Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar » *** UPDATED x9 *** So far today…

Friday, May 7, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

* 1:36 pm - The governor has been meeting privately with House Democrats for the past few hours. I’ve gotten some text messages from inside saying it’s been either mostly worthless or informative, depending on the person, but hasn’t yet changed many minds. Rep. John Fritchey posted this on his Facebook page about an hour ago…

Apparently, caucus is a Latin word meaning ‘drawn-out meeting that sheds little new light on anything’.

Rep. Mike Zaleswki Tweeted once…

One hour into what seems like a 3 hour seminar in state finances. Very thorough questions being asked.

One of my interns says Speaker Madigan will be escorted back to his office by the guards to keep everybody away. [UPDATE from Steve Brown in comments: Intern blew it Madigan walked out of meeting and to the 3rd floor session will start shortly.] They’ve already set up a rope to keep people (including reporters) back.

* Over in the Senate, some Democrats are sniping at each other, according to a Tweet from Melissa Hahn…

A couple of Senate Democrats are getting testy with each other, refusing to vote for each other’s bills because of “no” votes last night.

FYI, Sens. Garrett, Kotowski, Noland and Steans were the most frequent “No” votes last night on the budget plan.

* Several human service advocates, unions, etc. are asking their members and friends to call a toll-free hotline to urge their legislators to “keep state services alive.” Not sure yet if it’s creating lots of calls, but it didn’t have an impact on the Senate yesterday.

*** UPDATE 1 - 2:40 pm *** The IEA is liveTweeting the House debate on the pension borrowing plan…

[Democratic Rep. Jack Franks] says he won’t support. Not “voodoo” economics but “Alice in Wonderland” economics. Should be cutting, zero-based budget.

Kristina Rasmussen is also live-Tweeting.

*** UPDATE 2 - 2:44 pm *** In non-budget news, the House has passed Speaker Madigan’s foreclosure package.

*** UPDATE 3 - 2:47 pm *** Rep. Ron Stephens predicted a “revolution” if the borrowing continues and blamed the House Speaker for everything that has happened over the last 40 years…

Mike Madigan and his failed policies are what have taken this state to the brink of disaster. Molotov cocktails in the streets of Chicago is what will happen next. Greece will fail! Illinois will fail!

…Adding… This comparison to Greece is ridiculous, by the way, and Stephens and others who have used it ought to be called out. Greece’s 2008 GDP was $343 billion. Its external debt was $552.8 billion as of last June. Illinois’ GSP (Gross State Product) is $633.7 billion. Its total debt is about $140 billion.

*** UPDATE 4 - 3:10 pm *** Gov. Quinn talked to the media after the House Democratic caucus. Part 1…

Part 2…

*** UPDATE 5 - 3:26 pm *** As expected, the pension bond plan went down in flames, 59-57-1. Also, Rep. Franks told the Daily Herald that the rest of the package may go down…

Emerging from a closed-door meeting with Gov. Pat Quinn this afternoon, suburban Democrats predicted their session would not end tonight, signaling their unhappiness with how negotiations have been handled and the lack of spending details.

“It could be a long month,” said state Rep. Jack Franks, a Marengo Democrat.

Franks said the Illinois House will again vote on borrowing to make a pension payment, consider a budget plan that cuts $3.8 billion in spending and debate a proposal giving the governor broad power to tap special state accounts for cash and other sweeping authority to manage state finances.

Based on rank-and-file sentiment and head counts in the closed-door meetings, Franks said all three plans will likely be voted down, a move that would prolong budget talks and force lawmakers back to the drawing board. They had planned to adjourn today.

*** UPDATE 6 - 3:39 pm *** The amendment up now in the House includes budget cuts.

*** UPDATE 7 - 3:42 pm *** The amendment failed with just 15 votes. Oof. Afterwards, Madigan announced “There’s more time people… get your amendments [containing cuts] filed.” Madigan said during closing that he would “entertain” amendments containing budget cuts from all comers.

Rep. Black said the Republicans would begin drafting budget-cutting amendments post haste.

*** UPDATE 8 - 3:53 pm *** Watch Speaker Madigan narrowly miss joining the infamous Century Club…

*** UPDATE 9 - 4:29 pm *** Rep. Jay Hoffman unloaded on the Republicans this afternoon during the pension bond debate. Watch…

57 Comments

- Pot calling kettle - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 1:45 pm:
It’s pretty pointless when you know the Governor will not hold his ground on anything.

- Steve Brown - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 1:46 pm:
Intern blew it Madigan walked out of meeting and to the 3rd floor session will start shortly

- in the know - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 1:49 pm:
where do I sign up for Steve Brown’s tweets?

- Obamarama - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 1:54 pm:
Brown: 1 Weber: 0

- Ghost - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 2:01 pm:
on a side/related note, Zorn referenced a study at http://www.slge.org/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={22748FDE-C3B8-4E10-83D0-959386E5C1A4}&DE={BD1EB9E6-79DA-42C7-A47E-5D4FA1280C0B} which identifies that State workers are generally paid less, inclding benefits, then their private sector counterparts. So I guess if we plant to improve the budget by matching benefits and salary of State workers to the private sector we need to get rid of the recent pension reform bill and pass out some raises…..

- Robert - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 2:25 pm:
fritchey is quite funny but sometimes i wonder if he just goes for the good snippy one liner rather than actually doing his job as a legislator

- Name Withheld - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 2:34 pm:
Yeah, the SLGE study was mentioned last week in an article on the CNN website (Money section). I particularly found it interesting that Illinois state workers (those whom they got job descriptions for) made on average 10% less than the private sector over the past ten years. My suspicion is that those job descriptions do not include the ’senior staff’ roles, since one doesn’t usually see those posted in the classifies. So you’re looking at the middle-managers and the rank-and-file employees. No wonder AFSCME doesn’t want to take a pay cut - they’re already making notably less than private sector. And just to make things interesting, the study covers over 20 years of information (1983 to 2008), and at no point ever during that time did state workers make more than comparable private-sector workers.

- Cindy Lou - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 2:43 pm:
It’d be nice if they could debate/discuss this stuff without all the bellowing and threatrics. Does their points/nonpoints count any more if they yell louder?

- Rich Miller - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 2:45 pm:
CL, it would be pretty darned boring and useless without the yelling.

- Ahoy - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 2:47 pm:
Maybe we should just not have a state government… that would solve the budget problem. No budget, no problem.

- Bill - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 2:49 pm:
Ahoy,
I was thinking that they could abolish the office of governor along with the lt.gov..Would anyone notice the difference?

- Cindy Lou - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 2:51 pm:
I’m being impatient, I’d of rather heard the inside stuff we didn’t get to hear

- Bill - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 2:53 pm:
Whoops,
I lost my feed and can’t get it back. I’ve been inflicted with the Madigan worm.

- Bill - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 2:54 pm:
Am I the only one assumimng that the fix is in and the only question is how many targets will be allowed to jump off?

- Vote Quimby! - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 2:57 pm:
Cindy–it’s all about intimidating the other person to get them to vote your way.

Rep. Stephens–comparing us to Greece? Nice touch. Who in their right mind would loan Illinois money? I know bonds get first dibs, but morally how could you?

- Bill - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 3:01 pm:
Rosemary,
You are not included because nobody cares what you think. They don’t need your vote.

- Ahoy - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 3:01 pm:
Bill might be onto something. Get rid of the Governor’s office and cut out the middle man.

- Old Shepherd - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 3:04 pm:
Who would loan Illinois money? Every county government, city government, university, school district, social service provider, vendor, etc. who is owed money by the State of Illinois is basically loaning the state money and apparently it is only going to get worse.

- David Starrett - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 3:07 pm:
Does anyone know where the language is giving the governor “sweeping budget authority??”

I can’t find it anywhere.

- Bill - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 3:10 pm:
David, They’ll have to pass the bill so they can find out what is in it.

- Bill - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 3:12 pm:
Hey, “Leader” Cross,
Lay off AFSCME!

- Rich Miller - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 3:13 pm:
===Who would loan Illinois money?===

You don’t know much about bond houses. They loaned Brazil money right up to the bitter end.

- OneMan - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 3:16 pm:
If there is a perception in debt markets that Illinois is reaching the point with debt that it may not be able to make good on payments or will decided not to make good on payments in order to avoid other unpopular cuts we may end up more like Greece than you think.

Our debt load is lower as a percentage of GP but I doubt Indiana will step up with cash if we end up with a real debt problem

- Leroy Brown - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 3:16 pm:
yep,we will always be able to go to the market, borrowing is the first thing that gets paid in this state.

- foreclosuer - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 3:17 pm:
the foreclosure bill wasn’t madigan’s bill - it was a lyons bill for the financial guys.

- Rich Miller - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 3:19 pm:
===but I doubt Indiana will step up with cash===

No, but the feds might. What I’m saying is, debt to GSP ratio is 22 percent. It’s well over 100 percent for Greece.

- Wickedred - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 3:24 pm:
Lay off AFSCME. Now there’s an intelligent remark. Considering that most of the AFSCME members working for the state are currently doing double duty and working overtime to cover the positions that haven’t been filled since 2001-2.
And they are currently going after the contractual raises in the House (thanks Mitchell), but leaving their own Legislative pay and pensions alone.
Sure, let’s go after the people working for the state who do the work and look after the kids, the seniors, the disabled, and get the paperwork done. Smart move.

- Bill - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 3:26 pm:
I didn’t mean lay them off. I meant leave them alone. It is a common idiom from that great Republican period in American history, the 1950’s.

- L.S. - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 3:27 pm:
I’m glad Ron Stephens was lucid enough to put a full sentance together, wrong as he may have been.

Last I checked, all our problems aside, it wasn’t Madigan or the Democrats that led the national economy into the tank. Chase another fistful of OxyCotin with a swing of bourbon and relax Ron.

- Bill - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 3:27 pm:
So, is the party still on for tonight?

- Portage_Parker - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 3:29 pm:
From the video “…should be proud of the elected members of the General Assembly…”

The whole lot of them (with very, very few exceptions) are solely self-serving and purposefully antithetical to the public interest and the greater good of Illinois and the majority of Illinoisans.

- I'm Just Saying - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 3:31 pm:
They couldnt’ pass Pension Borrowing, Pop Goes the Budget

- OneMan - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 3:32 pm:
No, but the feds might. What I’m saying is, debt to GSP ratio is 22 percent. It’s well over 100 percent for Greece.

Yeah but a federal government has a lot more revenue and debt tools than a state government has. Yeah the Greek example is a bit of a stretch.

But if the feds step in I suspect that new federal money is going to come it might come with some strings attached.

Are the bonds issues for operating expenses only 1 year bonds. It would be interesting to see how much 1 year paper Illinois is going to issue as a total % of state debt and how that compares to a sovereign government.

- OneMan - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 3:34 pm:
L.S.

You don’t get a deficit this big just from a severe recession. Heck Dan Hynes warned this was coming years ago.

- Rich Miller - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 3:36 pm:
===They couldnt’ pass Pension Borrowing, Pop Goes the Budget===

Not true. They can use a continuing approp for that. The real test is this one up now.

- Wickedred - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 3:40 pm:
Oh, Thank God, Bill! I was like, WHAT!?

- Amalia - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 3:41 pm:
Keep at it Rich! as we learned from today’s Tribune editorial, if CapFax is not there, the action is not captured on video and the vote may not be available for folks to parse.

- Wickedred - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 3:44 pm:
If the Legislators are going to go after the other pensions and change them, then they need to take a serious look at their own. And their health care after retirement. And their raises. It all starts at home, right?
Start with sweeping changes in Springfield. That’s where the cuts should begin. Believe me, there are still many that could be made. Just take a look at any agency’s hierarchy.
Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure some of this out - where cuts CAN be made.
Certainly not at street level.

- dupage dan - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 3:44 pm:
So if our debt is only 22% of our GSP, does this mean we are in good shape? Maybe a comparison with Greece is inappropriate (I am guilty of that) but how does Illinois compare to other states, for instance. Arm waving about violent revolution is out of line here. Worry about financial collapse isn’t.

- Nikoli - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 3:46 pm:
Now debating STAR bonds… not good.

- He Makes Ryan Look Like a Saint - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 3:47 pm:
At this stage of the game, they are ALL to blame. Republicans started the snowball rolling, the Dems just added more snow and a bigger hill to roll it down.

The Illinois Taxpayer is sure getting their moneys worth out of this G.A.!

- Bill - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 3:49 pm:
Here comes the worst bill ever. I hope they pass it. Typical.

- OneMan - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 3:50 pm:
L.S

Yeah it might be a straw man, but again the Democrats can do anything they want to more or less besides debt without a single Republican vote.

Then again they all seemed to go along with Rod’s budget BS….

- SAP - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 3:54 pm:
How many NO votes on 1211? Is the Speaker in the century club?

- JonShibleyFan - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 3:55 pm:
Did anyone else get the House feed back?

- Rich Miller - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 3:56 pm:
Try the audio feed.

- WesternSky - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 4:07 pm:
Such personal animosity from Stephens. My, my. Guess he’s still smarting over being targeted by Madigan in 1990 and losing his seat to Hoffman. Time to let it go, Ron.

Good grief. I knew the speaker had pull but didn’t know he was responsible for the national recession, too. Indeed it is an election year. GOP Ron also forgets that his caucus voted for four of the last seven state budgets between 2003 and 2009. As much as they want to deflect it, they share responsibility. Think the state is spending too much? Then vote against the budgets, not for them. Can’t have it both ways.

- Obamarama - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 4:12 pm:
Worst Bill Ever being debated on the House floor. The Downstaters are really ramping up the rhetoric. I wasn’t aware that Southern Illinois was the equivalent to Haiti and that this bill would transform it into Times Square. Jeez.

- Obamarama - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 4:13 pm:
My fault, didn’t notice the STAR thread.

- UI Chancellor - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 4:13 pm:
DuPage Dan:

A comparison: Calif. state budget deficit is 26 Billion and its GSP is 1.9 Trillion, or 1.4%. Illinois has a 13 Billion deficit and a GSP of 630 Billion, or 2.1%. The ratio for Greece, however, is a whopping 13%. It’s arguable we are worse off financially than Calif. Greece is a category of its own though.

- Rich Miller - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 4:14 pm:
UI Chancellor, you’re not looking at total debt, including pension debt. That’s the comparison I used.

- Vote Quimby! - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 4:18 pm:
==You don’t know much about bond houses==
I did forget they are soul-less.

- Emergency Budget Act - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 5:21 pm:
David S., did you get an actual answer to your question? In case you’re still looking for the aforementioned expanded authority for the Gov, the stuff I’m aware of is in HB 2428 as passed by the Senate and in HA #3 to SB3660.

- Springfieldite - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 5:23 pm:
My idea for a GOP House Amendment: Say that they would be willing to reconsider pension borrowing and–gulp–even a temporary tax increase, but dust off the Illinois Policy Institute’s proposed budget ideas from March:

http://www.illinoispolicy.org/uploads/files/BudgetSolutions2011_1.pdf

- heet101 - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 6:07 pm:
The Illinois Policy Institute is a rabid, foaming at the mouth fringe group. After their completely outrageous, breathless and totally trasnparent rant this week in their newsletter, I will relegate their rag to the toilet paper cabinet from here on.

- David Starrett - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 6:48 pm:
Bless you Emergency, thanks. Now it’s adjournment to the call of the chair in both chambers. They’re gone for at least the weekend and likely much longer. How long do you think Quinn will wait before Special Sessions come back into play?

- Sheridan Road - Friday, May 7, 10 @ 8:27 pm:
Ol’ Pumpkin Head has officially gone Halloween.

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