* Family’s coming to town, so it should be a good weekend, even with the rain. I hope yours is fabulous. And, hey, if you know Neil Malone, he’s moving this weekend into his new house in Springfield and needs some help. I probably won’t be able to make it because of my guests, so hopefully somebody will show up from the blog.
But, before you go, make sure to buy a classifed ad or post a calendar item or your resume at InsiderzExchange. And, as always, check out Illinoize. It’s hopping.
* Kevin was off today and I forgot to do Friday Beer Blogging. Here it is.
* I don’t think we’ve ever had a video from this band before…
Pushing up I hope for the sun,
but I’ll take the rain with what all it comes
* The Sun-Times tried to get one of our two US Senators to answer a simple question about the raging Statehouse battle over ethics reform. The result? Obama’s campaign clammed up…
While Barack Obama left an imprint on two major ethics packages as a state senator, he ducked a plea Thursday to use his influence to safeguard landmark state legislation barring big government contractors from making campaign contributions. […]
“As a presidential candidate, this is small potatoes. But as Illinois’ U.S. senator, this is a place he could come in and quickly clean up some of the damage and serve his state,” said Cindi Canary, director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, which has pushed for the donation restrictions for three years. […]
“A 30-second phone call to the Illinois Senate president could yield huge dividends to this state,” [Canary] said. […]
Obama’s campaign refused to tell the Sun-Times whether the senator supports either version. And a spokesman ducked questions on whether Obama would speak with Jones, as Canary suggested. […]
“[Obama] encourages the Illinois General Assembly and Gov. Blagojevich to further those reforms by passing strong ethics legislation this session that limits the influence of money in the political process,” [Obama campaign spokesman Justin DeJong] said.
DeJong declined to clarify which “reforms” Obama would like to see carried out in Springfield: the original bill his former good-government ally wants or Blagojevich’s more sweeping approach that some critics believe was designed to kill the whole package entirely. […]
“If he’s the reformer he says he is, why would he not encourage cleaning up his home state, which is one of the most corrupt at this point in the United States?” said Sen. Christine Radogno (R-Lemont). “He has an opportunity to really put some action behind his words, and he won’t do it.
Canary and Radogno are absolutely right.
Gov. Palin said something at the Republican convention about how some had used the cause of reform to further their career, while John McCain had used his career to further the cause of reform. Obama can prove he can walk the walk by intervening in this fight.
Pick up the phone, Barack!
…Adding… Putting Obama on the spot like this is a classic move from the Saul Alinsky playbook. My favorite Alinsky story: A group of people wanted to pry something loose from the local power elite, so they bought a bunch of tickets to the opera (I think it was the opera) and scheduled a bean-eating party beforehand. They got their meeting.
Since Obama is a former community organizer in the Alinsky tradition, he probably used that tactic many times.
State Sen. James Meeks (D-Chicago) on Friday pressured business leaders who have bankrolled Chicago’s 2016 Olympic bid to put their money and political muscle behind a more important cause: improving public schools.
Meeks showed up at a breakfast meeting of the Executives’ Club of Chicago—not to confront featured speaker and Chicago 2016 Chairman Pat Ryan, but to enlist Ryan’s help in the battle to correct the school funding disparity between rich and poor districts.
Hundreds of state layoffs and the closing of two dozen state historic sites and parks will proceed as planned in the comings weeks as Illinois lawmakers appear unable to agree on how to prevent them.
A day after the Illinois House voted to restore $221 million in funding cuts by tapping special state bank accounts, the Senate announced it would not return to the Capitol to consider it and other moves until Nov. 12. […]
“We took the tough votes in May,” Davidsmeyer said, adding that the Senate approved taking $530 million from the state accounts to keep programs and sites open. “Frankly, $221 million [which the House approved this week]does not reflect the concerns we have about the budget,” she said.
The fate of high-profile ethics legislation is up in the air now that Senate President Emil Jones is waiting until after the Nov. 4 election to call senators back to Springfield, prompting charges he wants to kill the reforms. […]
Jones told Democrats in a memorandum Thursday that the Senate would not return until its already scheduled veto session Nov. 12. His spokeswoman, Cindy Davidsmeyer, said ethics legislation does not need attention now because, if enacted, it would not take effect until Jan. 1.
But several lawmakers from both parties said Jones is wrong to wait because doing so will jeopardize the legislation. They cited a provision in the state constitution that a 15-day clock starts ticking once one chamber votes on a governor’s proposed changes and delivers the legislation to the second chamber. Without action after 15 days, the legislation would die.
The House delivered the ethics legislation Thursday to the secretary of the Senate, but Jones said the 15-day clock does not start until the Senate returns and reads the bill into the official record.
* What most concerns the ethics reform proponents is this point…
Patty Schuh, spokeswoman for Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson, said this has never happened in the Senate before. By interpreting the Constitution in a “unique” way, she said, the leadership is jeopardizing the ethics reform. Ultimately, the legislation could land in court and further delay the implementation of the contribution limits. “In the meantime, the fundraising machines keep rolling.”
Ann Lousin, a 1970 constitutional convention delegate, a former House parliamentarian and a current law professor at the John Marshall Law School in Chicago, agrees with the Senate’s interpretation. Although she disclaimed that she has not been a House parliamentarian since January 1975, said she recalls, “The House is not the House unless it’s in session.” It follows, she said, that if the Senate is not in session, then it cannot receive the bills acted upon by the other chamber. She compared it to getting a letter on Sunday, which you can’t actually receive until the post office opens for business Monday.
Charlie Wheeler, longtime Statehouse reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times and current director of the Public Affairs Reporting program at the University of Illinois at Springfield, said while the more logical argument would be that the clock doesn’t start running until the message has been read into the record, the interpretation could be argued either way.
* Even prominent reformers aren’t sure. This is a statement from ICPR director Cindi Canary..
I have consulted with at least half a dozen attorneys today, and they are pretty evenly split on whether the clock starts now or can be delayed until the Senate returns. The only thing that they agree on is that this has never been litigated, so it is a gray area. I, for one, have no interest in seeing this become the test case.
We know that we have a nexus between large campaign contributions and state contracts, and the Senate has it in its power to enact this workable solution tomorrow. After three years of fighting this battle, I don’t understand why, when the legislature knows what to do to address a problem, they continue to let politics and ego trump effective government. The bill is far from dead, but it is disheartening that another round of games playing has been proposed by President Jones.
Jones sat on [the ethics bill] for nearly a year, but the federal corruption trial of Blagojevich pal Antoin “Tony” Rezko finally shook it loose. The Senate couldn’t afford to be seen as protecting the pay-to-play culture; it tweaked the bill and passed it unanimously. Both chambers pledged to override any veto, and it was clear they had the votes to do so.
Blagojevich spent the next several weeks hustling up campaign cash at fundraisers that would be illegal under the bill gathering dust on his desk. Then he loaded it up with amendments, sent it back to lawmakers to squabble over and crossed his fingers that it would die. The House answered with a resounding 110-3 vote to override.
It’s back to you now, President Jones. The people of Illinois haven’t forgotten.
* Democratic congressional candidate Colleen Callahan floated a pretty controversial proposal during a candidates debate this week…
One contrast did emerge when Democrat Colleen Callahan responded to a question asking what unpopular or controversial issue she would champion by saying she would re-institute the draft, saying it would be the “fairest way” to rebuild the military stressed from handling the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“I know my campaign staff isn’t going to like me saying say this,” Callahan said. “I know from all of those who are currently serving, proud as they are of their service, many of them are coming from the National Guard and it leaves us open, at risk, here at home where we have needs from disasters.”
Any time you hear a candidate say: “I know my campaign staff isn’t going to like me saying say this,” make sure to turn on your tape recorder. What follows will almost always be newsworthy.
Callahan said Thursday that the question put to the candidates a day earlier was merely hypothetical and that her answer was conditional.
“I’m not advocating it,” she said of a draft. “I wouldn’t introduce legislation that says that.” But, she added, “When I’m the congressman, if that came up for my vote, would I consider it? Yes.”
News reports and the person who asked the question said it had been more direct.
Mike Dimmick, a news anchor on WEEK-TV in Peoria, said Thursday that the question he asked was, “Can you name one tough, even unpopular issue you’d be willing to champion if elected to Congress?”
In response, WEEK video showed, Callahan said, “If you want honesty and candor, I will say reinstitute the draft. You can gasp if you want, but I believe it is the fairest way for us to begin to rebuild our military.”
* Meanwhile, as I’ve pointed out before, the issue of a proposed suburban freight railroad expansion has residents up in arms. A recent forum in the south suburbs drew hundreds of people…
The prospect of running more trains on the EJ&E Railroad line and forever altering suburban lifestyles led to another packed public meeting Monday night.
About 300 people jammed into a ballroom at the Holiday Inn in Matteson to listen and chime in on Canadian National Railway’s plans to buy the EJ&E. And once again, the plans elicited no shortage of passion. […]
CN wants to buy from U.S. Steel for $300 million the 198 miles of EJ&E tracks rimming the Chicago area and cutting through Southland towns such as Chicago Heights, Park Forest, Matteson, Frankfort and New Lenox. The towns along the tracks would see train traffic more than triple as CN reroutes trains from busier rail lines in Chicago and the inner suburbs.
* 11th District Democratic Congressional candidate Debbie Halvorson has spoken against the planned expansion. The Democratic/liberal blog Progress Illinois posted a letter that seems to show one of Ozinga’s companies supports the railroad plan…
As a candidate, Ozinga has so far been mum on the sale. But his concrete company is a different story. In a Nov. 1, 2007 letter to the federal Surface Transportation Board, one of Ozinga Bros.’ subsidiaries — Ozinga Transportation — explicitly endorsed the plan.
* I asked the Ozinga campaign for a response and initially received this…
“This is yet another misleading attack from Debbie Halvorson. The fact is, Marty Ozinga has pledged to do everything in his power to adequately address the concerns of local communities as it relates to the Canadian National proposal…”
* I sent an e-mail back asking specifically if Ozinga supports or opposes the railroad proposal. The reply…
Marty wants the concerns of the affected communities addressed before anything moves forward. That’s his position.
Clear as mud?
*** UPDATE 1 *** From the Halvorson campaign….
Halvorson For Congress Campaign Manager Brian Doory released a statement today regarding Ozinga Transportation’s November 2007statement, on behalf of Ozinga Bros. Inc, that stated “strong support” for the Canadian National Railway’s proposed acquisition of the EJ&E Railway.
“Why won’t Marty Ozinga accept responsibility for sending this letter? Why won’t he take responsibility for his company’s actions? This is a question of integrity, consistency and values and the voters deserve to know exactly who Marty Ozinga will represent in Congress: his own bottom line or the interests of the community.”
“Does Marty Ozinga deny his company sent this letter? How can Marty say that he doesn’t support the CN acquisition when Ozinga Brothers is clearly on record in “strong support” of the deal? Has Marty denounced the letter or even said he is opposed to the deal?”
“Marty Ozinga is playing games with the voters. Why does he refuse to put his mouth where his money is? Until he does, one thing is clear: Marty Ozinga is only representing his own bottom-line.”
*** UPDATE 2 *** From the Ozinga campaign…
In an announcement sure to spark outcry from working families across Illinois’ 11th Congressional District, Senate President Emil Jones – Career Politician Debbie Halvorson’s “father figure,” according to Halvorson herself – said Thursday that he would not call senators back to Springfield until after the November elections.
His announcement means that five state parks in the 11th District will close. And it means that the ethics reform bill will die.
Based on her own words, one can only assume that Debbie Halvorson – despite whatever she may now say out of political expediency – agrees with the Blagojevich-Jones agenda of closing state parks and killing ethics reform.
* On another front, GOP Congresscritter Mark Kirk is on the attack…
One of the leading moderate Republicans in the House, Kirk is among the wonkiest members of Congress. So when he goes full bore against his Democratic opponent, business consultant Dan Seals, it’s evident that he knows he’s in the political fight of his career. In an interview here last week — conducted just after he had finished discussing the minute details of energy policy with other moderate Republicans — Kirk leveled some harsh, personal attacks against Seals, calling him an unemployed carpetbagger who wants to raise voters’ taxes.
“He didn’t move into the district and has some résumé issues. He has no steady job. He made $5,000 in income this year. He has made a number of missteps,” Kirk said. ”One of the things my opponent wants to do is raise the capital gains tax. You don’t have to explain a capital gains tax cut in my district. They can spell it out to you in spades, what it has done for their family.”
* That prompted a response from Kos frontpager brownsox…
It’s absolutely true that Seals “made $5,000 in income this year”.
It is also true that Mark Kirk himself made $7,000 the year he first ran for Congress.
* I could not disagree more with the venerable Abner Mikva…
The risks of a constitutional convention driven by the special interests are real, and the casualties could include the power of local governments, an independent judiciary, civil rights for minorities, women and gay people and the rights of gun owners and gun victims alike, to name a few.
Voter disenchantment with Springfield has made the possibility of recall for elected officials an attractive reason for a constitutional convention, but even there the risk for unworkable provisions that hamstring legislators or interfere with judicial independence are real.
A constitutional convention is not the way for Illinois to address its current gridlock, heal its divisiveness or fix a failure of leadership. That’s what elections are for.
A successful constitutional convention requires political cooperation, strong leadership and a growing consensus about what’s good for Illinois. None of those factors exists today, and a constitutional convention would likely serve only to lock in our present-day dysfunctions for years to come. Illinois is not ready for a constitutional convention.
Let’s take these one at a time.
1) Special interests are not driving the push for a con-con. Special interests are wholly unified against a con-con.
2) I’m an agnostic on recall, but could he possibly talk out of both sides of his mouth any more?
3) If “change” is purely the province of candidate elections, then why did the Constitution’s drafters allow voters the right to decide whether to call another convention? We have two ways to effect political change in Illinois: Elections and (every 20 years) a con-con.
4) Illinois isn’t ready for a constituional convention? Could Mikva sound any more like one of those old-timey “Illinois ain’t ready for change” ward heelers?
* Before we begin today’s discussion of my latest Sun-Times column, I want to lay down one big rule: This myth promulgated by some of her supporters that Gov. Palin had to stay at home and collect her per diem because she had a difficult pregnancy is not believable on at least a couple of fronts.
The governor’s water broke during the energy conference but she stayed and gave a 30-minute speech before boarding an Alaska Airlines plane home to deliver the baby.
Second, these per diem payments go back at least to March of 2007, long before she was pregnant.
* Also, I’m not the only one who apparently saw the connection between Blagojevich and Palin. The AP ran this story after I submitted my column to the paper yesterday…
A governor who spends a lot of time away from the Capitol, whose family travels at state expense, who is criticized for not showing up at crucial legislative moments — the scrutiny of the travel and work habits of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin sounds familiar in Illinois, where Gov. Rod Blagojevich has faced similar criticism.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is now exactly where our own governor wanted to be four years ago.
Before the 2002 gubernatorial election results were even counted, Rod Blagojevich’s friends were touting him as a potential vice presidential nominee in 2004. He was a young, refreshing, telegenic change agent who had ended 26 years of Republican rule. A Midwest populist whose father was a working-class, first-generation American, Blagojevich, like Palin, had a great story to tell and the ability to tell it.
Then, everything fell apart. An obscure African-American state senator got himself nominated for the U.S. Senate in the 2004 Democratic primary, and all of a sudden nobody wanted to talk about Rod Blagojevich.
It’s probably a good thing for the Democrats that Blagojevich’s star faded so fast. The shoddy, even shady, way he ran his office and his numerous character flaws weren’t fully appreciated back then.
Those character flaws and governing style have been on my mind a lot as I’ve watched the spectacular unveiling of Gov. Palin as John McCain’s running mate.
Palin has that same uncanny ability as Blagojevich to cheerily repeat a blatant falsehood over and over. All politicians do this to some degree or another, but these two seem to truly believe their own untruths.
For instance, Palin’s repeated claims to have stopped the infamous “Bridge to Nowhere” are just false. Congress stopped that bridge a year before Palin was elected governor. Congress allowed Alaska to keep the $459 million earmarked for the bridge and another, lesser known bridge, and Palin eventually abandoned her campaign pledge to continue the fight. By the way, your tax dollars are still building a $25 million road to that infamous and nonexistent bridge. Why? Because if Palin didn’t build the road she’d have to give the money back to the U.S. taxpayers.
Governors Palin and Blagojevich appear to have the same hypocritical bullying attitude toward their respective Legislatures. Like Blagojevich, Palin has called numerous, rancorous special legislative sessions and often hasn’t bothered to show up for them.
Last fall, Palin’s absence during a special session provoked legislators to don “Where’s Sarah?” buttons. Rod Blagojevich called one of his umpteen special sessions last year and then attended a hockey game in Chicago.
Like Blagojevich, Palin chooses not to live in her state’s governor’s mansion. Both governors fly back and forth to the capital at taxpayers’ expense. But Palin one-ups Blagojevich because she also charges taxpayers thousands of dollars to work from her home.
Palin claimed to have fired the governor’s mansion chef, but the governor kept the woman on the state payroll as a “constituent relations assistant.” Blagojevich claims to have reduced the governor’s office budget, but he really just moved most of those employee payrolls to other state agencies.
Palin’s wars with her Legislature have produced the same horrible relationship with Alaska’s Senate president, a fellow Republican, as Blagojevich has with House Speaker Michael Madigan, a fellow Democrat. Senate President Lyda Green has pronounced Palin unprepared for the vice presidency. Madigan is Blagojevich’s chief critic.
As a result, Gov. Palin is now attempting to sidetrack a legislative investigation into her alleged attempts to have her ex-brother-in-law fired from the state police. Speaker Madigan distributed pro-impeachment talking points earlier this year.
Palin has many strengths that Blagojevich does not possess. But her shocking relish for repeating blatant lies, her eerily familiar battles with her Legislature and political party leaders, and her refusal to spend time at the statehouse while demanding others do so are all giving me an uneasy case of deja vu.
For much of the past half century, a mayor named Daley has towered over Chicago. We compare the reigns of father and son, assessing their triumphs and failures, their impact on the city—and what their enduring dominance at the polls says about us
* Foreclosures Hit Another Record High - Cook County Tries to Help
Senate President Emil Jones has circulated a memo today to his members saying the Senate will not reconvene until Nov. 12. The move means state park closures, social service cuts and potential state layoffs will not be staved off in the short term.
It also means that the ethics bill is dead because the Senate would have to act on the House’s override within 15 calendar days.
This ain’t over yet. Expect much gnashing of teeth.
The Illinois Constitution requires the Senate to act on the ethics bill sent over by the House yesterday within a 15-day time limit or it dies. But Davidsmeyer said Senate Democratic researchers don’t believe that time limit kicks in until the Senate reads the measure into its records, and that hasn’t happened yet.
The two other issues - restoring budget cuts and approving a lottery lease - do not have a constitutional deadline attached to them.
However, dozen of state workers face the loss of their jobs if the budget cuts aren’t reversed before November 12th, and state parks and historic sites are supposed to close before then.
Jones is arguing that the 15-day constitutional rule has been misinterpreted in the past, so they don’t have to show up.
Just one more reason for a con-con, if you ask me.
More tomorrow.
* 5:23 pm - From a press release…
This Saturday, Sept. 13, frontline employees of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency and their supporters will rally to stop the closure of 14 state historic sites and the layoff of 34 historic preservation workers as a result of Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s recent budget cuts.
The demonstration will coincide with the Illinois State Historical Society’s annual awards reception at the governor’s mansion—located just blocks away from the landmark Dana-Thomas House, one of the historic sites marked for closure by Blagojevich.
But several lawmakers from both parties said Jones is wrong to wait because doing so will jeopardize the legislation. They cited a provision in the state constitution that a 15-day clock starts ticking once one chamber votes on a governor’s proposed changes and delivers the legislation to the second chamber. Without action after 15 days, the legislation would die.
The House delivered the ethics legislation Thursday to the secretary of the Senate, but Jones said the 15-day clock does not start until the Senate returns and reads the bill into the official record.
Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie), part of Madigan’s leadership team, questioned Jones’ decision. If his interpretation is incorrect, then his action by inaction will have killed the ethics reform,” Lang said.
The matter could be challenged in court, both Democratic and Republican lawmakers said.
* Rod Blagojevich just can’t help himself when it comes to Barack Obama. During the Rezko trial, Blagojevich often pointed out to reporters that Rezko also had connections to Obama.
“I would hope the Democrats wouldn’t say that about a governor,” Blagojevich, a former state legislator and congressman, told O’Dell of criticism that the first-term [Gov. Sarah Palin] lacks experience.
“The reality is, governors every day have to make decisions for better or for worse. That’s part of the job. It’s an executive position. And it’s a position that is like what you’re going to do when you’re president. Legislators, they do different things. They debate and they pass their bills back and forth,” he said.
The time [Gov. Palin has] spent away from the capital and her state-funded travel have come under question.
That’s not unlike Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.
Palin has been criticized for accepting daily expense reimbursements while living at her Wasilla home. Some lawmakers have said she isn’t in the Capitol enough. And her family often travels at state expense.
Democrat Blagojevich spends little time in Springfield and last year sometimes flew daily round trips between the Capitol and his Chicago home. His state-funded travel has been questioned and tax experts even believe he could owe taxes on some because it’s a personal fringe benefit.
Metal bats would be banned from all youth baseball leagues in Chicago under an ordinance that Ald. Robert Fioretti (2nd) is set to introduce at today’s City Council meeting.
Advocates of the ban argue that metal bats are more dangerous than wood bats.
“The statistics show that a ball that comes off of a wooden bat goes at about 93 miles an hour, probably at most, but a metal bat anywhere from 100 to 125 miles an hour,” Fioretti said. “Our pastime is built upon the wooden bat. It’s not upon the metal bat.”
The ban would apply to all baseball games involving children under 18 years old and over 8.
Similar legislation introduced in the Illinois General Assembly last year by state Rep. Robert Molaro (D-Chicago)) has not been approved. The state proposal would make it illegal for any coach, parent or teacher to allow aluminum bats in baseball or softball games involving players under 13 years old. Violators would face fines of between $250 and $500.
David Williams, a coach and former president of Hamlin Park Baseball on the North Side, said new standards put into place in 2003 that limit the maximum velocity at which a ball can come off a metal bat — called the Ball Exit Speed Ratio — should ease parents’ fears.
“I think [the proposal] is a knee- jerk reaction,'’ said Williams, whose 10-year-old son Logan used an aluminum bat while practicing at the BASH Sports Academy on Wednesday.
* The question: Should metal bats be banned by the state? Explain.
An independent Washington, D.C.-based watchdog group named U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-3rd) to its fourth annual list of the “20 most corrupt members of Congress” on Wednesday, singling out for scrutiny his local chief of staff, Oak Lawn Trustee Jerry Hurckes.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington claims Hurckes may have violated the prohibition against congressional staffers serving as lobbyists. It also argues his acceptance of contributions to his trustee campaign from interests with business before a committee on which Lipinski serves may violate House ethics rules. And the group also questions the $60,000 in consulting fees he received from Bridgeview Bank.
“Mr. Hurckes clearly used his position in the House to provide special treatment to his constituents and encouraged the notion that his constituents would receive preferential treatment from Rep. Lipinski’s congressional office,” CREW stated in a news release.
Hurckes said neither he nor Lipinski, of Western Springs, has done anything wrong and that CREW’s claims amount to “a rehash of old news.”
Lipinski dismissed the charges against Hurckes and pointed out that while it’s his name on the list, CREW said little about the congressman himself.
It’s true that not much was said about Lipinski, but he is, obviously, the responsible party.
Given that Mr. Hurckes is the most highly paid staff member in Rep. Lipinski’s office, that his position is a full-time job and is generally considered a “senior staff” position, the fact that Mr. Hurckes’ salary is just under the figure that would make him “senior staff” suggests that Rep. Lipinski is paying Mr. Hurckes a salary under this limit precisely so that he can earn a substantial outside income. As a result, the House Ethics committee ought to investigate whether Rep. Lipinski and Mr. Hurckes are attempting to end-run the outside income restrictions.
* And here’s another one..
Finally, by accepting money for his local electoral campaign from companies with interests before Rep. Lipinski, Mr. Hurckes is using his position as a congressional staff member to accept benefits under circumstances which might be construed by reasonable persons as influencing the performance of official duties in violation of House rules.
* Sometimes, I think that Gov. Blagojevich acts just like a spoiled child. His temper tantrum yesterday only reinforced that notion…
It was a very angry Governor Blagojevich going off on mostly the CTA Wednesday. He says the CTA should stop lying to the people and stop breaking promises made in order to get a sales tax increase. Wednesday’s heated words came one day after Mayor Daley pointed fingers at Blagojevich for offering free rides to senior citizens.
“Go back to the CTA and tell them to stop lying to the people. They already broke their promise because they laid off some workers. And now they’re talking about a fare increase, which is yet another broken promise,” Blagojevich said.
A heated Governor Blagojevich accused the CTA of lies, lies and more lies after CTA president Ron Huberman announced a $40 million budget shortfall Monday.
Blagojevich said he plans to “make some changes” to his appointments on the CTA board in an effort to provide more oversight and block a possible fare increase. The transit agency has blamed Blagojevich for some of its budget woes, and warned this week that fare increases may be necessary to cover increasing fuel costs and to pay for a program he pushed that gives free rides to thousands of senior citizens.
The governor said the CTA was exaggerating the impact of the free ride program and accused the agency of lying to lawmakers when pursuing a sales-tax increase to prevent a “doomsday” scenario earlier this year.
“They ought to stop blaming senior citizens, and they ought to stop being dishonest to the public,” Blagojevich said at a news conference on the city’s Southwest Side. “They said if the General Assembly gave them that sales-tax increase that they would not increase fares, that they wouldn’t lay people off and that they wouldn’t cut service, but already we know that they’ve broken that promise.”
As I wrote yesterday, the governor is mostly right on the actual issue. But, as usual, he feels the need to demonize anyone who would dare disagree with him or call him out. This is not the behavior of a reasonable human being.
Maybe it’s because he was handed everything early in his political career. He was made a state legislator and he was made a congressman. He never had to do any real legislative work in either venue because he had such a safe seat and because he didn’t have the temperament.
In a move aimed at insulating themselves from pre-election charges of being a do-nothing legislature, members of the Illinois House Wednesday took steps toward putting a statewide construction program on the books
* Rather than focus all that much on the details of the Lottery lease, the big debate yesterday was over why the House Democrats had provided a revenue stream for the capital projects package, but no actual capital projects…
But the House bill under consideration did not specify which capital projects the lottery lease money would fund.
“When are you going to pass the jobs bill? When are you going to invest in building schools and hospitals and fixing our roads and our bridges and investing in the public transportation needs of our state?” said Governor Blagojevich.
But Flynn-Currie says the House bill could not be specific about spending because no state has ever leased its lottery.
“We don’t know at this moment whether the idea of leasing the lottery will hold water. We probably won’t know for six or eight months whether we have a done deal,” said Flynn-Currie.
That’s true, but the story behind the story which you probably won’t see in the newspapers is that the House Democrats don’t want to give the House Republicans any juicy projects before the November elections. They also would rather deal with a new Senate President, rather than sit down with Emil Jones before he retires.
But the House didn’t pass a spending plan for construction projects. Many House members complained they were only doing half the job.
“The audacity of anyone calling this a capital bill is insulting,” said House Minority Leader Tom Cross, R-Oswego.
Cross urged leaders to sit down and work out a spending plan by October or this would be the “biggest political hoax we’ve seen so far this year.” He then voted for the lease idea. [emphasis added]
That tidbit about somebody railing against a bill and then voting for it is often left out of these types of stories, so kudos to Finke.
“At least it’s a starting point,” said state Rep. Pat Verschoore, D-Milan, a regular critic of the lottery lease who voted for the lease to move the construction program forward. “We just need a capital bill and it looks like it’s the only way we’re going to get one.”
“Madigan wants it,” is a good enough reason for most House Dems.
State legislators Wednesday agreed to tap into $221 million in special funds to save the jobs of state workers facing layoffs and to keep open state parks slated for closure.
The move by House members brings cuts Gov. Rod Blagojevich announced last month one step closer to be being undone. Funding would be restored for Department of Children and Family Services workers, alcohol and substance abuse counselors and for state historic sites and parks.
* I’m kind of surprised that this didn’t get more play today…
A separate measure approved by the House, although by fewer members, would ensure that Medicaid providers would receive more timely reimbursements from the state, but the $371 million to do so would not be covered by the fund sweeps. Hannig said the House wants to work with the governor to find another funding source for the Medicaid payments. Most of the state dollars would capture federal matching funds.
The Senate is not slated to return back to Springfield until November, though some lawmakers, like state Rep. Pat Verschoore, D-Milan, think the cash-strapped agencies will pressure for a special Senate session before then.
Even if the Senate OKs the plan, it still needs the governor’s approval.
“We have several concerns with the proposed legislation,” said gubernatorial spokeswoman Kelley Quinn, who said the funds might not have enough money to support the sweeps.
The Illinois House on Wednesday overwhelmingly rejected Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s attempt to rewrite ethics legislation aimed at preventing him from giving state contracts to campaign donors.
The high-profile smackdown in Springfield came hours after the embattled governor argued in Chicago that lawmakers should embrace amendments he inserted into the bill to improve and toughen it.
House lawmakers instead voted 110-3 to override Blagojevich’s proposed changes, accusing him of trying to kill the ban on pay-to-pay politics rather than enhance it.
The bill’s fate is still uncertain. If the state Senate does not also reject the governor’s changes, the legislation dies.
If the measure isn’t voted on in the Senate within 15 days, the entire bill and the changes die. Senate Democrats have said until they see what the House does, they don’t have plans to return to work until November.
[Rep. John Fritchey] said Senate leaders have repeatedly promised to call an override for a vote in that chamber and hopes they live up to that commitment.
* The ethics bill wasn’t the only veto override yesterday. If and/or when the Senate returns, they’ll have to deal with bill like these…
HB 1432: Insurance coverage of sexual assault services
Originally passed 94-20-0 in the House and 56-0 in the Senate
The House overrode the changes, 77-36, on September 10, 2008 Original intent: It would require insurance companies to pay for treatment of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa in addition to other mental health services they already cover. Governor’s changes: The governor would add treatment and services for sexual abuse victims, as well as for their parents, children, spouses, siblings, domestic or same-sex partners if they die or commit suicide from the abuse.
HB 953:
Insurance coverage of autism services
Originally passed the House 100-7-0 and the Senate 48-4-3
The House overrode the changes, 84-29, September 10, 2008 Original intent: It would expand mandatory insurance coverage of mental health services to also cover marriage counseling or therapy. Governor’s changes: It would require insurance companies to reimburse families for diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorders for children younger than 21. The benefit would max out at $36,000 a year but would be annually adjusted for inflation. Families still would have to pay a co-payment and deductible as usual for their policies, but they could not be dropped from their policies simply because their children were diagnosed with a form of autism.
* The Sun-Times uncovers a nifty little trick at the Chicago Children’s “Museum.” Visitors pay $19 to $23 to park, the museum takes a headcount as everyone walks in, and…
Then, at the end of the year, the museum uses its total annual attendance to help it get a six-figure “parking rebate” from its government landlord, the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority.
Last year, McPier gave the museum $550,000 — money awarded based on the idea that visitors deserve a break on the high cost of parking, records show.
But the museum didn’t use that money to rebate anybody’s parking. Instead, it gave about half the money back to its landlord to cover its share of maintenance costs for common areas of Navy Pier. The museum pocketed the rest for its operating budget.
“Only about 54 or 55 percent of our visitors arrive by car,” Natalie Kreiger, the museum’s spokeswoman, reasons. “With the parking money going into our operating budget, all of our visitors benefit from that money.” [,,,]
Well, the museum had 445,765 visitors last year. The museum estimates that about 245,000 of them arrived by car. Figure, conservatively, that all 245,000 traveled two to a car — a parent and child. That would mean the museum could have provided $4-per-car rebates to all museum visitors who parked in Navy Pier’s garage — and still have had money left over.
Sweet deal, eh?
* More…
A year-by-year look at the “parking rebate” McPier pays to the Chicago Children’s Museum:
2001-02 $270,267
2002-03 $340,043
2003-04 $408,347
2004-05 $489,331
2005-06 $569,887
2006-07 $550,000*
Total $2,627,875
*First year of a $550,000 cap on the parking rebate.
Source: Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority
Rep. Bill Black (R-Danville) announced on the House floor yesterday that he was inspired by the Blagojevich-Madigan hugfest and offered to hug Madigan himself. They embraced in the hallway…
“All those times we come here, you take it for granted,” Watson said in an interview on the floor Wednesday. “But this time it was like, it’s good to be home. It’s good to walk up, and hopefully you don’t lose that enthusiasm.”
Students will be measured every five weeks in math, English, social sciences, science and physical education. An A nets $50, a B equals $35 and a C still brings in $20. Students will get half the money upfront, with the remainder paid upon graduation. A straight-A student could earn up to $4,000 by the end of his or her sophomore year.
Saturday, Gov. Blagojevich announced a partnership between the state and eight Illinois-based credit unions that invested $100 million in securities to finance low-interest, federally backed loans.
Because the Illinois Student Assistance Commission, not the lenders, will determine who gets the loans, community college students’ requests are considered with the same weight as students from 4-year institutions, spokesman Claude Walker said.
Mochal said Presto-X used grain treated with Avitrol, a chemical that causes birds to emit cries and visual signals that frighten away others in a flock. He said ConAgra officials did not know Avitrol would be used or that it is controversial. Avitrol is banned in some jurisdictions, including New York City.
After four years of heading the 16th Circuit, Chief Judge Donald C. Hudson is bound for the Illinois Appellate Court.
Hudson will replace 2nd District Appellate Court Justice R. Peter Grometer, who will retire from the bench in early January. The court is located in Elgin.
* Dem Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran Endorses GOP State’s Attorney Mike Waller, Takes Heat From Terry Link
