*** 3:57 pm *** Just in time for a special session, constant Blagojevich critic Rep. Jack Franks has sent out a brand new press release…
Statement from Rep. Franks, “The Legislature Should Consider Convening a Committee to Investigate Evidence for Articles of Impeachment against the Governor”
For decades, Illinois governors have been making hard choices when it comes to the state budget. The difference between our current governor and his predecessors is his attitude toward the process. This is all a game to Blagojevich. He refuses to do his job and has now opened the door for impeachment.
Today, the Governor called for a July 9th special session for the General Assembly to return to Springfield to vote for initiatives that have already failed in the Legislature. He made no changes to his proposals which failed so miserably last year but now expects the General Assembly to come back for another overtime session, where a much larger three-fifth’s majority is required, to vote on the same exact measures.
The Governor’s proposal to sell or lease the Illinois lottery failed by a whopping 7 to 97 vote in the Illinois House last year. The bill failed because it is not sound public policy to lease a $30 billion revenue generating asset for a one-time $7 billion dollar payout. We must question the Governor’s motives for pushing the lottery leasing scheme so adamantly. He continues to advocate for the privatization of the state lottery but refuses to sign pay-to-play legislation that would bar his cronies from enriching themselves from the sale or lease of state assets.
Blagojevich also continues to pressure legislators to pass a capital bill but has made no effort to make any serious proposal. The Governor changed his estimate for the cost of a capital bill from $27 billion to $34 billion in the span of one week. He refuses to give a line-itemed account of what the $34 billion would be spent on. Essentially, the Governor is asking the state to write him a $34 billion blank check. With his long history of using state money to line the pockets of his supporters, can we really trust Blagojevich to administer a capital program without any accountability?
Instead of working on a compromise that will create real solutions for Illinois citizens, the Governor is instead trying to scare Illinois families and state workers. He has repeatedly threatened shut downs and halted some important projects that provide thousands of Illinoisans with jobs. The Governor is using front-line workers who provide vital services throughout the state as a human shield to guard him from compromise. The projected budget shortfall for this year is only about 2.5% of the total budget. Governors before him have made tough choices when it came to the budget. This Governor is squandering a perfect opportunity to cut wasteful spending.
During these hard economic times, the Governor has threatened to put at risk Illinois front-line workers, the disabled, our schools and social service providers. The Governor makes so many threats because he cannot lead. Blagojevich is incapable of doing his job. These special sessions are a game to the Governor. I will ask Speaker Madigan today to create a committee to investigate whether there is enough evidence to proceed with articles of impeachment against Governor Blagojevich.
* 10:52 am - As of yesterday, the governor was planning to call the General Assembly back next week for a special session. Plans often change up there on the 16th Floor, so this is not a sure thing yet, but that’s the word handed down from on-high as of now.
Kevin will be at the governor’s noon press conference, so we’ll know more then.
* 12:09 pm - Reporters were led into a conference room a few minutes ago, so the presser should be starting within the half hour.
*** 12:17 pm *** From the press release…
On July 9th, the governor will convene a special session of the General Assembly to address the revenue bills necessary to balance the budget, including the Illinois Works capital plan which will put 600,000 Illinoisans to work, and to pass a fund transfer legisltion that would free up $530 million…
*** 12:21 pm *** More from the release…
If the House does not act on July 9th, the governor will issue a second proclamation for July 10 to take action on any budget balancing steps he must take…
*** 12:26 pm *** No mention was made of the pension obligation bond. Interesting.
*** 12:29 pm *** Quotes from governor during presser…
“I want to reiterate my call to the House Democratic leadership to be straight with the public on a tax increase…
“The House shouldn’t do what the Cook County Board did - get elected and then sock it to the public with a tax increase…
“I call on Speaker Madigan to pledge to the public that he won’t raise income taxes.”
*** 12:40 pm *** Press conference is over. More info in a bit.
*** 12:42 pm *** The full press release can be viewed by clicking here.
*** 12:47 pm *** The reason given for not including the pension obligation bond was that the governor’s office called a couple of dozen House members who said they could support the capital bill and the fund transfers, but not the pension proposal. But that was worth a big bunch of money, so this is quite a bit of grandstanding because his “new” budget has an even bigger hole.
*** 2:57 pm *** The governor told reporters that he will keep Amtrak funding level with last fiscal year’s funding instead of slashing its entire appropriation, which was originally threatened.
Instead, he said, elected officials’ budgets (he hinted at the Secretary of State’s budget) would be cut.
“We’ll be in Springfield next week. But the defects in the revenue bills are still the defects. I don’t know there’s any more support for this stuff than there was,” Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said.
Blagojevich also warned voters that Madigan might be setting up the passage of a statewide income-tax increase after the November election or early next year. […]
Brown, Madigan’s spokesman, responded that House Democrats ruled out an income-tax hike “a long time ago.”
The governor also wants the House and Senate to address a “drafting error” in one of the budget bills awaiting his approval that caused the administration to idle 39 ongoing projects throughout the state.
Brown disputed that the language was inserted in error and actually was intended “to prevent the administration from spending out of lump sums for projects that hadn’t been authorized.”
The Blagojevich administration has halted work on 39 construction projects across the state, saying the newly passed budget for the fiscal year that began Tuesday contains language prohibiting them from moving forward.
Rep. Gary Hannig, the Litchfield Democrat who helped draft the budget, said the administration is misreading the bill.
“I think they are trying to create a crisis again where none exists,” Hannig said.
On Tuesday, the Capital Development Board, which oversees Illinois’ non-road construction, began issuing stop-work orders on projects that were undertaken after Aug. 31, 2007. The agency said language contained in a 475-page budget bill passed by the Legislature at the end of May prohibits the projects from proceeding and prohibits the state from spending money on them.
“It would be unfair for us to ask contractors to continue working if we cannot guarantee if or when they are going to be paid,” said CDB spokesman Dave Blanchette. “Our legal experts have reviewed the language and have determined that it is fairly cut and dried.”
Blanchette said the work will stay on hold until the General Assembly changes the language. He said lawyers have reviewed the bill and determined that Gov. Rod Blagojevich doesn’t have the authority to change it on his own using his amendatory veto powers.
What we get from that piece is a classic “He said, she said” argument devoid of actual facts.
No monies may be expended from any appropriation or reappropriation under any section of this Article 48 unless a grant or contractual agreement for the expenditure was agreed to in writing prior to August 31, 2007. The Comptroller shall not approve the expenditure until he or she receives a copy of that signed grant or contractual agreement.
* The projects that the Capital Development Board says have to be halted can be found at this link. The CDB claims that the budget bill removes their spending authority on those projects. That is correct.
If you check the language of the appropriations and reappropriations for Fiscal Year ‘08, which just ended, you’ll see that CDB was given lump-sum authority to spend reappropriated money. You can find the authorization to spend the cash on page 887 section 240, page 888 sections 247 & 250, page 889 sections 255 & 260 and page 890 section 265.
* However, this year the House Democrats decided that they wanted to force the administration to spend money only on projects that appear on a previous budget’s appropriations list and were never begun. So, they clamped down on all spending from lump-sum appropriations that weren’t previously agreed.
The CDB’s projects that were just suspended weren’t negotiated with the General Assembly, and as a high-level House Dem just told me, “that’s the chance they took.”
* The Senate Democrats now apparently support giving the Capital Development Board the authority to spend money on those halted projects, but the House Dems are opposed.
After quoting from the dissent of retired Illinois Supreme Court Justice Moses Harrison, newly-installed ISBA president Jack C. Carey of Belleville, said, “The application of the death penalty in Illinois has been demonstrated to be flawed beyond any doubt. Our position is that the death penalty is not fixable and should be discontinued. To do otherwise would invite the grossest miscarriage of justice imaginable, the death of an innocent person.”
* Question: Should Illinois abolish the death penalty? Explain fully, please. Thanks.
There is every indication that Todd Stroger, miraculously installed by ward bosses following his father’s illness, will run for a second term in 2010.
There is every reason to believe that Mayor Daley and House Speaker Michael Madigan are already helping him lay the groundwork, raise the cash and turn out the vote. After all, didn’t Madigan engineer moving the Illinois primary to Feb. 2? That wasn’t to help Barack Obama in this year’s presidential contests. C’mon. That was to make sure that the snow, sleet and blizzard season could ensure a depressed turnout in future elections leaving the outcome in the hands of the regulars (read patronage workers) who always turn out. Their jobs depend on it. And Madigan, the mayor and the mayor’s county commissioner brother, John, all know that. Todd Stroger is a wholly owned subsidiary of their interests.
* Carol Marin has a valid point about the February primary. But the 2010 election is still a long way away, and Stroger’s numbers are so horrible in Cook County, including among Democrats, that the powers that be may very well pull the plug. In fact, John Daley is already helping to kick-start the process…
In a surprisingly lopsided vote, the Cook County Board voted Tuesday to curtail President Todd Stroger’s discretionary spending ability, restoring his unsupervised contracting ability to the previous level of $25,000 for professional service contracts.
That had been the limit for years before commissioners agreed to raise it to $100,000 last year in exchange for a quarterly report detailing where the money was going.
John Daley moved for the proposal’s passage. The only “No” vote was Commissioner Bill Beavers, who represents Stroger’s home district. We can probably expect more of this sort of thing.
The tax hikes, the blatant patronage hiring and the enormous amount of mistakes by Stroger himself and his press staff have destroyed his credibility. The Machine always knows how to save itself, and that could very well mean dumping Stroger next time around for somebody else.
* The Sun-Times editorial today suggests passing four federal gun control laws in response to the recent US Supreme Court ruling…
• • The gun show loophole: Congress needs to close a legal loophole in many states that allows people at gun shows or flea markets to peddle their weapons without conducting background checks on potential buyers. Illinois has closed the loophole partly, but not entirely. In this state, gun show vendors must do background checks, but a person who simply sells a gun to a guy in the neighborhood or to someone answering an ad does not have to do a background check. […]
• • Gun store employee background checks: Of course, felons can’t have guns. But right now, there’s no federal requirement that gun dealers perform felony background checks on their employees — a step that even a gun industry association endorses. […]
• • One gun a month: Illinois lawmakers repeatedly have rejected proposals to limit gun sales to one a month per person. Putting aside fears of creeping over-regulation, there’s just no excuse for rejecting such a limit. The proposed limit is aimed at gun traffickers who buy multiple weapons and resell them to criminals.
• • Lower the volume: State lawmakers also have refused to ban the sale of high-capacity magazines — ones that hold more than 10 rounds.
Such a ban would do nothing to prohibit a homeowner from defending himself against a burglar.
* The full appellate bench voted 8-2 yesterday to deny Robert Sorich another shot at hearing Robert Sorich’s appeall…
Mayor Richard M. Daley’s former patronage chief and two other former city officials lost their bid Tuesday for an unusual hearing by all of Chicago’s actively sitting federal appeals judges.
The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said a majority of the judges voting on whether to hold a so-called en banc hearing had been against the idea. It would have involved all the court’s judges except those on senior status.
Robert Sorich, 43, once known as the mayor’s patronage chief, was sentenced to four years in prison after being convicted in July 2006 of using fraud to cover up the role of political patronage in city hiring. […]
A three-judge panel of the appeals court denied their request for a new trial on April 15, saying they had been “key players in a corrupt and far reaching scheme - that doled out thousands of city civil service jobs based on political patronage and nepotism.”
The defense will seize in part on a sharply worded dissent written by Judge Michael S. Kanne and joined by Judge Richard A. Posner, one of the nation’s most influential judges.
McCarthy’s lawyer, Patrick Deady, said Kanne grasped the argument the defendants have made all along: The federal government has criminalized what were violations of the Shakman civil court decree that forbids political influence in most City Hall hiring decisions. The defendants also argued they should not have been convicted of criminal fraud because they never took a dime in bribes or kickbacks.
“Without explicitly saying so, we have left the impression that the use of political patronage in personnel hiring by the city of Chicago is a crime,” Kanne wrote.
“Although no legislatively defined criminal offense outlaws patronage hiring by government entities in Illinois, such hiring is now seen as a crime because it violates the Shakman decrees—never mind that Shakman is simply a series of civil consent decrees subject only to civil penalties, and imposition of contempt if willfully violated,” the dissent said.
* The ruling went overwhelmingly against Sorich and his co-defendants, but I suppose there’s always a tiny ray of sunshine when you see such a strongly-worded dissent.
Sorich and his cohorts did do some really stupid things, like changing test scores and marking down people as having been interviewed when they weren’t. But the dissent - which you can read in full at this link - makes some valid points about the overreaching nature of these convictions.
* Voting ends tonight for the All Star teams. Jermaine Dye has been playing like a dream, but he really needs your votes. Yes, I said “votes.” You can vote up to 25 times, so head over there now and get on with it. It’s legal ballot box stuffing, so Illinoisans ought to shine at this. If that link doesn’t work, try this one.
Tell us who you picked and why in comments. Also, did you write anybody in? Just for fun, I wrote in Alexei Ramirez, the Cuban Missile. The kid can play, and the pitchers can’t figure him out yet.
Illinois is one of six states that has been given some leeway under the No Child Left Behind Act. A new pilot program will allow schools in Illinois to offer tutoring to students sooner when it looks like they need help.
Four Illinois casinos are asking the state’s Supreme Court to reconsider its June ruling that they pay about $76 million to the state’s struggling horse racing industry.
* Illinois Atty. Genl. withdraws claim on electric plants
Two weeks ago Madigan identified plants she said looked like Edison’s that were continuing “high offer” shenanigans. She asked federal regulators to reopen the Edison case and look into it. Now, based on information from PJM Interconnection, which manages the grid from here to Illinois, she has withdrawn the allegation that the identified plants have continued the strategy. But she still contends that Edision still may be withholding power from the grid in some other fashion in an effort to influence prices.
Similar legislation, co-sponsored by Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Evanston, already has been passed by a 398-21 margin in the House. We’re pleased that every member of the suburban delegation, Republicans and Democrats alike, voted in favor of that bill.
* Rep. Roskam calls for legislation to block Canadian National’s proposed purchase of the EJ & E Railway…
Specifically, the Wheaton Republican’s legislation would designate a 36-mile stretch of the EJ&E railway through Chicago suburbs as a “Corridor for Inter-Suburban Commuter Rail.”
If enacted, Roskam said the initiative would promote the creation of the Suburban Transit Access Route, known as the STAR line, and halt CN’s attempted use of the EJ&E. The STAR line would provide for suburb-to-suburb train commuting by connecting nearly 100 towns from Joliet to O’Hare International Airport.
* Independent candidate Allan Stevo has entered the 10th Congressional District race against Republican Mark Kirk and Democratic challenger Dan Seals…
A University of Illinois graduate, Stevo said in his statement that he would base his decisions in Congress strictly on the Constitution:
“No undeclared wars, innocent until proven guilty, no searches without probable cause, everyone gets his or her day in court, small central government,” he said.
His campaign Web site touts personal choice on health care and a “more humble” foreign policy. Stevo also vows, on his Web site, that he never would vote to increase taxes, spending or national debt.
Carter did not fulfill the signature requirement for the office, so even if he does contest the objection, he likely will not win. He said earlier he had hoped to “fly under the radar” and get into the race.
“I can not withstand a challenge,” he said. He will be notified of the objection by certified mail this week and can still argue his case, but said that’s not likely.
He received “thousands” fewer signatures than the required number. “I’m still taking it under consideration, but the likelihood is I won’t,” Carter said.
U.S. Rep. Phil Hare assessed Mississippi River flood damage Monday in Gladstone and told constituents he is working to upgrade levees in the area.
“It’s incredibly sad. We’re having a 200-year flood every 10 or 12 years,” the Rock Island Democrat said. “After we get through this, we have to invest in the long term and build these levees up.”
[…]
“No one knows how much this will cost,” Hare said after watching the 20-minute presentation. “The supplemental appropriations bill the president signed is for $2.5 billion, but I’m guessing this could easily go as high as $4 billion. We are probably going to do another supplement appropriation for this flood.”
* Dr. Steve Sauerberg speaks at “election awareness candidate forum” sponsored by the La Salle County Republican Women…
Sauerberg’s concerns ranged from the open border and “taxes that support Springfield, who has never seen a big enough government. We have a government that just wants us to drive less without drilling for oil anywhere.
It’s hard to do anything if energy issues are not resolved. The Legislature has been dealing with this for 25 to 30 years and they have done nothing. We need to deal with our rising health costs. We need change and without all of our efforts, there will be no change.”
* If you’ve been receiving tons of spam from Illinois Congressional campaigns don’t worry because you’re not alone:
The first few I ignored, recognizing that as a former party chair in the state I was bound to be on some lists. But by winter I’d grown mildly curious: where were these guys getting my address? I’d keep making it clear I didn’t live in Illinois, I’d keep asking to be removed, and sometimes they’d acknowledge receipt (not often) and remove me. Too often my e-mail went unanswered, and I’d get the next randomly-timed e-mail blast from them, repeating the cycle.
If this were one or two campaigns I’d let it slide. But it’s growing – I estimate at least half of the Congressional races in Illinois have added me to their list. Where are they getting my name from? My blog is linked to from Rich Miller’s influential CapitolFaxBlog.com site – and they are apparently spamming everyone on that list. (Three of the campaigns have admitted this is where they got my name from; no clue if the others are following suit, but it sure fits the pattern.)
It’s pretty ridiculous to spam everyone on someone’s blogroll. Not only is it uncreative and impersonal, it just becomes increasingly annoying. I have personally seen my fair share of it, and can attest to the frustration.
It becomes aggravating when a list server perpetually ignores your request to be removed from it.
…If the stream of spam in my inbox is any indication, the state of online campaigning at the Congressional level in Illinois is stuck circa 1998.
Here’s some free advice, guys. Talk to your constituents. If you have some bloggers in your district (chances are you do), engage them. Meet them for coffee. Call them. Invite their feedback on what the candidate should be doing.
It’s a great point. Rich and I look at these blogs all of the time. They usually have very good coverage of local events, and add great insight into how many of the voters in that district feel.
For instance, I was looking at Team America’s 10th District Blog today, and saw this post regarding Congressman Mark Kirk and Dan Seal’s presence at a parade in Waukegan:
In yesterday’s parade in Waukegan, Mark Kirk had, by all accounts, somewhere between 200-250 supporters marching with him, many of whom were Latino, and who are turning out to be a huge base of support for Kirk. In fact, Kirk had so many marchers that, in the words of one Kirk observer, it “was actually kind of ridiculous.”
Dem challenger Dan Seals, on the other hand, apparently had about 15 folks marching with him. Seals had more people marching in Libertyville, so I have no idea why he’d have less in Waukegan, unless it simply shows that his base of support in what ought to be Dem territory is pathetically shallow.
* It would do these campaigns a world of good to heed some of the online advice.
* Well it’s officially July 1, and a budget has yet to be hammered out. It looks like the Governor is becoming less optimistic:
Gov. Rod Blagojevich says he’s hopeful but “cautiously less than optimistic” that lawmakers will come up with new revenues to make up the $2 billion hole in the proposed state budget before the July 9 deadline.
Blagojevich also praised Republican leaders for their support on a capital plan, while some Republicans were around the state complaining over their role in the process:
“We’re limited in what we can do,” said Sen. Larry Bomke, R-Springfield. “The only thing we can do is vote on a budget, up or down, before the end of May. We can encourage that to occur every year, but it’s up to the governor to agree to a budget.”
“The first thing you’ve got to do is include us in the (negotiating) process,” said Rep. Raymond Poe, R-Springfield. “Republicans were totally left out of it.”
* Standing by the Governor’s side, Rep. Hamos had the following to say about a capital plan:
“It’s beginning to feel like maybe we don’t want to pass a capital bill. Maybe we want to stall a capital bill,” said Rep. Julie Hamos, D-Evanston. “Maybe we want to stall it until the year 2011 — how does that year sound? — or maybe the summer of 2010, when this governor can’t get any ribbon-cuttings.”
Hamos has been very critical of the Speaker on the issue lately, and one has to wonder how that will bode for her relationship with him.
* Meanwhile, Sen. Rutherford was speaking on the Governor’s penchant for prison closings, and dared to gaze into the budget’s crystal ball:
Rutherford said he expects the budget issue won’t be resolved until right around then.
“I think right now it is probably going to go all the way to the morning of when those checks need to be written to force the issue and to try to put as much pressure on (House Speaker Michael Madigan) as possible,” he said.
That’s a pretty fair assessment, especially since any crisis resulting from the lack of a budget deal appears to be at least a couple of weeks off:
Hynes is not scheduled to issue the next round of payroll checks for state workers until July 15, for instance.
The state has already disbursed July general state aid to schools, and it’s not expected to allocate another round until August.
* It looks like Governor Blagojevich is finally making good on a promise that was made over two years ago:
Pilgrim Baptist Church in Chicago has finally received the $1 million promised it by the Blagojevich administration to help rebuild the fire-damaged structure next to the destroyed sanctuary.
You may recall that a “bureaucratic mistake” caused money to go to the private, seemingly non-existent Loop Lab school that rents the space:
[A]t least 59 times in the roughly 90-minute hearing, Peters professed ignorance toward what Blagojevich has called a “bureaucratic mistake.”
“I would not have any idea who in the governor’s office would have the most answers,” Peters told members of the House State Government Administration Committee.
* It looks like everything finally worked out. But wait…
The Trib’s story doesn’t tell us what happened to the other $1 million and whether the school has reimbursed the state for the check it received by mistake.
That’s one little nugget left out of the story that has yet to be reported.
Where’s the ACLU protesting state funds going to a religious institution? The 1970 version of the Illinois Constitution clearly draws the money line between church and state…
I think that’s a bit of a stretch. It seems like the administration has that base covered:
That deal specifies the funds have to be used to rebuild a burnt-out building next to the church that would be used as a community center for legal fairs, health clinics and other “non-secular” purposes — a stipulation designed to fend off church-state legal challenges.
“This grant has a clear secular purpose — the construction of a community center that will house social programs open to the public regardless of religious affiliation or ability to pay,” DCEO spokeswoman Ashley Cross said.
* Discuss.
*** UPDATE ***
* I just spoke with Ashley Cross from DCEO. It appears that she was misquoted in the article and was on record as saying “that deal specifies the funds have to be used to rebuild a burnt-out building next to the church that would be used as a community center for legal fairs, health clinics and other “secular” purposes.
It has also been changed on the Sun Times website. I know that there were a few comments on that, and I just wanted to clear up any confusion.
Illinois has adopted a “hands-off” regulatory policy toward individual insurance, according to the report, which is based on a survey of insurance commissioners in all 50 states.
The Chicago Teachers Union executive board on Monday voted to try union vice president Ted Dallas on charges of spending money lavishly at high-end Chicago restaurants and on top-shelf liquor, among other purported misdeeds.
Asked Monday to what extent the investigation was having on his administration’s day-to-day governing, Blagojevich said: “Absolutely not. There’s no impact whatsoever.”
This year, however, maybe we will have a convention because things are so messed up in Springfield that we can’t get anything done on things we care about— such as health care and education funding and mass transit and immigrant rights and . . . (supply your own causes here).
* Democratic Leadership Council centrists say anything Obama does is fine by them
