priorities. Desperately tried to shift every bit of blame from himself to the General Assembly for failing to come up with a solution. Hasn’t proposed a real solution himself.
* Senate President Emil Jones: Until this week, refused to even call a CTA funding bill for a vote. Is allied with Gov. Blagojevich and has eagerly cooperated with the governor’s scheme to hold the transit money hostage for new casinos, a capital plan and expanded health coverage.
* House Speaker Michael Madigan: Battled Jones and Blagojevich every step of the way. Insisted that the CTA and RTA bailouts not be tied to anything else, which has held up progress on everything because he has not yet agreed to any resolutions of those aforementioned issues. Madigan ignored pleas from former CTA boss Kruesi a few years ago to find a way to inject more money into the transit system mainly because he personally despised Kruesi.
* Many Downstate legislators: After Chicago legislators agreed to force Chicago-based ComEd’s parent company Exelon to subsidize lower rates for Downstate Ameren’s customers, many Downstate legislators showed their gratitude by refusing to support a mass transit proposal that is funded solely by the Chicago region yet funnels millions to Downstate mass transit districts. Some are professional Chicago haters, others wanted to force Speaker Madigan to agree to a statewide capital plan. Many simply can’t understand the importance of public transit because they’ve never used public transit and don’t know anyone who has.
* Most legislative Republicans: May have tried to create even more political and governmental chaos for Democrats by refusing to support a transit bailout. Some openly welcomed a CTA “doomsday” scenario, claiming the CTA and RTA were bluffing. Reflexively believed a sales tax increase of a penny on a $4 purchase to fund an absolutely vital service is excessive taxation.
* Rank and file Chicago legislators: Perhaps the least to blame, but who are most in danger of voter retaliation during next month’s Democratic primaries. Have been slammed by millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded advertising urging them to vote for the transit bailout even though they all supported it to begin with. Have subsequently been inundated with calls, letters and e-mails from angry constituents who don’t understand that they are on the same side. They succeeded in forcing Senate President Jones and Gov. Blagojevich to drop their gamesmanship and run the bailout bill without an agreement on more casinos or anything else.
I hope this helps.
* Question: Did I miss anyone? What would you add to the column?
* Perhaps the funniest quote to come out of yesterday’s weirdness was printed in the Sun-Times…
[After the governor announced his intentions], one of the [transit] legislation’s staunchest supporters privately called the governor a “madman” and “narcissist” for providing his legislative input in the transit bill after it had passed rather than before.
Well, that’s certainly one explanation.
* More from that article…
Some said the governor’s move was driven by an all-consuming desire to one-up the wily House speaker, who has been pushing Blagojevich for months to accept a sales tax increase to deal with mass transit, knowing full well the governor would have to retreat on his earlier anti-tax pledge.
Whatever the motivation, at the end of the day, an unpopular governor battered by corruption allegations seemed exuberant over what he and his aides viewed as a potentially rare and significant legislative win — even if it came at the expense of sacrificing what once was his most significant promise to voters.
“This is a nice, happy ending to what has been a long process,” Blagojevich said. “And as the old saying goes, all’s well that ends well.”
* So, why didn’t the Senate vote on the transit measure which didn’t raise any taxes at all? The Trib explains…
Madigan sent such a bill to the Senate. But the legislation was dead on arrival, because too many lawmakers feared the state’s precarious finances would be damaged without any clear way to fill the sudden hole in the budget.
* The Senate Dems had hoped to attract more Republican votes with this new addition to the bill…
…Jones added a key provision that would give the five collar counties more flexibility in how they could spend some of their expected windfalls from the half-cent increase. It was aimed specifically at lawmakers from DuPage County, which is asking voters to support a Feb. 5 sales tax referendum proposal to pay for police and prosecutors.
They only got three SGOP votes - but they hoped to get six.
* Sen. James Clayborne explains his switch from “Present” on Wednesday to “Yes” on Thursday…
He voted for the bill Thursday, saying it would be “irresponsible to allow services to be cut in Chicago.”
“I said all along I cannot vote for one over the other,” said Halvorson, who is running for the congressional seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Jerry Weller, R-Ill. “I did not vote for the transit bill because we didn’t have a capital bill.” […]
Halvorson said she held her vote hostage to pressure lawmakers into discussing a capitol program. Her current district extends as far north as Chicago Heights, where the Chicago-area mass transit funding bill will have an impact. Yet, the congressional district which she is running in, extends farther south into areas that have little to do with Chicago transit.
Republicans fear the politically difficult, clunky legislation for a gaming expansion coming any time soon is “as likely as the Cubs winning the World Series,” as Sen. Kirk Dillard said during Senate floor debate. […]
Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson said he’s disappointed but that he would never tell his fellow lawmakers that they shouldn’t vote with their districts. But now they’re back to square one on capital. “I think we’ve lost an opportunity to make sure that capital, infrastructure would be a part of any solution here,” Watson said. “I think we’ve taken a step backwards”
* And what about the vote to accept the amendatory veto? Speaker Madigan says he supports the governor’s changes, but we don’t know yet when the GA will return to town…
Exactly when that vote will occur is uncertain as lawmakers adjourned Thursday and aren’t due back at the Capitol until next month, well after the “doomsday” deadline. Supporters said they expect a vote next week and the deal to be approved.
* The Tribune explains the costs and benefits of the governor’s first in the nation plan to allow seniors to take free rides on mass transit throughout Illinois 24/7…
Those 65 and older who make two round trips a week on the CTA could save $176 a year if lawmakers give the legislation final approval next week.
Similarly, seniors who ride Metra trains twice a week could save about $405 a year and those riding Pace buses could save $156 a year, according to the estimates.
t was also unclear Thursday how much the free rides would cost transit agencies. RTA Executive Director Steve Schlickman said the governor told transit officials the revenue loss would be $15 million. But a spokeswoman for the governor put the loss at $19 million. Rebecca Rausch said this figure was “being conservative” and that the lower figure might be more accurate in the final calculation.
Pace estimated it would lose $3 million a year, and Metra said it would lose about $8 million. The CTA would not release an estimate.
Remember, however, that they’re getting a whole lot more money out of this bailout bill, so the impact is minimal.
* The Sun-Times points out that the Champaign-Urbana mass transit district already provides free rides…
Tom Costello, assistant managing director of the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District, said the district started offering free rides to seniors six years ago as a way to cut costs on special service transit, vehicle trips for one or two people that are “incredibly expensive” to operate.
“It really created some level of mobility for seniors in town,” he said.
* I posted this yesterday, but I’ll do it again because it was buried under a whole lot of stuff. Here’s the explanation from the governor’s office on how much this plan will cost Downstate transit districts…
The bill that passed includes $50 million for downstate transit systems. The Governor’s amendatory veto will allow seniors anywhere in the state to ride for free. The total statewide cost of this change is approximately $20 million. The approximate cost for downstate transit (collectively) is about $1 million. So, $50 minus $1 million the cost of the program means downstate transit is still getting $49 million.
There are some slightly higher estimates out there, but these transit systems are getting free money from Chicago-area taxpayers, so they can hardly complain.
“Paying the 50-cent fare, that’s not a big deal with me,” she said as she stood on Fifth Street, waiting to board a bus. “But for some people, it is. I think the free fares for seniors is a great idea.” […]
“My 89-year-old aunt just moved in with me from up in the Chicago area,” she said. “We are looking forward to nice weather. The bus stop is only half a block from my house. My aunt’s in a wheelchair, and we can use the bus. That will be great.”
Sen. Christine Radogno (R-Lemont) called the idea of giving seniors free rides ridiculous without establishing some income limits or other minimum qualifications. She suggested the plan would allow a 66-year-old partner in a prestigious law firm to ride free but require a fare from a “poor working mother struggling to get to work.”
* This deserves its own post. It’s Gov. Blagojevich’s answer to a reporter’s question about how he came up with the idea to give senior citizens free rides on mass transit in exchange for breaking his campaign promise to veto every tax increase on “people.” The statement is hilarious…
“You know it’s interesting. It’s funny how these ideas come up.
“I was reading a book not long ago about Ronald Reagan’s summit with Mikhail Gorbachev and how it began a whole process of nuclear arms reductions and it was a historic second term for president Reagan in reducing the nuclear arsenal between the Soviet Union and the United States and ironic that Ronald Reagan, who several years before had declared that the Soviet Union was an evil empire, that they were the source of all that was wrong in the world, that they reserved to themselves the right to lie and cheat and all the rest that Reagan said back then.
“But then, as I was reading on, what I thought was very interesting was that he, in spite of what the state department and professional diplomats were telling him, decided to write a personal note to the Russian leadership about how he wanted to bring about dialogue and how fearful he was about the possibility of nuclear war between two powerful countries. And he had an idea to discuss that with them and he had an idea that was called star wars that ultimately didn’t get of the ground but an idea that was taken very seriously that actually led to those discussions and it was his idea, not the experts but his.
“So I thought about that and then I thought about real life circumstances, people who take public transportation, thought about my own background growing up with a mother who was a ticket agent for the CTA, thought about the story I just said about my dad when he was a senior citizen and envisioned the possibility that we could find ourselves where this was the only option I had as we approached the precipice of a scenario where there would be drastic service cuts and fare increases, and I thought why not then see what you can do, as I said, turn a lemon into lemonade and make it better, and the idea for seniors came up and that’s where it began and it’s been an idea that I’ve had since before Thanksgiving and one that we are really happy now to have a chance to be able to execute and implement.”
* If the governor continues to play games with JCAR, we’re going to see a whole lot more stories about this topic…
Confusion over the state’s new smoking ban may force lawmakers to take up the issue again, said the suburban lawmaker who sponsored it.
A state legislative panel rejected Wednesday several enforcement provisions proposed by the Illinois Department of Public Health. Those on the panel said the proposed rules were confusing or didn’t address concerns about how the ban should be enforced and citations handled. […]
State Sen. Terry Link, a Waukegan Democrat and the ban’s sponsor, said Thursday the full General Assembly might have to get involved again.
“We’re going to be introducing some follow-up on those concerns, that way … it’ll be as clear as clear can be,” said Link.
Legislators are increasingly frustrated with the governor’s excessive power grabs and, as I’ve said before, will likely want to write far more details into their bills to prevent the governor from implementing whatever rules he wants. They could even go back and try to change some statutes to stop him from promulgating new rules as he sees fit.
This is a real mess, and is a direct result of a governor who obviously rejects the notion of co-equal branches of government. Remind you of anyone?
McHenry County Republican Party Chairman Bill LeFew’s anonymous mailing of a newspaper column criticizing the incumbent state’s attorney has prompted a longtime precinct committeeman to call for his resignation.
In an e-mail sent Wednesday evening to party central committee members, Nunda Township precinct committeeman Bernie Narusis lashed out at LeFew, accusing him of political dirty tricks for mailing GOP voters a Daily Herald opinion column criticizing State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi’s $60,000 in office expenses.
