This just in…
Tuesday, Aug 7, 2007 - Posted by Rich Miller
* 3:40 pm - The four legislative leaders met twice today, the second time for about an hour. No huge progress reported, but, as before, there is a budget framework, if not an actual budget deal. Lots of conflicting rumors, but the Senate President has told members to expect to vote on a budget soon. What that will entail is not entirely clear.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Madigan has asked staff to make sure that members have made hotel reservations for the weekend. The State Fair tends to fill up every nook and cranny available.
It’s so much fun here, campers, I can’t even begin to explain.
Not.
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Question of the day
Tuesday, Aug 7, 2007 - Posted by Rich Miller
Rate Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s prospects for the 2010 election. Do you think she runs for governor or reelection? Could she defeat Gov. Blagojevich in a primary? Explain.
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The bright, shiny ball
Tuesday, Aug 7, 2007 - Posted by Rich Miller
* That bright, shiny ball of gaming expansion has once again driven the state’s leaders to distraction…
negotiations among members of the House and Senate zeroed in again on gambling as a way to funnel more money to state programs.
Republican leaders in the House and Senate signaled that they may be ready to support a plan to add a casino to Chicago, with revenues from the land-based facility going toward schools and a statewide construction program.
“We can support a boat in Chicago,” said Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson, R-Greenville, echoing comments by House Minority Leader Tom Cross, R-Oswego.
Both GOP leaders cautioned that not all their members see gambling expansion as a cure-all for the state, which has been operating without a budget since July 31 because of wide disagreement among lawmakers and Blagojevich.
* More…
Nearly $1 billion for state spending could come from a city casino and more gambling opportunities at existing casinos, lawmakers say.
As envisioned, that would finance upward of $8 billion in construction statewide while helping increase education spending by $900 million and potentially bailing out the region’s transit agencies to prevent service cuts and fare hikes.
* More…
The revised plan would generate enough money to finance $8 billion to $10 billion in construction. Cross said House Republicans want some of that money for the financially troubled Chicago-area mass transit system. He said that is preferable to the alternative plan that calls for imposing a regional sales tax.
Jones also wants some of the gambling money used to increase education spending. Gaming expansion would allow for a $900 million increase for education. Without the gaming bill, the state could only afford about $600 million more.
Jones’ office said that with a $900 million increase, per-pupil spending could rise from $5,334 to $5,888. That’s still short of the recommended level of $6,405.
* But there’s a catch…
Gov. Blagojevich, Senate Democrats, and Republicans in both chambers have shown support for tying a capital program to a city casino, isolating House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) as the lone potential obstacle to the first major state building program in eight years.
A top Madigan aide expressed skepticism the House could pass such a deal, noting the chamber voted in October 2005 to shut down the state’s riverboat casinos, and that big gambling legislation typically collapses of its own weight.
While some of the 67 House Democrats might back a city casino for a state bricks-and-mortar program, “clearly not very many would, not a majority,” Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said.
Madigan’s reticence to publicly back such a plan has heightened speculation the speaker doesn’t want to hand Blagojevich a political win of any sort, nor give the administration unbridled freedom to spend billions of dollars on construction when lawmakers from both parties mistrust him.
* The governor and the Republicans think they’ve caught Madigan in a trick box. We’ll see what his next move might be. We don’t know yet how many votes that Cross actually has for a casino proposal, for instance. There’s also some curiosity about the governor’s health insurance plan…
Blagojevich remains a wild card. The governor dropped his opposition to gambling expansion in May, but only to try to save his massive health coverage proposal. It’s unclear what the governor would do if his plan were left out, and at this point it appears to be.
* And there’s some speculation that Madigan may run his own budget this week without the gaming provision or a capital plan…
House Speaker Michael Madigan told Democratic representatives late Monday to expect a budget vote as early as Wednesday. Sources tell CBS 2 that Madigan’s budget proposal does not include the cash that the Chicago Transit Authority said it needs to avert nearly 1,100 layoffs and huge service cuts.
It reportedly does have about $570 million in new money for public schools, far short of what the governor wants, and ignores completely his demand for a big new health insurance program.
The money reportedly earmarked for schools, Madigan’s allies note, is more new money than in any recent year.
* More budget and end of session stories, compiled by Paul…
* Governor takes abuse while jogging
* IL budget impasse could delay payments to schools
* Blagojevich backs recalls for Governors
* Sparks fly on utility deal
* Chicago Public Radio: The governor gets a grilling
* Legislators talk of county tax cap, state session may be winding down
* Courts wont close during budget woes
* Lawmakers complain about ’sitting around’ during special sessions
* LeRoy: No budget, but work not optional
* Eric Zorn: Questions answered on ’special sessions’
* Editorial: Theme for the fair is ‘ironic’
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The Pakistani problem
Tuesday, Aug 7, 2007 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Today’s Sun-Times editorial pretty much sums it up…
Gov. Blagojevich’s ill-fated effort to import more flu vaccine during the winter of 2004-05 has turned into a textbook example of how not to govern by bravado and bluster. Virtually nothing about the proposal turned out right — unless you count the initial burst of good publicity for the governor at the time. And now we learn that even the one legitimate bright spot has a sour ending.
The idea sprang from a flu-shot shortage in the fall of 2004. The governor’s office looked abroad to find more vaccine, eventually agreeing to buy some from a British wholesaler for $2.6 million. As a state audit later determined, Illinois pushed ahead before it had the federal approval that would have made the purchase legal. Blagojevich’s office never documented why it ordered a quarter of a million doses.
The administration placed the order in October 2004 but didn’t sign a contract until three months later, after it was billed by the wholesaler. And at that point, state officials apparently knew the shots no longer were needed, because there was enough domestic supply to cover the elderly and others in the high-risk population. […]
Meanwhile, the vaccines sat in storage until the next year. Unable to sell the disputed doses on the open market, Illinois and Eccose donated them to Pakistan, which was struggling with the aftermath of a major earthquake. It was a nice gesture, a way to eke out some good in an otherwise botched operation.
Except, it turns out, not a single dose made it to an earthquake victim. As the Chicago Tribune reported Sunday, Pakistani health authorities didn’t know the doses had expired when they accepted the donation. While Ecosse said the doses still were potent, officials were put off and decided to destroy them instead of using them, the paper said.
So on top of all the other problems with the flu-shot effort, Franks said, now we’ve insulted a key ally and damaged our reputation abroad.
* Pakistan probably overreacted, and the government’s claim that it didn’t know the vaccine was expired might not hold up. Here’s a story from a Pakistani newspaper from early January of 2006, just five days after the governor announced the vaccine was delivered…
Flu vaccine declared un-useable (because its expiry date elapsed in August 2005) by US authorities has been sent for use in the earthquake-affected areas of Kashmir at the request of the Pakistani government.
Earlier, when the expired vaccine was offered to South Africa, its government refused to permit its import because it considered the vaccine unsafe for humans.
A quarter-million doses of the flu vaccine that expired in August last year were bought overseas by the state of Illinois, but couldn’t be imported because of the adverse finding by a federal agency. The vaccine has since been donated for earthquake victims in Pakistan, according to Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.
Still, once again we have a lot of flashy headlines and no real results, with the taxpayers getting stuck with the bill. That’s par for the course in Rod Blagojevich’s Illinois.
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Chapa LaVia won’t run for Congress
Tuesday, Aug 7, 2007 - Posted by Rich Miller
* This wasn’t unexpected. It would have been a tough race, even if she made it through the primary against at least one well-funded opponent and somebody who ran last time.
From the Tribune…
State Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia, an Aurora Democrat, announced Monday that she will seek another term in the state legislature — a decision that rules her out as a potential challenger for U.S. Rep. Dennis Hastert’s 14th District congressional seat.
Although Hastert (R-Ill.) got about 60 percent of the vote in defending his seat last year in an election that gave Democrats control of Congress and ended his run as House speaker, Democrats believe they have a solid chance to win there in 2008. That’s due in part to changing demographics in the district — which begins on the western tip of DuPage County and stretches almost to Iowa.
Hastert is expected to announce whether he will run again in the next two to three weeks, spokeswoman Lulu Blacksmith said Monday.
* Beacon News…
“It was a long decision, I can tell you that,” said Ron Cook, a Chapa LaVia campaign staffer. “She is flattered and honored by the people willing to step forward and support her for this position.”
In the end, Cook said, Chapa LaVia felt she could do more good by remaining in Aurora as a state representative. He said it was not a matter of being qualified for the position, and her committee found support for her run at the office.
“She’s very dedicated to (the 83rd) District,” Cook said. “Her value is where she’s at, with her role now in the state, and she can’t improve on that by going to Congress.”
* Daily Herald…
Former Fermilab physicist Bill Foster, St. Charles attorney Jotham Stein and Hastert’s 2006 opponent, John Laesch, are the remaining Democrats seeking the position.
On the GOP side, state Sen. Chris Lauzen of Aurora, Sugar Grove businessman Jim Oberweis and Geneva Mayor Kevin Burns have expressed interest.
* Meanwhile, columnist Terry Bibo claims to be puzzled about Congressman Ray LaHood’s retirement…
‘Now’s a good time for me.”
That was Ray LaHood’s summary of his reasons for pulling the plug on Washington, D.C., when he spoke to the Journal Star editorial board shortly after announcing his decision. […]
“I can’t think of a thing in the world that I really want to do,” he said. “I can’t think of a bill I want to introduce.”
Really? Nothing about health care or insurance? Nothing about Iraq? Nothing about the problems in subprime mortgages or rising gas prices or how we’re going to pay for all this stuff eventually?
Since he’ll be in office for another year and a half, that’s puzzling, if not alarming. But a lot of things Ray has said and done in the last few years have been puzzling. The running-for-governor thing. The president-of-Bradley-University thing. It does seem like his resume has been out there, doesn’t it?
This is a 2008 Illinois Congressional campaign open thread.
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Morning Shorts
Tuesday, Aug 7, 2007 - Posted by Paul Richardson
* Overtime session allows wind farm legislation; more here
* State senate advances bill on wine sales
* Rezko’s $50 million Iraq deal
* EPA: Area power plants breaking pollution rules
* Daley bolsters Olympic dream
Ed Hogan, an attorney representing the coalition of trade unions, confirmed that “there will be something announced” Tuesday. The deal is contingent on completing “local negotiations…with certain trades,” he said.
The 10-year contract would expire on June 30, 2017—one year after Daley hopes to play host to the Summer Olympic Games. The deal would guarantee labor peace to an International Olympic Committee scheduled to choose a host city in 2009.
* City near deal with 34 unions
* Chicago schools budget 3% hike for teachers; more here
* CTA vote on contingency plan implementation
* O’Hare worst–again; more here
* States adopt marriage ed courses
Texas is the latest state to push marriage education, appropriating $7.5 million this year for programs aimed at reducing divorce rates and, in turn, promoting family stability and economic wellbeing. Couples who attend the Lone Star State’s optional marriage courses will be able to save the $60 they would otherwise pay for a marriage license starting September 1, 2008.
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Question of the day
Monday, Aug 6, 2007 - Posted by Rich Miller
First, the setup…
Brand new second-graders should know how to tell time. But after a long summer break, many are rusty, forcing teachers to go back over the basics — which is the hour hand? — instead of diving into second-grade work.
That’s not a problem at Alain Locke Charter Academy in East Garfield Park, which resumed class July 16 after a three-week summer break. […]
Locke switched last summer to a year-round calendar — 10 weeks of school followed by three-week breaks — and it seems to be paying off. Preliminary state test results are up over last year, including a 10 percentage point gain in reading. Teachers also report more time to plan ahead. […]
Evidence of kids backpedaling over the summer is well-documented. Research on year-round calendars is limited; what exists shows some modest benefits, with the most positive effects on poor kids.
Question: Should all public schools be year-round? Why or why not?
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To recall or not to recall?
Monday, Aug 6, 2007 - Posted by Rich Miller
Even though it would probably be very good for my business, I’m gonna agree with this Daily Herald editorial…
As reported by Daily Herald political writer Eric Krol on Saturday, Republican state Sen. Dan Cronin is launching an effort for a recall amendment to pave the way to get Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich removed from office.
But even though we have been disappointed many, many times — and said so on this page — by Blagojevich’s political grandstanding and ineffectiveness on a variety of issues since he first was elected in 2002, we just can’t give Cronin our endorsement for this effort.
Cronin told Krol: “This is a way for the Republicans to show how we respond to this failure of leadership. And the Democrats are worried (Blagojevich) is going to take his party down the drain.” […]
But we agree with a Blagojevich spokeswoman who calls this a political stunt that won’t help solve the impasse in Springfield. We believe both Republicans and Democrats need to keep their eye on the ball and set priorities on the serious issues facing the state rather than spend time trying to pass an amendment solely to solve one political problem.
Indeed, Republicans had their chance to remove Blagojevich just last year but former state Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka and the party itself waged an ineffective campaign and lost soundly in November. Now Republicans and Democrats alike need to figure out a way to work together and in ways that will benefit the state. And politically, Republicans should concentrate on getting their own act together for the 2008 elections and beyond. […]
There’s already enough politicking in Illinois without waging a California-style recall effort that could stymie future efforts to do what’s right. We urge all sides to get the job done they were elected to do and then urge voters to do their job at the polls if they’re unhappy with the results.
While tempting on its face, I’m not enamored with the recall system. There’s little doubt, for instance, that George Ryan would have been recalled. But voters failed to heed several obvious warnings about Ryan’s corrupt ways, so I figure they got just what they deserved. Same with Blagojevich.
Also, governors and political parties have natural ups and downs in popularity. The leaders shouldn’t constantly be subjected to momentary whims or trends.
When discussing this issue, try to remember that the recall provision wouldn’t be repealed after Blagojevich is gone. This is something we could be stuck with for a very long time to come, and would eventually impact both parties.
Have at it.
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Flip-flops and alienation
Monday, Aug 6, 2007 - Posted by Rich Miller
* My syndicated newspaper column begins with a litany of flip-flops and over the top remarks from Gov. Blagojevich (and it was written before I had heard about this additional goofiness) and ends thusly…
Is it any wonder the Illinois AFL-CIO now feels comfortable challenging the Democratic governor’s pledge to veto any income tax increases? The State Federation of Labor has been a staunch Blagojevich supporter for years, but its leaders demanded last week that the General Assembly ignore the flailing, wild-eyed, veto-threatening man behind the curtain and approve a bill to increase the income tax by a quarter point a year for four years in order to fund public schools.
More importantly, though, the AFL-CIO got behind a proposal to cut Blagojevich out of the distribution of those new education dollars by putting all the cash into a “lock-box” completely controlled by a three-fifths majority of both legislative chambers. This was done because nobody trusts the governor to distribute the funds equitably.
For the AFL-CIO to essentially admit that the man they’ve supported since before the 2002 primary is now completely untrustworthy and should be ignored, bowled over and cut out of the loop shows just how far Blagojevich has sunk. Almost every ally he’s had is bolting for the exit doors.
The unions are also bankrolling a new advertising campaign on black radio stations in Chicago that starts out, “I voted for him, but the man is wrong.” The ad is about the governor’s adamant refusal to support an income tax increase for schools. The spot is running in heavy rotation beginning this morning. The fact that organized labor chose to slam Blagojevich in his most loyal voting base shows just how far away labor has drifted from this man.
Even the Daley clan is getting into the act. Bill Daley, the brother of Chicago’s mayor, wrote an op-ed for the Chicago Tribune last week comparing the governor to the unbendable, unpopular President Bush. Daley urged Blagojevich to drop his expensive universal health insurance idea (which Blagojevich is demanding in return for keeping the government open), stop the sniping, demonstrate thoughtful leadership and start compromising on other issues in order to earn a second chance.
I don’t know how Blagojevich thinks he can effectively govern for the rest of his second term if he stays on this crazy course. It’s like he’s taken every goofy trait from his first term and magnified it tenfold. Maybe when he finally winds up truly alone, he’ll begin to take notice.
Read the whole thing, then discuss.
* And here is a budget and end of session news roundup, compiled by Paul…
* Tribune Editorial: A wink and a nod on ethics reform
* Vote on budget up in the air
* Illinois is days away from running out of money
* No break in IL budget impasse
* Chambers: Budget stalemate reveals an absence of will
* Sun-Times Editorial: Bridge the budget divide
* $852,775 and we’re counting
* Opinion: Ego vs. Compromise
* Clout Street: What would Confucius do on the state budget?
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Sunday wrap-up
Sunday, Aug 5, 2007 - Posted by Rich Miller
[Comments are now open.]
I thought I’d do a brief news wrap-up since the General Assembly is in session later today (although don’t expect huge crowds)…
* Schock will run for Congress…
State Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Peoria, is in the race to succeed U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood in Congress. Saying he’s seen an “outpouring of support” from constituents and leaders throughout the 18th Congressional District, Schock told the Peoria Journal Star on Saturday he plans to run for the U.S. House next year.
* California Secretary of State Restricts Voting Machines…
Ms. Bowen took her toughest action against touch-screen machines, in which a voter’s ballot is generated by a computer. She said the machines made by Diebold Election Systems and Sequoia Voting Systems could be used only in early voting and to meet voting-access requirements for the disabled.
Another touch-screen model, made by Hart InterCivic, can be used more broadly, she said. But all three of the systems can be used only under rigorous security procedures, including audits of the election results.
Ms. Bowen said optical-scanning systems, in which voters mark their choices on paper ballots that are then counted by computers, also were barred but re-certified under the new security procedures.
* Bowen also banned “all modem or wireless connections, regardless of their purpose, in order to prevent connection to an unauthorized computer or network or to the Internet – all of which would present significant additional security risks”
* As I told you Friday, it’s all about how you define the word “deal”…
llinois lawmakers have agreed on a framework to fund critical day-to-day operations of state government but are still split on a multibillion-dollar construction program, House Speaker Michael Madigan said Saturday.
“On an operations budget, there’s a good, solid agreement. But there are some people who want to link capital to an operations budget. That’s why I keep on saying my focus is on an operations budget,” Madigan said. […]
House Minority Leader Tom Cross (R-Oswego) said House Republicans back a state budget that doesn’t increase taxes and relies on natural growth in existing taxes to fund more than $400 million in new spending on schools and pay for essential state services. “That’s all we want to do,” he said. […]
Madigan’s statements Saturday, while interpreted by some at the Statehouse as possible signs of movement, were later undercut by aides to the other leaders and by uncertainty over Senate President Emil Jones’ stance.
Jones has been aligned with Blagojevich and has resisted calls for a budget that doesn’t infuse big money into schools, capital or health care.
* Tribune: Governor searches for exit, friends…
With friends and foes leaving him behind, Gov. Rod Blagojevich has little time left to find a new exit strategy or risk further weakening his stewardship of state government.
Critics say the Democratic governor is losing credibility every day he pushes for his expensive and expansive health-care proposal, but he has vowed to pass it even if it takes all year.
* Marin: We pay for gov’s poor leadership - While pols sit idle, other services — like the CTA — neglected
* Finke…
Illinois State Fair officials insist the show will start on schedule Friday, despite the budget impasse. That means the fair’s Twilight Parade in Springfield will be held the night before.
Blagojevich has been part of the parade every year. His staff said there’s no reason to think he won’t march in it again this year. That could be more entertaining than the fair itself. The governor walking in a parade route lined with hundreds of people facing payless paydays because of him.
Be sure to bring the kids. They can learn some interesting new words.
* Schoenburg: Feuding Democrats’ plans for fair are up in the air… Renovation reunion….
* Once again, the governor’s hype didn’t measure up to the results…
Flu vaccine that the state of Illinois donated to Pakistan never made it to earthquake victims that it was intended to help, according to a published report.
The Chicago Tribune reported in its editions today that Pakistani health officials crushed and burned the quarter-million doses of vaccine, worth $2.6 million, because the expiration date had passed.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration ordered the vaccine from overseas in 2004 during a shortage in Illinois, but the U.S. government refused to let it into the country. It was refrigerated for months before being destroyed in November 2006, according to documents Pakistani officials released to the newspaper.
* Director: It’s up to legislators to get Ceasefire
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[Comments are now open.]
I don’t know whether the governor’s staff is lying to him, whether he’s not smart enough to understand the bill or whether he is deliberately not telling the truth. But this statement about the electric rate relief bill is completely outside the realm of reality…
“I met someone not too long ago in southern Illinois who told me that his electric bill went from $100 a month to $300 a month when Ameren decided to raise rates,” the Democratic governor said in audio posted on the Web site of Illinois Information Service Radio, an arm of state government.
“Now, the agreement that was passed provides for about $12 in relief to the average Ameren customer. So that means that that fellow, who’s paying $200 more for his electric bill, at best might only end up paying $188 more, and so the question is: Is that the best possible deal we can get for people?”
When asked later how the governor had arrived at those figures, Blagojevich spokeswoman Rebecca Rausch said, “It’s based on averages, based on the legislation that was sent to us.”
But Shelley Epstein, a spokesman for the Ameren Illinois utilities, said he is “not quite sure what the governor is talking about.”
“His math is not right,” Epstein added. “People who had the largest increases will get the most relief.”
Ameren has said that all of its residential customers will see a minimum credit of $100 in 2007, which breaks down to a little more than $8 a month.
Epstein said the customers who are in line for $100 credits saw their power bills go up by just $150 annually. A customer whose bill increased by $200 a month should see “substantially more” in relief, he said.
If a customer’s bill tripled, that person’s rate relief would be many times higher than what the governor claimed. In the case cited above, the relief would be about $100 a month.
This is just beyond the pale. Criticize the bill all you want, but tell the truth, governor. Or is that just too difficult for you to do?
Meanwhile, Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn has had enough…
Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn says the gridlock over a new state budget shows why Illinois needs to let angry voters throw politicians out of office.
The Chicago Democrat says other states have recall provisions that remind politicians they can be removed if they do a bad job.
Quinn told WLS radio today that it’s time for Illinois to “put it on the books.”
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