* 2:24 pm - Once again, we’re waiting to see what the governor will do with the operating budget. Hang loose.
* 2:32 pm - The governor has signed several bills into law already today. Go check them out here.
The governor has relentlessly complained about corporate loopholes, but he did sign one loophole into law today. Senate Bill 455 has this synopsis…
Amends the Use Tax Act. Provides a tax exemption for the use of aircraft that: (i) leave this State after the purchase of the aircraft; (ii) are temporarily located in this State for the purpose of a prepurchase evaluation; or (iii) are temporarily located in this State for the purpose of a post-sale customization. Amends the Retailers’ Occupation Tax Act. Provides a tax exemption for the sale of aircraft that leave this State after the purchase of the aircraft. Provides that the Acts’ sunset provisions do not apply to these exemptions. Effective immediately.
* 3:22 pm - This week’s WDWS podcast features retiring state Rep. Bill Black. Go listen. Hat tip: IP.
It only took one day, but all four Dems who had been running to succeed Congressman Luis Gutierrez (D) quit the race after the incumbent reversed course and announce his intent to seek re-election next year.
*** 4:47 pm *** OK, so now I’m hearing it will likely be tomorrow at the earliest before they do anything with the budget bill. Apparently, there’s still a lot of work to do. While the lid is not securely on tight, I’m giving up for the day. I’ll check back occasionally, but you’re released.
Blagojevich signed several other bills into law on Friday. They include:
- Legislation to classify Salvia divinorum, a plant that allegedly has hallucinogenic properties, as a Schedule 1 controlled substance, the same category as heroin.
House Bill 457 outlaws possession or sale of any form of the plant, which is now sold over the counter in various forms. It takes effect Jan. 1.
Street names for Salvia divinorum are Diviner’s Sage, Ska Maria Pastora or Sally D. The plant has been banned in various forms in at least five other states.
You can read a bit more about the plant here, or just page through articles here.
Now, the question: Was this too harsh or the right thing to do? Explain fully.
…Adding… The focus on the governor in some of the comments is severely misplaced. Yes, he signed it, but the bill passed both chambers with unanimous support.
* Aaron Chambers had this observation about the governor’s pledge to veto $500 million in “pork” from the operating budget and try to implement almost $500 million in new health care programs…
Blagojevich reasserted his relevance in a big way. But when retribution comes, we may know the true meaning of “big.”
Yep.
* The Post-Dispatch looks at how the governor’s health care plan might fare in the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules…
Rep. David Miller, D-Dolton, a [JCAR] member, was hesitant to judge a plan he hadn’t seen but said it would likely face a tough audience at its committee hearing. He said that even if the three Senate Democrats supported it, the House Democrats would not be easy to convince.
“I know I’ve got some serious questions about it,” Miller said. “I would think a majority of members, facing these hurdles, would be opposed to it.”
Rep. John Fritchey, D-Chicago, another committee member, said the committee was “intended to help implement legislation and legislative policy, not to subvert it or act as a shadow legislature.”
Not mentioned, unfortunately, is that Fritchey is one of Blagojevich’s harshest critics and an avowed enemy. Miller was the sponsor of HB 750 - the income tax hike for schools and property tax relief - which the governor fought so hard against this spring. Miller and Fritchey are also legislative allies on most issues.
* The Tribune went back to the 2006 campaign archives to check on the governor’s latest flip-flop…
With the issue in limbo before voters went to the polls, Blagojevich spokeswoman Abby Ottenhoff said the governor would block any post-election efforts by lawmakers to give themselves a raise. She said he would use his line-item veto power to scuttle any such funding. […]
When asked why he retreated from his campaign opposition to pay raises, he provided a different take on the matter.
“I don’t know that I ever got asked that in the campaign,” he said.
The governor’s latest comment came as no surprise to Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock), who voted against the raises.
“He does this all the time,” Franks said. “He’ll say anything and do the exact opposite. For him to do a complete flip-flop, I would say, it’s the only consistent thing he does.”
I propose a solution. Bring in Mayor Daley and Rep. J. Dennis Hastert for a bipartisan mediation of this mess.
Daley has been harping all summer that all lawmakers need to do is negotiate, negotiate, negotiate. Hastert, the former speaker of the U.S. House, announced that he’s retiring soon, so he clearly has some free time available. His experience as a wrestling coach can only help.
Send the two of them to Springfield to force Blagojevich and the leaders of the General Assembly to understand that only the strong survive.
Maybe then we’ll have peace in the valley.
Except, like any sane person, they wouldn’t go near the Statehouse with a two hundred-mile pole. Would you?
* More budget stuff, compiled by Paul…
* Rochester Supt. denounces denial of school funds as political charade
* Plan may revive funds for hospital; hospital assessment program chart
* Far be it from me to offer lobbying or PR advice. I don’t get paid to do such a thing. But even I can tell that this might be slightly counterproductive…
Metra Executive Director Phil Pagano told board members Friday that he’s become increasingly frustrated with the tenor of the discussion in Springfield about transit needs.
“I guess I’m sick and tired of also people thinking that, in plain, blunt language, our riders are lily-white and making $250 thousand a year. That’s B.S.,” he said. “We are carrying more and more a diversified ridership base.”
Pagano said Metra’s ridership is 58 percent women and includes “plenty” of $20,000-a-year secretaries.
Even more frustrating, he said, is that some of the same lawmakers who refuse to back new transit funding ask Metra to provide additional service.
“I guess I’m getting a little tired of ‘Your guys can afford (higher fares),’” he said.
You have secretaries who ride the train? Oooooo. Good for you.
* Director Pagano also had some harsh words for all the attention lavished upon the CTA’s impending meltdown…
On the CTA, he snapped, “I’m getting really tired of the CTA and their service cuts. This isn’t a one-agency issue.”
All snark aside, I can understand Metra’s frustration. Really, I can. But Pagano seems clueless about the political reality in Springfield. Just about every Chicago legislator is in favor of pumping more money into mass transit. The publicity about the CTA’s woes are helping Metra get some attention.
Whining about the lack of publicity or the inattention by Springfield is not Metra’s answer. Their problem is that too many Republicans, particularly in the House, bought into an “easy fix” for transit that was based on gaming expansion. That package is now on life support. It’s up to Metra, PACE and the RTA to convince those recalcitrant suburban legislators - most of them Republicans - to get back on board the negotiated agreement for a sales tax hike which fell apart when the easy gaming money was dangled in front of them.
Anyway, that’s my two cents. More stories, compiled by Paul…
Lane, the school district’s attorney, said Americans also complained when the first telephone poles were driven into the ground at the beginning of the 20th Century.
* Video: City Desk with Andy McKenna…part 1…part 2
* TY Fahner: Chicago lawyer enjoyed roles in government
* Clarence Page: Many of us tune out opposing viewpoints
Almost 20 years ago, sociologist David Knoke at the University of Minnesota found that you can predict someone’s politics with great certainty if his or her closest two or three friends all lean in one political direction.
“The more homogeneous that someone’s personal networks are,” Knoke told me in a recent interview, “the more likely they share the partisanship of other people.”
While there was a growth of 1,600 jobs in manufacturing from June to July, employment in that sector is down 2,200 from July 2006. Manufacturing employment is down more than 200,000 jobs since the turn of the century, said Manufacturers Association spokesman Jim Nelson. He said the association doesn’t see the June-to-July numbers as the start of a trend, at least not yet.
City managers from Joliet to Frankfort are tightening their budgets to account for revenue losses — ranging from $600,000 to $2 million — because of an expected drop in residential building permits this year to the lowest level since 1991. The cities’ fees for park districts and water and sewer usage also have seen anemic growth.
…I was burned out from exhaustion, buried in the hail,
Poisoned in the bushes, blown out on the trail,
Hunted like a crocodile, ravaged in the corn.
“Come in,” she said,
“I’ll give you shelter from the storm.”
* 3:35 pm - Yes, I’m still here and still waiting on any action regarding the budget bill. Rumors have been circulating all day that we may not see anything until Monday. But one never knows for sure.
* 4:54 pm - I was just told by the guv’s office, “There is no further news.” So it appears that the lid is on for the rest of today.
* In case you’re wondering, we’ll be keeping an eye on this bill all day today. That’s the budget bill, which Gov. Blagojevich claims he’ll partially veto to take out “pork” and other stuff.
Just days after Gov. Rod Blagojevich approved 9.6 percent pay hikes for himself and Illinois lawmakers, he is poised again to sign off on yet another salary bump.
The latest one would push his salary up by $20,000 at a time when he and lawmakers have been unable to complete their business on time.
The budget sent to Blagojevich last week by the General Assembly would add another 3.5 percent to their pay checks, meaning that the governor and lawmakers would see their salaries jump a total of more than 13 percent in the course of just a few days.
* Expect the guv to sign that provision into law. This is what he said about the other pay raise bill…
“That seems to be among legislators the single biggest priority for them and I felt if that is so important to them then and that’s what really motivates their priorities, then maybe if I respect their priority then they will respect the priority I have, which is giving health care to families,” Blagojevich said.
The governor’s press office suggested to Lee Newspapers that the pay hike in the budget bill would likely be treated the same way.
* Meanwhile, the governor signed the corporate loophole closure bill late yesterday…
A key component of the new state budget was put into place Thursday with the elimination of $250 million worth of business tax breaks.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed Senate Bill 1544, which ends a handful of tax breaks now enjoyed by businesses and creates an amnesty program for some businesses that have unpaid taxes.
Blagojevich called the tax breaks “corporate loopholes” that placed an unfair burden on individual taxpayers.
Not mentioned in the story is that part of the budget deal, which now seems defunct, was to get rid of two of those loophole closures - one on car rental companies and another on banks.
* The guv also vetoed a bill that reinstated the tax credit for start-up costs for providing employee child care…
“This bill creates a corporate tax loophole in a tight fiscal year,” Blagojevich said in a statement.
The legislation passed both chambers with unanimous votes.
* Like I told you yesterday, there wasn’t much news generated at Republican Day, but reporters did their best to write something relevant. Abdon Pallasch (the Sun-Times’ new political writer) had the best lede by far…
Forced to cling together under “one big tent” by a thunderstorm at the state fair Thursday, Illinois Republicans said state Democrats’ disunity would clear the GOP’s way back to relevance in the next election.
“I have no doubt none of us will be booed today the way the Democrats boo their own leadership,” U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood said.
“This big tent is what carries us to election victories,” U.S. Rep. John Shimkus said, referring to the philosophy that the party should welcome supporters of different views and backgrounds.
But officials acknowledged the party has its own troubles, too.
Many people are unhappy with President Bush’s handling of the Iraq war. Closer to home, some key Republicans are retiring from Congress and the General Assembly, meaning the party must fight to keep those seats before trying to pick up new ones.
“It creates a challenge,” said Illinois House Minority Leader Tom Cross, R-Oswego. “To be blunt about it, we’ve got to first hold before we can start playing offense, and that becomes a money issue.”
The day was devoted to Republicans, but the state’s Democratic leaders got plenty of bashing. Democrats had their state fair day on Wednesday. It was marred by infighting and at one event, Democratic Comptroller Dan Hynes offered an apology. That wasn’t lost on Republicans.
“Like Dan Hynes, I want to apologize for the Democratic Party,” House Republican Tom Cross of Oswego said.
Still going: Few lawmakers attended either the Republican or Democratic rallies, largely because after more than two months in overtime budget session, they wanted to get out of Springfield.
“I never imagined I’d be coming straight over from session to the state fair,” said state Sen. Christine Radogno, a Lemont Republican. “We need some partisan balance in Illinois politics. If there’s any doubt about that, just look at what went on last session.”
* The Tribune compared yesterday’s GOP presidential straw poll to Iowa…
Although more than 14,000 votes were cast in the Iowa straw poll, only 922 ballots were cast at the Illinois event, which was held in rainy weather as part of Republican Day at the Illinois State Fair.
Illinois isn’t Iowa, where the first in the nation real voting takes place next January, so the closest thing to a candidate at the fair Thursday was Chicagoan John Cox, who says he is running but can’t even get on the straw poll ballot because this campaign is not being taken any more seriously than his recent races for US Senate, Congress, or the Cook County recorder of deeds.
* Funniest story of the day from a GOP poll-watcher at the Fair: “A woman came up to vote in the straw poll and asked me what name was on her shirt.” The name? Mitt Romney. Lots and lots of ringers for that guy yesterday.
* The more important vote may have been the one by the Republican County Chairmen’s Association earlier in the day…
Members of the Illinois Republican County Chairmen’s Association, meeting at the Crowne Plaza, had a secret-ballot poll of their own. Thompson got the most support with 22 votes, followed by 13 for Giuliani, nine for Romney, two for Huckabee, one for Hunter and one for McCain.
Other campaigns chose not to do that. State. Rep. Tom Cross, the Illinois House Republican leader from Oswego, is the chairman of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s campaign. He recently told reporters he did not plan to bus in supporters or otherwise try to manipulate the outcome. On Thursday, Cross downplayed the event’s significance in the 2008 presidential race.
“I think this straw poll, and I applaud Andy for doing it, but I think without the candidates here, it doesn’t have the same meaning or the same significance like you saw in Iowa. But it’s a starting point,” he said.
Just before state GOP chairman Andy McKenna announced the results from the podium at the Director’s Lawn at the fair, sign-carrying supporters of Paul, who has developed an Internet-driven following, traded chants with the gathered supporters of the ultimate winner.
And shortly after Thursday’s program, Republican Day at the state fair, some state troopers calmed participants in a disagreement spurred by Paul supporters waving their signs behind the heads of Craig Romney and Illinois Romney chairman Dan Rutherford, a state senator from Chenoa, during TV interviews being done away from the stage.
Paul’s libertarian stylings and campaign of strict interpretation of the Constitution has earned him an unorthodox band of sign-carrying supporters. They frequently interrupted TV reports of the event and at one point, Romney’s Illinois chairman, state Sen. Dan Rutherford (R-Chenoa), ripped a sign out of one Paul supporter’s hands and threw it on the ground.
* Hot dog and beans? Not exactly a State Fair tradition. Then again, Mitt Romney’s son Craig, who was in Springfield yesterday, is from Beantown…
He also grabbed a hot dog and beans and washed it down with lemonade.
Dennis Hastert says he won’t seek another term in Congress.
During an interview this morning on WLS Radio’s “The Don and Roma Morning Show,” the Illinois Republican confirmed that he plans to announce his retirement at a news conference later today.
Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert might not serve out the rest of his term, setting up the possibility of a special election to find a replacement.
Hastert, who will formally announce today that he won’t seek re-election, repeatedly refused to discount an early retirement in a Thursday interview with the Daily Herald.
* Meanwhile, I’m not so sure that I’m buying into the spin on this one…
Darin LaHood, the 39-year-old son of U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood, said Thursday he’s formed an exploratory committee to run for the congressional seat being given up by his father. […]
Rep. LaHood has said he counseled his son, who has three boys ranging in age from 5 years to 9 months, against a run for Congress.
From what I’m hearing, Congressman LaHood is backing the kid all the way right now and the word’s going out that Darin will be the guy.
* And, finally, here’s a bit more on Gutierrez’ announcement yesterday that he’s changed his mind and will seek another term.
This is a 2008 Congressional campaign open thread.
