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An emotional, sad day in the Illinois Senate as colleagues are remembered - Sen. Dahl resigns

Thursday, Dec 2, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

* As most of you know by now, Rep. Rich Myers passed away last night. Here are the arrangements…

The Myers family will receive friends at a visitation for State Representative Rich Myers from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, December 4 at the Scotland Trinity Presbyterian Church, 14950 North 900th Road in Macomb.

A Memorial Service will be held Sunday at 2 p.m. at the University Union Grand Ballroom on the Campus of Western Illinois University.

Burial will follow at Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Colchester. Mt. Auburn Cemetery is located in the north side of Colchester on the west side of the road to Argyle Lake.

Memorials can be made to Scotland Trinity Presbyterian Church, the McDonough District Hospital, and the Representative Rich Myers Agricultural Scholarship at Western Illinois University.

Those wishing to send flowers should have them delivered to the Scotland Trinity Presbyterian Church.

Rep. Myers’ obituary is here. Gov. Pat Quinn’s comments are here.

* The House wasn’t in session today, but Sen. John Sullivan delivered a heartfelt eulogy for Rep. Myers on the Senate floor…

* Sen. Dale Risinger also paid tribute to his friend…

* Like the headline says, Thursday was an emotional, sad day in the Senate. Sen. Mike Jacobs also rose to memorialize the late Joel Brunsvold…

* Sens. Willie Delgado and Mattie Hunter spoke about Rep. Myers, former Rep. Brunsvold and their own recent losses and gave thanks to their colleagues for their support during difficult times…

My heart goes out to them all.

* And Sen. Gary Dahl unexpectedly resigned today…

Gary Dahl abruptly resigned his seat in the Illinois Senate on Thursday.

The Granville Republican, who turns 70 on Sunday, leaves a two-year unexpired term that will be filled by appointment.

“I’m at a stage of my life where I’m thinking it’s time to spend more time with family and my business (Double D Express),” Dahl said. “After six years of serving in the state Senate (I was hoping) things would change down there but nothing has. I just feel it’s time to move on.”

Dahl said he’d contemplated resignation for some time but limited the discussion to family and staff. None of his peers were apprised of the decision prior to Thursday’s announcement. The decision, he said, was reinforced recently with the news that several lawmakers had passed away.

[Thanks to Illinois Statehouse News and BlueRoomStream.com for the videos today.]

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OK, that was nice, but how about fixing the budget?

Thursday, Dec 2, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Whether or not you agree with the civil unions bill that passed this week, you have to agree that Illinois will finally be known for something other than Rod Blagojevich - at least for a while. For that, I’m grateful.

But we still have this little $13 billion budget deficit problem to work out.

* I’m no fan of the idea that the General Assembly should focus solely on the budget and not bother with anything else at all until that problem is solved. Coming up with solutions will take time and there is plenty of other work to do. So, while I don’t necessarily agree with the sentiment behind Sen. John O. Jones’ remarks during the civil unions debate yesterday, he made a good point about how the governor was contacting members on behalf of civil unions, but hadn’t called anybody about the budget or the economy. Watch…

* During yesterday’s post-civil unions passage press conference, I asked Gov. Pat Quinn when he was going to start working on passing his income tax hike. Watch…

Yeah, I wasn’t thrilled with his answers, either, but one can only ask so many questions during a brief avail.

* You may or may not be a proponent of gaming expansion, but the governor didn’t seem to be all that interested in the proposal passed by the Senate yesterday…

I was the one who asked the follow-up question. Here’s the exchange, since you can’t really hear the questions…

Gov. Pat Quinn told reporters before the vote that he’s not a fan of the idea.

“I’m not for top-heavy expansion of gambling,” Quinn said.

Asked if Link’s plan was “top-heavy,” Quinn said: “It seemed awfully top-heavy to me.”

OK, it’s top-heavy. Fine. I understand. But how about another plan, governor?

* And speaking of jobs…

A planned $3.5 billion clean-coal technology plant for Taylorville hit another snag Wednesday that will delay a vote on the plant until January.

A Senate committee was scheduled Wednesday to hold a hearing on a bill authorizing the plant that was approved in the House a day earlier. However, just as the hearing was about to begin, an announcement was made that the committee would not hold the hearing on the bill after all.

“I was told we didn’t have enough votes to get (the bill) out of committee,” said Sen. Deanna Demuzio, D-Carlinville. “I was told it would be best to hold it.”

The two advertisers on this blog have vastly different opinions about what that bill would do. But we’re talking a bunch of jobs and investment, so perhaps the governor could inject himself and help find an acceptable compromise.

* Related…

* No Quick Action On Illinois’ Clean Coal Projects

* Senate approves gambling expansion but House leaves town

* Senate passes pension bill that would make Chicago pay up

* Senate OKs new gaming rules in Illinois

* Chicago pushes back on pension reform

* Police, fire pension revamp headed to Quinn’s desk

* Pension reform, gambling, Wrigley Field still up in the air in Springfield

* Public employee evaluations exempted from public records law

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Quinn rebuked by Catholic bishop over civil unions stance

Thursday, Dec 2, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Gov. Pat Quinn was rebuked yesterday by Springfield’s Catholic bishop…

Springfield Catholic Bishop Thomas Paprocki on Wednesday challenged Gov. Pat Quinn’s support for legalization of civil unions. Quinn said Tuesday that his faith – Quinn was raised a Catholic — had inspired him to support civil unions.

“He did not say what religious faith that would be, but it certainly is not the Catholic faith,” Paprocki said in a statement. “If the governor wishes to pursue a secular agenda for political purposes, that is his prerogative for which he is accountable to the voters. But if he wishes to speak as a Catholic, then he is accountable to Catholic authority, and the Catholic Church does not support civil unions or other measures that are contrary to the natural moral law.”

Asked about the bishop’s statement, Quinn said, “I follow my conscience. My conscience is not kicking me in the shins today.”

* Watch Quinn’s reaction…

Thoughts?

* No lawsuit is planned at the moment…

David E. Smith, executive director of the Illinois Family Institute, said he’s talking to lawyers and “exploring options” to see if a lawsuit is possible. None is planned immediately, he said. “There’s no recourse that we can see,” Smith said.

* The one Senate Republican “Yes” vote was Sen. Dan Rutherford. Here’s his quietly eloquent floor speech…

* For a quite different GOP viewpoint, watch Sen. Chris Lauzen…

* Sen. Schoenberg’s speech…

* Sponsoring Sen. Dave Koehler’s closing remarks…

* Roundup…

* How civil union law would work

* Applying for a civil union

* Illinois Senate OKs civil unions - Historic legislation goes to Quinn, who supports it

* With Quinn on board, civil unions will be in place by summer

* Gov. Quinn to ‘follow conscience‘ on unions

* IL Review live blog

* Frerichs, Rutherford among those backing civil unions

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Hendon attempted to apologize to Brady, but was rebuffed

Thursday, Dec 2, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Remember this comment by Sen. Rickey Hendon during the campaign?…

“I’ve never served with such an idiotic, racist, sexist, homophobic person in my life,” Hendon said before introducing Gov. Quinn. “If you think that the minimum wage needs to be three dollars an hour, vote for Bill Brady. If you think that women have no rights whatsoever, except to have his children, vote for Bill Brady. If you think gay and lesbian people need to be locked up and shot in the head, vote for Bill Brady.”

* Well, during the debate on the civil unions bill yesterday, Hendon claimed that he had attempted to apologize to Sen. Brady and was rebuffed. Watch…

* Brady’s response…

“He just said I want to apologize, and I said, ‘Rickey, you know, you can’t apologize for that,’ ” Brady said. “That’s not something you apologize your way out of.”

Classless or justified?

* Sen. Hendon’s full floor speech on the civil unions bill is getting mad hits on YouTube. Watch…

We’ll have more videos a bit later.

* Brady, by the way, has not shied away from criticizing Gov. Pat Quinn. From Medill Reports…

Quinn “talks about cutting spending, but we have yet to see him do it,” Brady said in an interview in his Bloomington office. “His tax increases, I think, are going to further erode the economic job environment. He’s got some policies that aren’t going to help Illinois’s economy.”

Brady, who was sharply critical of Quinn’s leadership abilities during the campaign, said he doubts that Quinn has the muscle or moxie to manage tense relations with Senate President John Cullerton (D) and House Speaker Michael Madigan (D).

“The infighting has put our state in a bad position the past couple years,” Brady said. “Governor Quinn has yet proven to have the skill to… lead. So it will be interesting to see.” […]

Three weeks after the election, Brady and Quinn met for lunch at Manny’s Deli in the South Loop.

Among the topics, Brady said, was “the backlog of unpaid bills. The governor’s got to lead on fiscal discipline. He can’t let legislature do it and talk about making Illinois’ business climate conducive for job growth.”

Brady also said he would run for reelection in two years, then consider another bid for governor. He also admitted that Scott Lee Cohen may have cost him the election by taking protest votes away from him.

* Related…

* Hendon pledges to tone down after hypertension diagnosis

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