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This is yet another story in a long line of stories that illustrate just how difficult it is to defend Gov. Blagojevich’s decision to divert millions of dollars from special funds.
The state plans to divert 16% of the funding for new railroad crossing gates to administrative expenses to help prop up the state’s cash-strapped general fund. Illinois Railroad Assn. President Joseph Ciaccio called said the diversion would jeopardize highway safety. A spokeswoman for the state’s Office of Management and Budget said the crossing gate fund has “plenty of reoccurring revenue and can continue to do what they’ve always done.”
posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Mar 6, 06 @ 3:24 am
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This administration just doesn’t get it. The first trial of a new generation of RR crossing gates turned out to be a dismal failure, but I’m sure IDOT and the RR companies learned something from it. These gates were designed to catch vehicles, even semis, and keep them from driving onto the tracks. They were tested at 3 sights along the Chicago to St. Louis corridor, which is supposed to become a high speed commuter line once proper crossing controls are installed and rail beds are upgraded. This project has been years in the making, but I can’t imagine there’s a lot of extra money laying around.
Comment by stoney Monday, Mar 6, 06 @ 5:21 am
There was a story last week about the building renovations at the statehouse. The electrical system needed to be updated and since the building was going to be a ‘mess’ it was approved to spend another 2 million in getting new accessories (i.e. chairs, desks, etc). Blago spokesperson made the comment that the building fund had the money and they could not spend it on anything else. One of the representatives made the comment (which I agree with) – “Do the necessities for safety, however, if the state is in a money crunch other items can wait. That money can be used elsewhere.’ Why does it seem okay for this administration to ‘twist’ the rules to only benefit what they seem as appropriate?
Comment by girl friday Monday, Mar 6, 06 @ 5:39 am
“The state plans to divert 16% of the funding for new railroad crossing gates to administrative expenses to help prop up the state’s cash-strapped general fund. Illinois Railroad Assn. President Joseph Ciaccio”
Read: one bureaucrat is stealing from another. Big deal.
The Illinois Railroad association is sore because they can’t use this ‘diverted’ 16% for their own internal stupidity. So now they can play holier-than-thou, and the governor’s critics can use it as an attack point.
Disclaimer: I do not like the governor at all. But this is nothing more that a bureaucratic tinkling contest. Look for more of it to happen in the future as revenues grow more slowly than expensed and the higher ups with power scramble to make sure ‘their’ cronies are covered.
Comment by Leroy Monday, Mar 6, 06 @ 6:21 am
Blunder Boy and his Band of Brainless does not care about public safety.All they care about is their agenda which is to trash this state in order to get to the White House.Example look at Corrections 1 female employee raped and 1 inmate killed and this is all agencies in the state.
Comment by DOWNSTATE Monday, Mar 6, 06 @ 6:43 am
Leroy,
This is not your everyday bureaucratic p*ssing contest (of which there are many). Lives are at stake here. I don’t have time to Google it here, but there is a husband/wife in the suburbs somewhere who lost a child at an un-gated crossing who are crusading on this issue. Add that up with the parents of the Cary-Grove victims, and I think this will be a real negative PR issue unless this decision is reversed real soon. The recurring money, IIRC, is the federal portion of the Grade Crossing Protection Fund, so it might mean the leveraging of 4 or 5 federal dollars for each $ the state spends. Somebody check this out.
Comment by Six Degrees of Sepatation Monday, Mar 6, 06 @ 7:37 am
Illinois has become a playground for electoral security. The job is the game, not the health, welfare, and economic well being of the residents.
Admit it.
Comment by Truthful James Monday, Mar 6, 06 @ 8:11 am
I suppose in an ideal world you wouldn’t need special funds because the government could be trusted to set the right priorities and apportion money according to those priorities.
However, this is Illinois, and government monies
are apportioned by corrupt legislators and a corrupt governor more often than not…it is certainly the case these days. The only people whose priorities the Illinois Democrats care about are wealthy contributors and the Black Caucus, the latter mainly because their constituents are perceived as a major swing vote, not necessarily because of any philosophical agreement. Meanwhile, the middle class as a whole only exists to pay,pay, pay out.
So I guess if you’re not supported by a black politician or if you’re not a rich contributor, yet have certain initiatives that you really support, you are better served by special fees that the administration can’t as easily get its hands on. I’m sure that there wouldn’t be a Grade Crossing Protection Fund at all if the pols in power had their way.
Comment by Cassandra Monday, Mar 6, 06 @ 8:12 am
I don’t care where the funds are coming from. The funds were created for the purpose of keeping the gov, house, and senate from stealing the funds. All the states money should not be in a general fund. Keep the money where it belongs.
Comment by Lovie's Leather Monday, Mar 6, 06 @ 9:49 am
Six degrees -
“Lives are at stake”…this argument is trotted out by whatever bureaucrat is on the short end of the stick. Try cutting funding *anywhere*. Someone is always going to suffer. Look at the service employees union, as soon as funding is threatened to be cut for member pay/benefits, they ran the “veterans in living in filth” stories. Similarly, we see stories about teachers living in poverty. Terrorists lurking around every corner…state employees having to have extra jobs to make ends meet…crumbling infrastructure, etc. You can’t cut a dime anywhere without someone, starving to death, having their safety compromised, or being put at a severe disadvantage with the rest of society.
The minute you lose money, you have no recourse other than to go to the press and explain how important you are, and how every one else is going to suffer. These stories serve no other purpose.
In Illinois, it is survival of the bureaucratic fittest. Fine with me.
Comment by Leroy Monday, Mar 6, 06 @ 9:56 am
$100 million for dubious stem-cell research, more millions to support some election-year sketchy all-kids insurance scheme… foisted upon the GA with no debate during the veto session… but raiding every special fund to cover profligate spending is hypocritical.
Comment by donchicago48 Monday, Mar 6, 06 @ 10:33 am
Cassandra-
I’ve noticed an ‘anti-black sentiment’ in your comments in recent weeks. Especially about the Black Caucus….hmmmm……………….
Actually, as a resident of the South Suburbs of Chicago - which by the way is a very mixed and diverse community - are concerned about economic development issues. This issue has crossed both party lines in the area and across all cultural barriers. It is not a black issue!
Comment by Marta Elena Monday, Mar 6, 06 @ 10:46 am
Marta…
Hmmmm-what?
It’s not politically correct to criticize the Black Caucus?
There is nothing wrong with citizens of any ilk developing advocacy groups but suggesting that
anybody who criticizes them is…hmmmm….a racist?…is a cheap shot although I suppose it’s politics as usual.
Comment by Cassandra Monday, Mar 6, 06 @ 11:09 am
Guess we have a short memory about crossing-gate accidents in this state… It was Blago that froze the Illinois FIRST money that was going t improve those dangerous grade crossings like the one where the recent big wreck happened… ILFirst was George’s way of buying our love with pork projects, but there were many legitimate projects in there as well, and rail crossing improvements were one of them.
Making a legislative initiative ‘pay it’s own way’ thru a dedicated fund is one of the better ideas this legislature evr had, if you’re a fiscal conservative, you should approve of this, since typically the people served by the law are paying for it themselves and not draining the general fund. We see that you can’t trust what the governor will do when all the money is available without checks and balances. He’s exactly like a college kid with his first credit card, running up bills he has no way to pay, because he thinks he’ll be long gone before a bill comes due. Special funds are a way of keeping him on an allowance.
Unbelieveable that he would try to sweep funds that are directly related to safety, but he’s done it before. He swept money out of the I.T. funds for the state police computer networks and forensic lab money at the same time he was promising he was getting tough on crime. Restores a portion of the lab money this year because the backlog on DNA and such has gotten criminally long, and oh, he’s taking cedit for improvememts!
Blago giveth and the blago taketh away, blessed be the blago, amen.
Comment by Casey Jones Monday, Mar 6, 06 @ 11:33 am
What about the continual chargebacks and sweeps on federal and state grant funds. Somebody really needs to check that because even though OMB denies it, it is happening quite often.
Comment by Anonymous Monday, Mar 6, 06 @ 5:24 pm
What does the budget, special funds, debt - long and short term REALLY look like in Illinois? I wonder what a group of independant auditors could find?
These past few years have seen a lot of sweeps and monkey business.
Comment by Papa Legba Monday, Mar 6, 06 @ 5:43 pm
Ok folks, here is the line that we have to use - “He will KILL somebody by sweeping the railroad crossing money.” Got it?
When ever I have been involved with public meetings concerning an unpopular project, invariably someone pulls out the “You will KILL somebody if you do …!”
I must admit, that puffery is dipping into money that should be spent on improving public safety. In this case, sweeping the funds, just may get somebody killed at a rail road crossing that is not as safe as it could be.
Comment by "B Team" Monday, Mar 6, 06 @ 6:09 pm
The reason the fund has the ‘extra’ money it does is because in part the ICC and IDOT can not agree on what to spend it on and approval seems to take forever.
These were all findings in an audit done back in 2003. http://www.ilga.gov/commission/lac/audits/Gradecross02.pdf
Comment by OneMan Monday, Mar 6, 06 @ 9:04 pm
Cassandra-
I do look for patterns in arguments - it’s the poli sci geek in me. I also didn’t finish the hmmmm………. since I don’t know you personally. I also make an effort to listen to both sides of an issue; i.e. - I am not a main stream conservative - but will read main stream conservative literature/shows/news to try to gain a better understanding of someone’s argument/philosophy/beliefs, etc.
Not sure about the political correctness of attacking or critizing the Black Caucus in Illinois. And at this point, all is fair game in the political arena.
Comment by Marta Elena Monday, Mar 6, 06 @ 9:23 pm