* The Jacksonville area was a hotbed of tea party activity last year. But most of the thousand people who showed up at a meeting last night opposed the closure of the state’s Jacksonville Developmental Center…
Dozens of people had their voices heard and about 1,000 made there presence felt at a public hearing Monday night concerning the proposed closure of the Jacksonville Developmental Center.
At the meeting, representatives of the Illinois Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability heard testimony from about 90 speakers both for and against the closure of JDC.
Now that the public hearing has been held, the next step is for COGFA members to meet and make a recommendation on whether or not to close the center.
How times change.
* More…
About 190 disabled people receive care at JDC, and about 400 people work there. […]
[Gov. Pat Quinn’s] budget director, David Vaught, said at the hearing closing JDC would save the state $10 million.
However, state Sen. Sam McCann, R-Carlinville, said the savings would be closer to $2.6 million after the cost of moving patients is factored in.
“People don’t trust your numbers, ” McCann told state officials.
The Illinois Department of Human Services’ budget was slashed by $68 million under the plan approved by lawmakers, Vaught said.
“We can’t spend money we don’t have,” he said.
If the budget director is correct, the state is spending about $53,000 per year for each JDC resident.
…Adding… Don Moss, in comments, says the state is actually spending $150,514 a year per resident.
* Meanwhile, AFSCME lays out its veto session plan…
But after months of demonstrations in neighboring Wisconsin, Illinois’ labor movement finds itself in a similar face-off, regularly comparing Quinn to Gov. Scott Walker, who signed a bill in March stripping Wisconsin public employees of certain collective bargaining rights as a way to balance that state’s budget. Quinn faces $3 billion in unpaid bills and a dangerously under-funded pension system.
“We don’t give an inch to Quinn’s legal argument that he should be able to void collective bargaining agreements now or anytime in the future, just because he finds it inconvenient or the General Assembly didn’t do its job,” said Anders Lindall, spokesman for AFSCME Council 31.
Lindall said his organization will lobby lawmakers during the veto session for a supplemental appropriation of about $300 million to keep the facilities open that Quinn announced last month he would shutter. Three mental health centers—Singer in Rockford, Chester in southern Illinois and Tinley Park Mental Health Center—are slated for closure, along with a youth prison in Murphysboro, Logan Correctional Center in Lincoln, and two centers for the developmentally disabled in Jacksonville and Jack Mabley in Dixon.
The money, union members say, could come from a pot of “savings” Quinn created this summer by using his veto pen to reduce spending in certain programs, including Medicaid. Some lawmakers, however, say that money must be spent on the state’s overdue bills.
* Not so bad news…
The fastest recovery in state revenue since 2006 is helping bonds backed by dedicated taxes outperform general-obligation debt by the most in a year. That’s allowing Illinois, tied with California for the lowest credit rating, to borrow $300 million at the top grade. […]
“They aren’t going to look just at the ratings,” Hoogendoorn said. “They’ll look at ample amounts of revenue backing it. How likely is this bond to be paid off in a stressed scenario? The reality is there is very, very good coverage.”
The $300 million of sales-tax bonds are being sold under the Build Illinois program, created in 1985 to fund infrastructure, transportation, education, environmental- protection and business-development projects. […]
“This is a triple-A-rated piece of paper,” Sinsheimer said. “These bonds are not impacted by the pension issues.”
* Roundup…
* Illinois legislators face daunting list of issues during veto session
* No clear answers to fixing state’s budget woes
* Legislators hope to override Quinn’s vetoes
* Editorial: Illinois should close at least one juvenile prison
* Late payments cost state millions in interest
* Illinois House panel attacks union pension abuses
- Team Sleep - Tuesday, Oct 25, 11 @ 10:41 am:
I am fairly fiscally conservative, but I certainly believe we need to take care of those who cannot take care of and provide for themselves. However, I’m not sure if that’s the mantra (or belief) of the TEA Party members. Many TEA Party types I speak to seem to support taking an axe to any government program and/or agency.
- walkinfool - Tuesday, Oct 25, 11 @ 10:51 am:
Standard Tea Party line: “Cut every government program but mine.”
- gathersno - Tuesday, Oct 25, 11 @ 10:57 am:
Rich - Our studies indicate that the average cost per resident at Jacksonville is actually $150,514 a year.
- MrJM - Tuesday, Oct 25, 11 @ 11:00 am:
There is absolutely nothing inconsistent about the Tea Partiers: their positions are consistently selfish and hypocritical.
– MrJM
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Oct 25, 11 @ 11:14 am:
we need to be cutting government services in areas that strongly support cut-backs in government services. this is not only morally and ethically appropriate but entirely consistent with their political demands. not exactly sure what they are gripping about…
- bored now - Tuesday, Oct 25, 11 @ 11:15 am:
once again, that comment is mine (as rich undoubtedly can determine, given my static ip)…
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Oct 25, 11 @ 11:17 am:
–The $300 million of sales-tax bonds are being sold under the Build Illinois program, created in 1985 to fund infrastructure, transportation, education, environmental- protection and business-development projects. […]
“This is a triple-A-rated piece of paper,” Sinsheimer said. “These bonds are not impacted by the pension issues.”–
I’m sure we can expect dozens of comments from the Usual Suspects as to how this demonstrates that the state is bankrupt, a national laughingstock, hopeless, blah, blah, blah.
- Segatari - Tuesday, Oct 25, 11 @ 12:45 pm:
Tea Partiers are actually wanting the elimination of pen pushers and busybodies that don’t really do anything but make hardships for citizens.
- Kerfuffle - Tuesday, Oct 25, 11 @ 12:54 pm:
“The Jacksonville area was a hotbed of tea party activity last year.”
They were a small but vocal minority within the community.
- grand old partisan - Tuesday, Oct 25, 11 @ 1:11 pm:
Excuse me, but is there a reason why everyone is just assuming that the people who came out to oppose the closure of JDC are the same individuals who previously demonstrated at Tea Party rallies??? I mean, I’m sure that there is some crossover…but I don’t see how you can condemn everyone in that town (let alone the entire Tea Party movement) for hypocracy based on the information provided. I think this is a case of people trying to force the narrative they want onto a story even when the evidence doesn’t support it.
- shore - Tuesday, Oct 25, 11 @ 1:19 pm:
you find out who the real conservatives are when they are willing to cut projects in their own districts and tax breaks for their own industry backers.
- had enough - Tuesday, Oct 25, 11 @ 1:41 pm:
The issue is that Illinois continues to house persons with intellectual disabilities in large state institutions rather than moving towards providing services and supports in smaller, more economical community-based settings. Every time this issue comes up the focus turns to some other topic - economic development, state jobs and now the tea party. There are few, if any comments about the needs of people who LIVE in the state institutions 24/7. Why should an individual have to live with 189 other people? Other states have figured this out, why not Illinois?
- Solomon - Tuesday, Oct 25, 11 @ 2:34 pm:
“Why should an individual have to live with 189 other people? Other states have figured this out, why not Illinois?”
This is an issue thoroughly touched upon at last night’s JDC hearing, and at other DD hearings. You can hear and read all the arguments at CoGFA’s website.
- Miss Marie - Tuesday, Oct 25, 11 @ 2:40 pm:
– grand old partisan “Excuse me, but is there a reason why everyone is just assuming that the people who came out to oppose the closure of JDC are the same individuals who previously demonstrated at Tea Party rallies???”
At the Hearing, Sen. Sam McCann (Mr. Poster Boy candidates for the Tea Party) was one of the most vocal advocates to keep the Jacksonville facility open. His comments last night were the pandering equivalent of a beauty pageant candidate wishing for world peace in front of the judges. His leading example shows how little thought goes into calling for cuts in government, while not realizing the actual affects of such actions. Based on all of what I saw last night, there were many of the same tea partiers there calling for that state facility to remain open.
- Chris - Tuesday, Oct 25, 11 @ 2:43 pm:
Can any of the commenters in the beginning railing against the tea party explain how they read that article and walked away with the idea that those were tea partiers at this rally? It doesn’t say that anywhere.
- VanillaMan - Tuesday, Oct 25, 11 @ 3:24 pm:
What are you talking about?
There are no ties between the Tea Party and this event.
Conservatives do not wish to throw these poor souls into the nearest snowbank.
Wanting smaller better government does not mean one either supports the rotted governments we have been forced to pay for or no government at all.
- VanillaMan - Tuesday, Oct 25, 11 @ 3:30 pm:
You are playing Quinns game.
He holds these people hostage and claims he has to harm them if he doesnt get cash. There is no governing in his actions. Quinn openly breaks contracts.
But you want to claim that the tea party is hypocritical?
- VanillaMan - Tuesday, Oct 25, 11 @ 3:35 pm:
Why was this meeting held?
Quinn caused this.
Not any tea partiers.
Who wants to close Jacksonville?
Quinn.
Who is breaking promises?
Quinn.
Who says he has do this?
Quinn.
Who is lying?
You cannot be serious.
- zatoichi - Tuesday, Oct 25, 11 @ 4:01 pm:
Please explain how Jacksonville has been a tea party hotbed? From newspaper editorials, most of which are corporate pieces? Because Sam McCann got elected? There were votes for him across the entire region. Watson is far from a tea partier. He has some reasonable ideas. Talk to people in a restaurant. Same basic ideas you find statewide pop up. Response in Jacksonville is the same COFGA finds everywhere, cutting jobs hits home while the people doing the cutting stay clean. I was at the hearing all night. There were no tea party rallies going on. Some reasonable comments on both sides with concerns about people lives, rights, and funding.
- Yellow Dog Democrat - Tuesday, Oct 25, 11 @ 4:03 pm:
Walking Fool hit the nail on the head.
“Cut everyone else’s” is a consistent Republican theme.
Rarely do you hear a “conservative” support cuts in government funding for universities, prisons, or military contracts in their own district.
- VanillaMan - Tuesday, Oct 25, 11 @ 4:08 pm:
“Hello!”
“I am Governor Pat Quinn and this is Anna. She is 56 years old and was born with severe defects that prevent her or her family to care for her daily needs. She lives in our state’s Jacksonville Development Center, has been a ward of the State since 1962.”
“See that snowbank?”
“That is going to be Anna’s new home because bad people won’t give me enough money to take care of Anna.”
“These horrible people, mostly Republicans, and Tea Party extremists, don’t want to give more taxes in order to keep Anna out of this snowbank.”
“Please contact your state representatives and tell them to give me enough funding to keep Anna and the rest of her little Jacksonville family from living under I-72 expressway underpasses.”
“You see, there is absolutely no waste in state government. There are no places left to cut, except for the cut here with Anna. My staffers assure me there is no fat anywhere, so out she goes unless I’m given more.”
“Am I cruel? Not as cruel as those filthy extremists who love their money more than their neighbors! Those hypocrites who attend church on Sunday and then act like heathens the other six days of the week.”
“I have no other choices but to send poor Anna and the rest other friends out in the cold unless I’m given the money needed to keep her little home for the past fifty one years open.”
- Dave - Tuesday, Oct 25, 11 @ 4:10 pm:
Kerfuffle
Tell Demuzio that.
- VanillaMan - Tuesday, Oct 25, 11 @ 4:13 pm:
“Hello!”
“I am Governor Pat Quinn, and this gentleman standing here is a state employee. I promised this man and thousands of his other coworkers to never lay them off in exchange for their votes in 2010.”
“But unfortunately, I must lay them off even after promising them I wouldn’t, and am forced due to GOP demands to also ignore any contractural obligations I made in order to get elected.”
“Whatdoyasay Illinois?”
- VanillaMan - Tuesday, Oct 25, 11 @ 4:17 pm:
“Hello!”
“I am Governor Pat Quinn and this time, doggone it, I’m serious! I’m mad as heck and if I don’t get the funding I need to be a great governor I will be forced to close needed state institutions in GOP districts, and lay off thousands of state workers who voted for Democrats across Illinois.”
“I don’t want to, really. Now I know you are probably thinking I cannot be serious this time, but by golly - I really am - this time!”
“I will pull the switch on these cuts unless I am paid enough to be the governor you elected me to be.”
- VanillaMan - Tuesday, Oct 25, 11 @ 4:22 pm:
“Hello!”
“I am Governor Quinn, the governor from Illinois not in prison right now. I want to talk to you about hypocracy. And no one is more hypocritical than someone who makes promises and breaks them, takes public stands on the issues and then the next day changes his mind, and blames other people for everything that goes wrong in this great state.”
“I am, of course, speaking about Tea Partiers. These people are not Christian. They are not even really American. They are anti-government and that means they are anti-YOU. You just can’t trust them. They have prevented me from getting anything done as your governor. Even though they are a small group that have almost no legislative representation in the General Assembly, their message of hatred is so powerful it is keeping Illinois from paying it’s bills, moving forward and making me sad.”
“So, won’t you please stand with me, just as I have stood by you in confronting these evil hypocrites?”
“Thank you!”
- Decaturguy - Tuesday, Oct 25, 11 @ 4:26 pm:
FYI: In 2008, McCain carried Morgan County by only 127 votes. Those folks are all over the place. First nearly voting for Obama and then for McCann. Go figure.
- Pantry Weevil - Tuesday, Oct 25, 11 @ 4:51 pm:
VanMan, from what I can tell you are about the only voice of reason posting on here. It must feel like screaming into an abandoned mine shaft. Keep up the good work.
- VanillaMan - Tuesday, Oct 25, 11 @ 4:59 pm:
What we have here is Rich correctly knocking Quinn over these identical antics over the past couple of years, but digging the idea of knocking the Tea Party using this as an example.
But quite clearly the idea of not wanting state dependants thrown out in the snow instead of finding cuts that won’t hurt people directly somehow makes one a hypocrite to some people.
You want a dialogue among Illinoisans? The first stop bashing them when they don’t buy into your budget nonsense whole hog.
- conda - Tuesday, Oct 25, 11 @ 5:20 pm:
I agree with VM.
- Give Me A Break - Tuesday, Oct 25, 11 @ 5:43 pm:
Nobody is talking about throwing anyone into the snow. If JDC closes, a number of residents will be placed in community level care. Some, due to their disability will need to go to other SODCs.
Why should people be forced to live in an outdated facility for no other reason than providing the Jville area jobs?
And, can some of you please name for me the specific areas of the budget that could be cut that won’t impact someone’s job somewhere?
Tea Baggers want to have it both ways, guess what? Smaller government means less staff which means fewer jobs. I don’t care where they live Tea Baggers should embrace cuts even in their own areas, even when it means their friends and neighbors might lose their jobs. But that might not be too popular.
- Cripple Creek - Tuesday, Oct 25, 11 @ 6:21 pm:
Hello. I’m Vanilla Man and I need to switch to decaf. When someone mildly points out tea party hypocrisy, I monopolize blogs to prove how rational I am. When I hear DD populations in institutional settings are being moved to other institutions or community settings, I equate that to them being dumped into snowdrifts.
I agree that Quinn is playing threat politics, but I also think RM has a point. Have a brew and chill the heck out!
- VanillaMan - Tuesday, Oct 25, 11 @ 6:43 pm:
What kind of brew?
- Cripple Creek - Tuesday, Oct 25, 11 @ 7:06 pm:
A cold one of your choice. Hopefully one that inspires a funny song. I don’t know if I’ve seen one of those in awhile. Cheers.
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Oct 25, 11 @ 7:15 pm:
I could use one of your songs, too, V-Man. The blog just hasn’t been the same since you stopped writing those hits.
- mokenavince - Tuesday, Oct 25, 11 @ 9:03 pm:
Jacksonville got just what it asked for. It hurts
but you did ask for cuts.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Oct 26, 11 @ 8:04 am:
–But quite clearly the idea of not wanting state dependants thrown out in the snow instead of finding cuts that won’t hurt people directly somehow makes one a hypocrite to some people.–
Hmm, I’m wondering where one could look for those cuts that won’t hurt? Busy today, VMan?