* 3:20 pm - Mayor Daley was asked today about the recent lack of communication between himself and Gov. Blagojevich, and countered with a long laundry list of budgetary hypocrisy from the same governor who had offered National Guard troops to quell the city’s “out of control” violence problem…
Mayor Daley ridiculed Gov. Blagojevich today for offering state troopers and National Guard equipment to combat Chicago crime the governor called “out of control” at the same time the governor is cutting the state’s law enforcement budget. […]
“The last call I got was [after] his press conference, where he said he wanted to help us in regard to law enforcement. Then, I read that he cut: $4.8 million in the Ill. Department of Corrections community-based re-entry program for ex-offenders; almost $3 million from the Ill. State Police; $100,000 out of the South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force; $7 million [out] of the Department of Juvenile Justice; $600,000 out of the Ill. Violence Prevention Authority and $1.2 million out of a diversion program for non-violent offenders,” Daley said.
“What help can he give me? What help is he talking about? Fine, he has a budget crisis. But, don’t make a statement and have a press conference, then try to call everybody and say, ‘Oh, we want to work with you.’ State Police have no money. They’re being cut. … This has nothing to do with politics. But, let’s get the facts straight.” […]
But, the mayor added, “He’s not pressuring me. He’s hurting people. … Everybody has a tough budget. [But], you have to set priorities. Okay, then he set his priority. But, he can’t help anyone. This whole idea of sending the State Police up here—what was it for? They were telling us their budgets were being cut.”
* The response…
The governor’s spokesman Lucio Guerrero acknowledged that the mayor’s list of law enforcement cuts was accurate. But, he insisted that there is still plenty of wiggle room in the budget to follow through on the governor’s offer to help fight crime in Chicago.
“The cuts we made were to create a balanced budget. But, it doesn’t mean we’re not able to find creative ways to help out,” Guerrero said.
* The battle rages on between suburban members of Congress and Canadian National Railway.
In a letter to U.S. Rep. Melissa Bean, CN President and CEO E. Hunter Harrison declined the invitation to appear at the public hearing in Chicago because he said the lawmakers are unwilling to consider the deal’s benefits.
Harrison said CN has met with Bean and her staff multiple times to explain its stance, and that they don’t want to attend the hearing because Bean refuses to recognize the benefits that CN will bring to her constituents.
Bean has been an ardent critic of the acquisition, and yesterday the Barrington Congresswoman, along with Reps. Judy Biggert of Hinsdale, Bill Foster of Geneva, Don Manzullo of Ogle County and Peter Roskam of Wheaton proposed legislation to try to block the bill by giving more consideration to the impacts of railroad transactions on local communities:
“The current process puts the interests of industry over those of American families and taxpayers,” Bean said in a prepared statement. “This legislation provides balance and better reflects American values by protecting the rights of our constituents and communities.”
The bill would require the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to reject an acquisition if its adverse effects on safety outweigh its benefits.
Senator Dick Durbin led a group of lawmakers who met Thursday with U.S. Surface Transportation Board vice chairman Frank Mulvey. The lawmakers said they wanted to reiterate their concern that the agency has not adequately considered problems the sale would cause.
The Joliet City Council land-use committee voted this week for an agreement that would spell out Canadian National’s obligations to help ease the impact on Joliet. The full council still must vote on the agreement, and that could happen in mid-August or September.
[…]
“We (Joliet) are one of a few that have been meeting with Canadian National,” Thanas said. “From our perspective, we don’t see a need to wait any longer.”
* Expect the Illinois delegation to keep fighting this one tooth and nail though. Many of their constituents are up in arms over the deal.
* With all the pessimism surrounding Illinois politics, I think it’s fitting to do a Question of the Day that’s more cheery.
Say something nice about any Illinois politician, whether it’s your state Representative/Senator, a Constitutional officer, or someone that you just think is doing a good job.
[Note] Keep it clean and as well-intentioned as possible for this website. I’ll be monitoring this one especially close.
* The Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability met last night for a hearing at the Capitol in front of a large crowd of which many a future hangs in the balance.
The commission has until September 11th to make a recommendation, and most on the panel seemed apprehensive about the move:
“All we’re doing is shuffling the cards,” said Rep. Rich Brauer, R-Petersburg, of relocating the jobs to Harrisburg. “That’s not right.”
[…]
“It wasn’t an economic decision then. It was a political decision,” Syverson said as onlookers in the Capitol rotunda exploded into cheers and applause.
* Tracy Wyatt, the Southeastern Illinois College Foundation Director, tried to downplay the notion that the building in Harrisburg is sitting in a floodplain.
Wyatt claimed that after a day the flood, the water subsided enough at the front of the building so that people could get in and out.
We posted the picture a couple of weeks ago and as the saying goes it’s worth a thousand words…
* Bethany Jaegar has it right:
They’re both victims, one set to lose either way. The motivation behind the move is the most contentious point, particularly whether the idea is rooted in economics or in politics.
GOP legislators representing the Springfield area allege the governor’s proposal was retribution for supporting a measure that would allow voters to recall elected officials, a measure perceived to be directed at the governor.
They list various state-owned facilities that have space and could house the division. “We can move them a block or two and not 200 miles,” said Rep. Raymond Poe, a Springfield Republican, during the hearing.
The administration refutes the allegation and says the move is intended to give a boost to an economically depressed area of the state.
* Over the past few months the Governor has been sounding the alarm that Speaker Madigan wants to raise income taxes.
In fact, there was one press conference I remember where Blagojevich actually challenged Madigan to sign a written pledge that he will not do so after the November elections.
“I think it’s unethical to stand in the way of creating jobs and putting people back to work,” he said. “It’s unethical to raise taxes on people.”
* I wasn’t exactly sure where he was going with that, or his intentions for tying ethics legislation to his capital plan, but anyways….
The Speaker’s spokesman, as well as numerous election wary House Dems, have emphatically denied that Madigan wants to raise the income tax after the election.
However, there have been several comments by the Speaker, and those close to him, that have added fuel to the fire. After the last special session the Speaker gave a press conference and was pelted with questions about his intentions on the issue.
He said that he didn’t think that it would come up in the fall legislative session, but when asked about the spring he grinned, “Spring is spring. It’s a long time away.”
Not exactly comforting for those aforementioned House Democrats.
*That’s why I was surprised to hear Rep. Currie go off on this tangent after the Leaders’ meeting yesterday:
Currie said a “modest” tax rate hike, coupled with a constitutional amendment allowing the state to apply a higher tax rate to the highest earners, enjoys substantial support among House members. Madigan has said in recent weeks he will not push a tax increase this year, but he has not categorically ruled out such an effort in 2009.
Why even go there? If I were on the Gov’s press team I would be going after that one, not leaking a 20-day old memo to the press where Madigan uses an *gasp* expletive.
* Yesterday’s leaders’ meeting was quite the exercise in relentless finger pointing and political futility that is our sad state of Illinois politics.
The Governor and his allies on the capital bill continued to hammer Mike Madigan, and Madigan’s surrogates railed about their caucus’ distrust for the Governor. My favorite line by far was this though:
“He sends minions who admittedly say they have no authority to negotiate or make any decisions,” Blagojevich said. The governor said he would try to pass a law requiring Madigan to come to meetings if he could.
classic.
* Shortly after the meeting a memo from the Speaker to John Coli, president of the Teamsters Joint Council 25, was leaked to the press.
The Governor’s spokesman, Lucio Guerrero, said the letter reveals Madigan as “angry and isolated.” He’s partially right. The short, blunt letter doesn’t reflect well on the Speaker, and he’s definitely “out on a limb” as Rich wrote in the Cap Fax today.
However, Madigan still holds Mayor Daley as the ace up his sleeve in this fight, and judging by the Governor’s own admission yesterday that he hasn’t talked to the Mayor since officer Francis’ July 7th funeral, he still holds that ace pretty tightly.
* The Governor’s people claim that Madigan is being stubborn and downright obstructionist in his war against the capital bill. In many ways they are correct.
According to an inside source at the meeting, Representative Currie had told the Governor’s office beforehand that she wanted to personally see the individual reductions in the compromise capital bill. When presented with a box of over 600 line item reductions at the meeting, she quickly dismissed them.
Clearly the Speaker wants to do capital his way, but the pressure tactics employed by the administration seem childish at best.
The Governor has been on a PR blitz against the Speaker, but even that has come to backfire. The person he desperately needs to win over is Mayor Daley, and he all but severed that chance with his brash suggestion of using the Illinois National Guard to curb violence in Chicago.
And this letter? It was sent over 20 days ago. If that’s the best that they can do to turn the heat up on Speaker Madigan, than their chance for a compromise capital plan looks truly bleak.
“If, indeed, somebody [who] testifies before a City Council committee is demoted or disciplined because of what he or she said, that goes to the very heart of the legislative process,” Burke said.
“Fair Factor” was teased to reporters as “the grossest contest you’ve ever seen” and is likely to feature pigs feet, night crawlers and “disgusting” milkshakes.
“It really will be disgusting,” said Rachael Atchison, a downstate Fox TV representative sponsoring the attraction.
Agency spokesman David Blanchette said no decisions have been made on what will happen at sites like Black Hawk Historic Site in Rock Island, the David Davis Mansion in Bloomington or the Lincoln Log Cabin in Lerna.
Foster, who was elected from the district of former Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), was given the bill that resolved the issue. Foster’s bill inserted language into the housing bill barring anyone convicted of a sex offense, mortgage fraud, or drug-dealing in the last five years, from repurchasing government-bought foreclosed homes.
*** 3:24 pm *** The governor said today that the last time he talked to Mayor Daley was during Chicago police officer Richard Francis’ funeral, which was July 7th. That was nine days before the governor suggested he might call out the National Guard to stem the “out of control” violence in the city.
The governor said he called Daley to discuss his National Guard proposal, but as I told subscribers this morning, that call has not yet been returned.
*** 2:33 pm *** A spokesperson for the governor just said that the governor wants to take a couple of days to decide whether to call a special session. More in tomorrow’s Capitol Fax unless something breaks publicly before then.
*** 2:03 pm *** Read the governor’s press release on the “compromise” capital plan by clicking here.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Illinois Senate President Emil Jones are the targets of separate lawsuits filed today in Sangamon County court by a group that claims the two officials are keeping secret information about pork-barrel spending.
The Washington, D.C.,-based Judicial Watch wants Blagojevich and Jones to release information about how lump-sum member-initiative funds are being spent. […]
No lawsuit has been filed against the Illinois House of Representatives because that chamber has provided information about member-initiative spending, Calomino said.
Read the lawsuit against Blagojevich here, and the suit against Jones here.
*** 1:49 pm *** The governor has finished speaking. No mention of a special session. I figure we’ll get a press release about it eventually. They have a “compromise” plan, now they have to make Madigan look bad for rejecting it. How could they do that without a special? The only thing that would stop him from calling a special session would be Senate President Jones.
*** 1:35 pm *** Gov. Blagojevich: “Speaker Madigan is not here again. Instead he has sent his minions.”
Helpful.
*** 1:24 pm *** Senate President Emil Jones: “Let the bridges fall and the schools crumble. All they will do is sit and criticize.”
“They,” of course, are the House Democrats.
*** 1:17 pm *** The proposed “compromise” capital plan will now total $25 billion, according to a legislative spokesperson.
*** The Lottery lease, Road Fund money and “excess” revenues from the gasoline sales tax will be used to fund the proposal, as I outlined to subscribers this morning.
*** That gasoline sales tax raid is gonna cause some problems. This is a $200 $100 million skim out of the General Revenue Fund (gas sales tax goes to GRF, gas tax, which is based on gallonage, goes to Road Fund). The governor just whacked $1.4 billion out of the GRF and now he wants to deprive it of an additional $100 million. Plus, what happens if gas prices continue to decline and he has to find the rest of that $100 million elsewhere in GRF?
*** 1:11 pm *** House Majority Leader Barb Currie just told reporters that the governor merely suggested that he would put the pay to play bill into the mix if the General Assembly approves the capital bill. She said the guv should sign it before any action is taken on capital.
*** Rep. Currie also said the Lottery lease was never a good idea, putting this proposed “compromise” in serious doubt. The Lottery and a couple of other smallish things will fund the capital projects package, now that gaming is off the table.
*** 1:02 pm *** Senate Republican Leader Frank Watson just told reporters that Gov. Blagojevich has agreed to put the pay to play ethics bill into the mix with the capital bill. Not sure yet whether he is actually threatening to veto it if he doesn’t get the capital bill or what. More in a bit.
*** Sen. Watson also told reporters that all gaming expansion is off the table as a funding mechanism for the capital plan. Not a huge surprise.
*** Leader Watson also claimed that a special session was not discussed during the leaders meeting.
* 12:52 pm -Subscribers know I had a brief piece this morning about the current lack of communication between Gov. Blagojevich and Mayor Daley. I’m hearing that CBS 2 has done some more snooping around and will run a story about it this evening.
House Republican leader Tom Cross says Governor Rod Blagojevich and House speaker Michael Madigan need a “super timeout” to mend their fractured relationship.
Madigan skipped another meeting Thursday with Blagojevich and top legislative leaders who are talking about a compromise to get a statewide construction program passed to repair Illinois’ infrastructure.
* 11:10 am - Kevin is at the Thompson Center awaiting word on the leaders meeting. While you wait, perhaps you can chew on this…
GALESBURG - State Comptroller Dan Hynes said Wednesday that although he hopes his two-week, 18-city trip will persuade Gov. Rod Blagojevich to sign House Bill 824, ending so-called “pay-to-play” politics in Illinois, he’s not confident the governor plans to sign the bill as is. […]
“It’s been nine straight years of corruption in state government,” Hynes said. “That, I think, has fed this strong desire for reform. I think if there is one issue most problematic, it is this pay-to-play issue.”
* But then Hynes appeared to contradict himself. All that corruption should be brushed aside and the problems with the governor’s lack of truthfulness should somehow be magically overcome…
Of the Legislature, he said, “They just do not trust this governor. I think they have reason not to trust him. I don’t trust him, but you have to get past that.” […]
…some state officials, including Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, have spoken out in support of a new bill that would ban using a wireless device while crossing streets. […]
The Illinois General Assembly bill, also known as HB 4520, was introduced in January by Rep. Ken Dunkin (D- Chicago), who then insisted: “This legislation is not laughable. On the surface it’s like, ‘Oh wow, what is this?’ But it’s becoming more and more of a common problem with people haplessly crossing an intersection and almost killing themselves.”
Under the proposed law, Illinois residents would get slapped with a misdemeanor and a $25 fine if caught using a cell phone or other wireless device while traversing streets.
* The question: Do you support or oppose this proposed texting while walking ban? Explain.
* Two events have helped create a minor buzz about Republican Congresscritter Judy Biggert’s reelection chances. First, Biggert’s Democratic opponent Scott Harper raised almost as much as she did in the recent reporting quarter. Then, CQ Politics made a minor adjustment to her ranking…
• Illinois’ 13th (New Rating: Republican Favored. Previous Rating: Safe Republican). Republican Rep. Judy Biggert , who has centrist GOP leanings, has been very politically secure in a mostly Republican-leaning district that includes Naperville, Bolingbrook and other suburbs southwest of Chicago.
But she may need to keep an eye on Democratic businessman Scott Harper, who already has raised more money than 2006 Democratic nominee Joseph Shannon, who won 42 percent of the vote in what was the best showing by a Democrat against Biggert in her five terms. Harper’s campaign is serious enough that he’s attracted contributions from Illinois Sen. Richard J. Durbin and Rep. Jan Schakowsky.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), the political arm of House Democrats, hasn’t included Illinois’ 13th on its lists of highly competitive Republican-held districts, and Biggert still is strongly favored. But this a race to keep an eye on for signs of increased competitiveness.
That last graf is the most important. CQ is just saying that the race might be tighter than first thought.
Republicans are seeking to downplay any talk that Rep. Judy Biggert (R) could be in a competitive race after her opponent outraised her in the second quarter, and they passed around an internal poll Wednesday that showed Biggert way ahead.
The Biggert poll, conducted by American Viewpoint Inc., was done in mid-June and showed the incumbent holding a 55-30 lead, with a job approval rating of 67 percent.
Democrat Scott Harper’s campaign disputed those numbers, citing its own polling data, which it says shows the incumbent’s job approval below 50 percent.
Three things: That Biggert survey is a pretty old poll. However, note that Harper’s campaign didn’t relase the head-to-heads or even “deserves to be reelected” numbers. And, Rod Blagojevich’s job approval was way below 50 in 2006, meaning that this number, in and of itself, is not a great guage.
An American Viewpoint (R) poll; conducted 6/16-17 for Rep. Judy Biggert (R); surveyed 400 LVs; margin of error +/- 4.9% (release, 7/30). Tested: Biggert and businessman Scott Harper (D).
General Election Matchup
J. Biggert 55%
S. Harper 30
Undec 13
Re-Elect Biggert
Re-elect 55%
Someone else 28
Fav/Unfav
J. Biggert 67%/18%
Biggert As Rep.
Approve 67%
Disapprove 19
* Meanwhile, the Sun-Times is playing catch-up to a story that’s been bubbling around the blogs for a while now…
Concrete mogul Marty Ozinga’s companies racked up $59,000 in unpaid taxes over the last 20 years, according to documents provided to the Sun-Times by political operatives.
The tax liens have been filed against the Republican congressional candidate’s companies in Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana. Some are fines on his trucks that pour concrete in Chicago.
The response is a bit weak…
Ozinga’s campaign notes his Democratic opponent, state Sen. Debbie Halvorson was fined $44 after being late on a $910 real estate tax payment for her Springfield condominium. She also was fined $25 for letting a corporation she founded lapse after not using it.
*** UPDATE *** I forgot to post the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform’s latest demand….
“The governor claims he wants billions in new infrastructure spending to create jobs and to guard against a bridge collapse as happened in Minneapolis last year,” Canary said. “But after years of headlines about contracts that look more like pay-to-play than legitimate state business, taxpayers have to wonder whether his top concern is bridge safety or building up his campaign treasury.
“If he would sign the bill to discourage pay-to-play and stop soliciting money from people doing business with the state, he would give the public reason to believe those new construction dollars would be spent fairly,” she said. “Legislative leaders should insist HB 824 is signed into law before giving the governor the ability to award billions in new spending for bridges, roads, and other projects.”
Seems reasonable.
*****************
* Eric Zorn makes the fatal mistake of assuming that just because there’s a “way” to find money to restore cuts to alcoholism and substance abuse programs, the “will” to do so will automatically follow.
But he does have this at the end of his post…
[Speaker Madigan] wants the Senate to reconvene and pass a different, highly specific and highly targeted “funds sweep” bill that would allow for restoration of many of the social-service cuts.
Senate President Emil Jones has shown no inclination to reconvene his chamber, but Brown and many others close to the situation say they have heard rumblings that Gov. Rod Blagojevich plans to call both chambers into special session during the Illinois State Fair, Aug. 8 -17.
Gubernatorial spokesman Lucio Guerrero responded to these grumblings with a a note that said, “The issue (of a special session) may come up at the leaders’ meeting, but nothing has been decided. The first priority is getting all the leaders - at least the three that show up - to agree on a compromise and then the decision would be made about the next step.”
* The leaders will meet this morning at 11 o’clock. We’ll live-blog it here. The Sun-Times has more…
Gov. Blagojevich is prepared to revise or outright eliminate plans for a Chicago casino in a bid to jump-start his stalled statewide construction program, a top aide said Tuesday.
The governor also is open to reducing the size of the $34 billion capital plan and rethinking how to pay for it in an effort to gain the support of Mayor Daley and House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago). […]
Now, the governor is considering lowering the buy-in figure, giving the mayor broader control over how school construction money is spent and even eliminating the city casino entirely if that’s what the mayor wants, Blagojevich’s spokesman said.
“There are a whole host of things that are being looked at on gaming to make it more palatable,” Blagojevich press secretary Lucio Guerrero said.
“The governor thinks [a capital deal] is too important to let die. He’s looking for ways to compromise,” Guerrero said.
There’s more to this, but non-subscribers will have to wait and see what’s announced after the meeting. We’ll know more about 12:30 or so.
A drop in the number of customers at Harrahs Metropolis Casino riverboat is translating into not only in a decline in casino revenues but also a decline in the amount of money going into the coffers of the city of Metropolis.
According to the Illinois Gaming Board, adjusted gross receipts at the casino were about $10.3 million in June, down from the $14.7 million the casino pulled in during the same month a year ago. […]
Officials say the downturn in casino attendance can be traced back to January, when the state of Illinois instituted restrictions on smoking in public buildings.
That’s not the only casino experiencing trouble.
* The Sun-Times thinks that Speaker Madigan ought to show up to today’s leaders meeting…
What are we paying him for? Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, arguably the most powerful Democrat in the state, takes home $95,000 a year but refuses to sit down with the governor.
We say that’s what we’re paying Madigan for.
* But in a Sunday editorial entitled “The tale of ‘Governor Goofy’”, the Tribune offered up some reasons why nobody should take the governor seriously …
Blagojevich remains the governor who cannot govern, the thespian who tries to rule via press-conference theatrics: State troopers to the right of me, National Guardsmen to the left of me, I will triumph.
Blagojevich’s behavior is what it is. He cannot, though, control how he’s judged. He cannot escape from the nicknames people give him or from their anger about his ineptitude when it comes to bridging rivalries and fashioning solutions to his state’s crying needs.
* Sincere or Sensationalizing: A year after a Minnesota bridge collapse sent people tumbling to their deaths, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich reflects on the situation and uses it to try to prod approval of his $34 billion gambling-expansion-for-road-construction plan.
* The governor’s legal team is using a somewhat unusual tactic to convince a court that it doesn’t have to release federal subpoenas requested under the state’s Freedom of Information Act…
In an argument to the Illinois Appellate Court, Blagojevich’s legal team cites a 27-year-old federal court ruling that says “potential” criminal defendants don’t have to turn over grand jury subpoenas in civil litigation. That’s one of the arguments the governor is making in an effort to overturn a Downstate judge’s ruling that the Better Government Association, a Chicago watchdog group, is entitled to the subpoenas under Illinois’ open-records law. [Emphasis added]
* More from the BGA’s attorney…
“In the Admiral Heating case, the court extended the rule that prohibits prosecutors or grand jury members from disclosing information,” says Donald Craven, the Springfield lawyer and open-records law expert who’s representing the BGA. “The court extended the rule to prohibit defendants or potential defendants from disclosing that information, as well. It seems to me that the governor is now characterizing himself as a defendant or potential defendant, rather than just as a witness before the grand jury, in an effort to bring himself within the confines of this rule.” [Emphasis added]
* The governor’s press secretary responds…
“This is just a deplorable manipulation of the facts,” he says, “in an effort to make headlines and advance an illusory theory in the press that would overwhelmingly be thrown out in any court of law.”
The governor is planning an unrelated press conference this afternoon. Maybe the reporters can ask him to clear things up.
GateHouse Media is likely to default under its credit agreement unless it can negotiate an amendment to its covenants or get a cash injection from its largest stakeholder, Moody’s Investor Service says in a report downgrading the community newspaper publisher’s credit and probability of default ratings.
Moody’s downgraded GateHouse’s Corporate Family rating to Caa1 from B2. Under Moody’s definition, the new rating signifies a “substantial risk” of default.
Moody’s also downgraded its Probability of Default rating to Caa2 from B3.
Under Daley’s plan, the city would be divided into 10 to 20 “franchise areas,” each with a single hauler. Instead of choosing private companies to pick up their waste as they do now, businesses and institutions would be stuck with whatever company the Daley administration picks for them. For seven years.
Let’s see if we have this right: The mayor wants to usurp business owners’ choice, bestow monopolies on 10 to 20 lucky contractors and invite the usual abuses that inevitably occur when lucrative city contracts are in play. What part of this is good for the citizens of Chicago?
This year’s anti-pit-bull measure is a benevolent-sounding proposal to require that dogs (and cats) older than 6 months be spayed or neutered. The City Council got a lot of attention on Tuesday when former TV game show host Bob Barker showed up to talk in favor of the idea.
The Illinois House Republican “Agenda for Action” is a lot like a child’s Christmas list: There are a lot of good things on it, but the likelihood of getting them all is small.
* Lake County Radio Personalities Debate Pros and Cons of a Constitutional Convention
But county officials have the final say on what’s published. And Tracy accepted $24,999 from Stroger’s administration last November to launch the magazine — $1 under the amount that would have required the approval of the full Cook County Board.
* A little late in posting it, but I’m still on break. Here’s my weekly syndicated newspaper column…
Women and children literally are being thrown into the street while the three-headed monster that runs Illinois government continues to do battle with itself.
More than a thousand protesters gathered at Chicago’s Thompson Center last week to demand an end to the ugly political war that has engulfed Springfield. The protesters wanted the restoration of millions of dollars vetoed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich from alcohol and substance abuse recovery services. The programs keep drug and alcohol users out of jail by giving them an opportunity to clean up and get their lives back in order.
The governor vetoed the money - and a whole lot more - after the House and Senate failed to pass a balanced budget. Actually, the House did pass a balanced budget, but it’s still sitting in the Senate. The proposal that made it to the governor’s desk was favored by the Senate Democrats but required additional revenue, which the House didn’t approve during the spring session.
The House came back to Springfield to override some of the governor’s vetoes, including the alcohol and substance abuse cuts. But the House Democrats, who run the chamber, never took up any funding proposals, claiming the House Republicans had refused to negotiate with them at the request of the Democratic governor. The Senate refused to come back to town as long as the House failed to pass revenue bills, and then the never-ending finger-pointing ritual, which passes for leadership here, fully engaged.
The governor blamed the House, the Senate blamed the House, the House blamed everybody but itself, the Republicans blamed the Democrats, and the Democrats blamed the Republicans.
Meanwhile, A Safe Haven, a facility for homeless families that houses 80 women and 40 children in Alsip and relies solely on state funding through the alcohol and drug program, is preparing to close its doors and evict its residents.
“It’s like our lives (aren’t) important,” said Demetria Woods, who works for the facility. The SouthtownStar reported that Woods once was a resident of the facility who had changed her life to the point where she was hired to help others. Except now there will be no one to help.
Back to the blame game.
The governor’s people had predicted the Illinois House would bear the brunt of the blame in this budget fight, but that hasn’t happened so far. He made the vetoes, the House overrode some of them, and the Senate won’t return. Politically, the governor and the Senate are taking most of the heat at the moment. And the more the governor cuts (he has said much more is on the way as he manages his way through hundreds of millions in additional red ink), the more blame he will get.
But this no longer is a merely political story. We’re talking real people with real problems blithely tossed to the four winds while the “leaders” seek to use the crisis to their own advantage. Blagojevich and Jones want to destroy Madigan, and Madigan is trying to do the same to them.
Illinois always was known as a rough and tumble state that still got the job done. No longer. The rough and tumble has increased exponentially to the point where “the job” now is a distant second to “the fight.”
I’m reminded of those old Godzilla movies. You may remember Ghidorah, also known as the “King of Terror.” Ghidorah was a three-headed monster who made even Godzilla tremble. Well, in the Illinois version, Ghidorah’s three heads (Blagojevich, Jones and Madigan) are now fighting among each other without taking even the slightest notice of the devastation they are causing to the people and infrastructure below. It may be thrilling to watch, unless, of course, you are those Thompson Center protesters or Demetria Woods, and then your cries of anguish go unheard while the monster tramples you to a bloody pulp.
Apparently, the rest of us are doomed to letting this three-headed monster fight itself until a “win” is declared or until Ghidorah is too exhausted to continue. And there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot we can do about it until the war is over, whenever that may be.
I’ve never been so disheartened by this state’s government as I am right now.
* As I told you earlier, we’re shutting down until the middle of next week or so. The news feeds will still be up and running, of course, and InsiderzExchange will still be active, as will Illinoize. So keep on coming back.
I’ve told people before that this site has become a living, breathing thing. Every time you come back, something’s different and new. A new post, new items in the news feed, new coments, a new ad at InsiderzExchange, or whatever. But every now and then I have to get away from it.
* Many thanks to Chicago Magazine for including me in their “Best of Chicago” editition, which is on newsstands now. Read the blurb by clicking here. I’m also quoted in their article about Jim Oberweis.
* AOL e-mail problems continue. I was able to send out the Capitol Fax this morning, but I haven’t been able to send e-mail since then. I can’t even log into the online version.
* “Out of office” bounceback e-mail’s have increased exponentially in the past few days, and comments here are dropping like a rock. Since the readership is taking a break, I will too. Today is it for a while. So get your comments in while you can because Kevin and I are shutting down the shop until next Wednesday or Thursday - or until the governor makes another big, goofy splash.
* I told you Monday that GOP gubernatorial hopeful Sen. Bill Brady had raised a pathetic $55,730 during the first six months of this year. Brady now has an excuse…
Brady said that with fellow Republicans involved in active campaigns in November, he didn’t want to raise money that might compete with them. He said he’ll wait until the 2010 election is closer to begin collecting campaign cash.
‘’We weren’t going to do anything out of the ordinary,'’ Brady said.
That’s an unfortunate remark. One of the biggest knocks on Brady’s 2006 bid was his lack of fundraising abilities.
And Mike Lawrence makes an excellent point in the article…
‘’It’s a lot easier to build on a big fund than be scrambling for money during the campaign season itself,'’ Lawrence said.
It is still business as usual for Gov. Blagojevich, the only statewide officeholder taking campaign contributions from companies with state-paid contracts awarded by his office or agencies under his control.
Yesterday, the Blagojevich campaign committee filed campaign disclosure reports for the first half of 2008, and we have found dozens of contributions from people and businesses connected to state contracts. In a preliminary look through his report, we found 70 that appear, on their face, to be from businesses or employees of businesses that have FY09 contracts from agencies under his control worth more than $50,000. Those donations total $238,500. That’s about 22% of his itemized individual donations, or 12.6% of all the contributions to his campaign.
While Illinois legislators took action against the state’s “pay to play” reputation, Gov. Rod Blagojevich took donation after donation from people who stood to gain financially from his administration.
We’ve just discovered another 220,000 reasons why Gov. Blagojevich should sign an ethics bill sitting on his desk that takes aim at pay-to-play politics in Illinois.
That’s 220,000 dollars, to be precise.
That’s how much Blagojevich raised in the first half of 2008 from companies that were granted major state contracts for this fiscal year, according to a rough analysis of new campaign finance reports by the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform. This estimate, which doesn’t capture all donors, represents about 20 percent of the $1.1 million Blagojevich raised from individual donors.
Some legislators also are interested in the position, including state Rep. Jack Franks, D-Woodstock and senators Christine Rodogno, R-Lemont, Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, and Mike Jacobs, D-East Moline.
“I’m mulling it over,” said Jacobs, who believes voters are tired of Chicago politicians, but admitted he’d have to raise some serious money to run. “What I’m willing to do is work hard, roll up my sleeves and move Illinois forward. I don’t want to see Illinois roll backward.”
In a welcome relief from the politics of blaming the other party for the inaction that infests Washington, the men and women who occupy the nation’s statehouses are noticeably more interested in finding solutions, many of them wonderfully wonky, to the problems facing their citizens.
* As is typical for DC types, they visited a meeting of the National Governors Association and declared governors to be superior. Well, they really need to visit Illinois…
After eight years of helping homeless and drug-addicted mothers, A Safe Haven sits on the brink of oblivion. Eighty women and 40 children may be kicked out of their apartments beginning Thursday if lawmakers don’t restore money taken away by Gov. Rod Blagojevich. […]
“This is the first time I’ve ever experienced anything like this. The cuts have been so drastic,” said Sterling Gildersleeve, executive director of the Alsip facility, which may begin separating families as soon as Thursday. […]
Repeated calls to the governor’s office for comment weren’t returned.
The story concludes with a quote from a former addicted mother who was hired by the center…
“We’re citizens, and we need help. It’s like our lives (aren’t) important.”
Those lives aren’t important. Not to the people who run Illinois, anyway.
More than a thousand demonstrators gathered at the James R. Thompson Center on Tuesday, calling for state lawmakers to override Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s veto of $43 million in funding for alcohol and substance abuse recovery services. […]
Protesters hoped to get the attention of Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago), who is ultimately responsible for re-convening the Senate in Springfield and following the House’s suit in casting an overriding vote.
The Blagojevich administration Tuesday continued to say little publicly about how it plans to deal with cuts to the state budget.
* Nobody wants to talk to the press, but they’re still ginning up the hatred. Check out a couple of photos from yesterday’s protest rally. Gee, I wonder who might’ve sponsored these guys?…
The Senate can sit idle as 42,000 people are kicked out of care, as current waiting list of 7,500 is doubled and as public safety decreases. Or, the Senate can restore the state’s budget for treatment, and avert the costly consequences to families, communities, and taxpayers.
Methinks they’ll sit idle.
* Meanwhile, Gov. Blagojevich has never been to a state park in his entire life, and it shows…
A coalition of conservation and environmental groups called Tuesday for Gov. Rod Blagojevich to put off implementing $14 million in budget cuts for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. […]
“We’re calling on the governor not to make any cuts until after (the Nov. 4 election) and to keep the budget where it is right now,” said John Gaudette of the Illinois Environmental Council. […]
“The Department of Natural Resources is already at a skeleton level,” he said.
Construction will start back up today on several local projects after state officials fixed a mix-up in the current budget.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Tuesday signed into law Senate Bill 1130, which lawmakers approved two weeks ago. It clarifies state budget language that his administration said had stalled 39 construction projects statewide.
*** UPDATE *** Senate President Emil Jones talked to some reporters today. Of course, nobody apparently asked him about the no-growth budget bills still sitting idly in his chamber…
“We have to have a balanced budget,” Jones said. “I’m not going to get involved in playing silly games and giving false hopes to people when the money isn’t there. I support many of the programs that cut. But we in the Senate also supported the revenue to support the budget. That’s why we passed the revenue to support the budget in May. Now, if the House was genuinely sincere about passing those programs, then they in turn would pass the revenue to support it.”
Jones compared the House’s approval of the budget without enough revenue to support it to “check kiting.”
“The House is good at check kiting. Send them a big check, knowing dog-gone well the check is going to bounce. And that’s where we stand right now.”
Jones also insisted the Senate’s absence from Springfield to deal with the budget had nothing to do with having to confront the pay raise issue head-on if he returned. The Senate has two legislative session days left to reject a raise that would boost the salaries of lawmakers and many other state officials salaries by about 7.5 percent by next summer.
There was easily enough gas to make a round trip, but, hey, I’m in Missouri, I might as well take advantage of this cheap gas I’m always hearing about. Looky here, gas for $3.98 a gallon. I’ll top off the tank and save a couple bucks.
Imagine my surprise when, later that night, we get back to Springfield and gas is selling for — $3.98 a gallon.
State Sen. John Millner, a Republican from Carol Stream, acknowledged Tuesday that the characterization of the NIU proton treatment center “could’ve been done differently.”
“I want both centers to be built,” Millner said. “I want to make sure both become very successful. And I’ll do what I can to promote both centers.”
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson is coming to Springfield to be the keynote speaker at a brunch Aug. 13 hosted by the Democratic County Chairmen’s Association.
The governor vetoed the money - and a whole lot more - after the House and Senate failed to pass a balanced budget. Actually, the House did pass a balanced budget, but it’s still sitting in the Senate. The proposal that made it to the governor’s desk was favored by the Senate Democrats but required additional revenue, which the House didn’t approve during the spring session.
I’m reminded of those old Godzilla movies. You may remember Ghidorah, also known as the “King of Terror.” Ghidorah was a three-headed monster who made even Godzilla tremble. Well, in the Illinois version, Ghidorah’s three heads (Blagojevich, Jones and Madigan) are now fighting among each other without taking even the slightest notice of the devastation they are causing to the people and infrastructure below. It may be thrilling to watch, unless, of course, you are those Thompson Center protesters or Demetria Woods, and then your cries of anguish go unheard while the monster tramples you to a bloody pulp.
