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* In an impassioned column arguing against the closure of the Tinley Park Mental Health Center, Phil Kadner takes Gov. Pat Quinn to task…
I have tried to tell myself that Gov. Quinn has to be a realist, while Citizen Quinn could afford to be an idealist. But then I remember that a governor’s job is to lead and that Quinn claimed he could be a great leader.
Quinn, you may recall, vetoed a bill that would have expanded casino gambling in Illinois. He felt it was immoral to hand slot machines to racetrack owners.
Those slots could have raised hundreds of millions of dollars in new revenue for the state. But it was dirty money.
Hurray for Quinn! He took a moral stand.
But where’s the morality in cutting funding for mental health? How good can it feel to know that many people who are ill will end up in jails and prisons instead of medical facilities?
I hate to connect gambling to health care, but it’s just one example of something the governor could’ve done to avoid these cuts. Citizen Quinn, I’m sure, could have come up with something better.
Yes, the governor is faced with tough choices. But the victims of his choices too often seem to be the politically powerless who cannot defend themselves.
Citizen Quinn would have recognized that and become their public champion.
Discuss.
posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Apr 12, 12 @ 9:46 am
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Kadner can be a bit of crank, and his columns are repetitive and often sag under the weight of his own righteous indignation. This, however, is spot on. A really concise critique of a Governor who fundamentally lacks any vision of how to govern or how to lead.
Comment by Curious Thursday, Apr 12, 12 @ 10:03 am
The problem of old bills is so large that nothing can be immune from cuts, absent borrowing.
The Howe Center has been on the chopping block for a long time for poor and negligent care. The feds decertified it. Not everyone would agree that closing it is a bad idea.
The mental health center/gambling revenue is a stretch, too. There are plenty of claims on any new revenue.
Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Apr 12, 12 @ 10:04 am
I really couldn’t agree more. Slots at the tracks make more sense in almost every way, than expanding promotion of the Illinois lottery a proven regressive tax. Quinn moral high round against horse racing is at best incongruous and ingenuous.
Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Apr 12, 12 @ 10:06 am
The problem the Gov faces is of his own creation. Cutting core services in the mist of the worst financial crises, he creates new programs and talks about investing (spending in others).
While the state truly is broke he has created skepticism among the rank and file who are convinced there is money since he continues on his spending spree.
Comment by WazUp Thursday, Apr 12, 12 @ 10:32 am
What new programs? And, where is the spending spree?
Comment by To WazUp Thursday, Apr 12, 12 @ 10:36 am
There were strong reasons for closing Howe regardless of the budget situation. I would have gone with the slots at tracks on economic grounds.
Both should be done, and as Wordslinger points out, there are many better claims on any cost saves or revenue gains, at this miserable point.
For Kadner to claim that “victims of his choices” are often the “politically powerless”, is absurd. The racetrack owners are far from politically powerless. We might not agree with Quinn’s choices, but to claim he primarily responds to power is unfair.
Comment by mark walker Thursday, Apr 12, 12 @ 10:50 am
Nobody wants anything cut and nobody wants to pay. What’s a Governor to do?
Comment by Bill Thursday, Apr 12, 12 @ 11:00 am
Quinn, Blago, and Madigan all have a common thread running through their policies. They would rather endanger citizens than cut political cronies. We still have thousands of political hacks on the payroll. Not only does that increase the current budget problems it balloons the pension problem. Our leaders would rather put mentally ill people and convicted criminals back on the street than whack their cronies.
This year, Quinn and Madigan(it is his budget) will cut education, mental facilities, and corrections and not one mid to upper level political hack will lose their job. Welcome to the democrate party in IL. Not to be confused with democrats who believe in protecting the working class and the protection of citizens.
Comment by the Patriot Thursday, Apr 12, 12 @ 11:03 am
I totally agree with the article. The Citizen, CUB activist Quinn, is not the Quinn we are seeing today.
Would the former Quinn be silent while a governor appoints highranking officials of a utility company to the group that regulates utility companies?
Would the former Quinn been happy with the bailouts given to large corporations without full scrutiny of what that money was going to buy?
Would the former Quinn renege on promises HE made to his rank and file employees while rewarding exec. staffers and other hacks? And in the process create hardships on veterans that work for him, (there is a strong vet presence in the Ill. workforce due to vet preference in hiring), while trying to push new programs for veterans who don’t yet work for him.
Would the former activist Quinn understand the sometimes lackluster approach the Governor takes to solving the budget issues; blaming the GA, forming committees to make decisions, etc.
It’s as though there is a Jekyll and Hyde character in the Governor’s office and we don’t know who is going to show up.
Patty me boy we hardly know ye.
Comment by Irish Thursday, Apr 12, 12 @ 11:11 am
= Bill - Thursday, Apr 12, 12 @ 11:00 am:
Nobody wants anything cut and nobody wants to pay. What’s a Governor to do? =
Couldn’t have said it better. Doesn’t matter what the cut/tax is - the constituency has their talking points ready to go.
Comment by dupage dan Thursday, Apr 12, 12 @ 11:22 am
Be sure not to confuse the closure of State Operated Developmental Centers with State Operated Mental Health Centers. The SODCs, like Howe, Jacksonvile,and the other 7 should all be closed because their residents would be better served in the community and the resources are there to provide for them. Not necessarily so with the Mental Health Centers, and that’s why their advocates are not necessarily supporting those closures.
Comment by gathersno Thursday, Apr 12, 12 @ 11:25 am
Nobody wants anything cut and nobody wants to pay. What’s a Governor to do?
I have an aswer. How about they try to LEAD. There is so much money being wasted in the agencys now.
Comment by Just Because Thursday, Apr 12, 12 @ 11:32 am
The state and Cook Co. Should consolidate the services of Howe with the services offered at the Cook Co Oak forest hosp. They are near each other and both facilities are underutilized. Close Howe move some programs to Oak Forest and share the cost. The Tinley park property is mostly vacant and right of I-80 a developer would love that land. I’m guessing Cook Co and Tinley park could use the tax revenue.
Comment by Fed up Thursday, Apr 12, 12 @ 11:38 am
Do we ever know who is really making the decisions in this state?
Comment by BelleAire Thursday, Apr 12, 12 @ 11:43 am
Before anyone sees gaming expansion as a path to avoiding cuts please keep in mind the footdragging mopes at the Gaming Board has so far failed to approve the first video poker machine in the state — three long years after the legislature voted and PQ signed.
Even if the Senate released the bill and PQ signed it the foot draggers can be expected to give IL nothing while they collect the fat salaries, expenses, etc.
Not a real hope — too bad
Comment by CircularFiringSquad Thursday, Apr 12, 12 @ 11:45 am
I do not oppose closures. I do oppose poor planning and lack of comprehension or vision regarding the big picture for Illinois.
Nice column by Kadner. Strange priorities by Quinn.
Comment by Freeman Thursday, Apr 12, 12 @ 11:46 am
I notice multiple comments mention Howe. Howe Developmental Center was closed years ago. Tinley Park MHC is a separate facility on the same site.
At the time of Howe’s closing (2008), Illinois DHS announced plans to “build a new state-of-the-art, privately-managed psychiatric hospital in the south suburbs.” It was scheduled to open in 2011.
Instead, this proposal closes the last such facility in the area. Meanwhile, Governor Quinn’s budget proposal slashes funding for community mental health services - the providers who are #supposedly going to pick up the slack.
Comment by Freeman Thursday, Apr 12, 12 @ 12:04 pm
I was at one of those meetings where DHS was trying to recruit community agencies to take people from state facilities. The problem is, the state wants to save plenty of money by not giving agencies enough money to serve difficult people at the level they need. They want to pay the same amount it would take to serve a typical person with a developmental disability who doesn’t have major behavioral problems, care needs,or medical issues.
Community agencies were not leaping forward to accept this and believe me, DHS kept asking “Who’s on board?” Pretty much nobody.
Illinois is already six months behind in paying bills to service providers. Why would any agency want to take on very complex or difficult people when the state is not willing to pay what it actually costs to serve them and is late in paying its bills.
Kind of hard to actually close a facility when no one will “Get on board”.
Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Apr 12, 12 @ 12:12 pm
Just to clarify, the mentally ill kicked out of the now-closed mental health facilities won’t end up in state prisons, because those will be closed as well.
Comment by Michelle Flaherty Thursday, Apr 12, 12 @ 12:19 pm
Citizen Quinn fought hard, and successfully, against the closure of ICRE-Roosevelt, a residential facility on the west side that rehabs young people with disabilities. Citizen Quinn didn’t buy the clap trap about how these young people could be “free” in the community. He understood “free” meant no services.
Governor Quinn is embracing the clap trap, because now “free” means services he doesn’t have to pay for. So what if people in severe mental health crisis, instead of a brief hospitalization at Tinley, end up on the street or in the jails. Local government will have to deal with that, not him.
Comment by Jeff Park Mom Thursday, Apr 12, 12 @ 12:39 pm
“But the victims of his choices too often seem to be the politically powerless who cannot defend themselves.”
I’m sure Quinn looks on the mentally ill and their care as collateral damage. It’s that cold for the politically powerless. He saves his concern and empathy for the important stuff, like cutting major corporations slack on their taxes.
Comment by Wensicia Thursday, Apr 12, 12 @ 12:50 pm
- Anonymous - @ 12:12 pm: This is one of the major issues facing the state and yet those in Springfield have some sort of disconnect and either can’t grasp the concept or don’t want to.
It used to be that most vendors wanted the state’s business. Now they do not. We are constantly hounded by the bean counters that we must use SBSA vendors for most everything and there are a myriad of hoops to jump through if you don’t. The problem is that there are few vendors signing up to get on the SBSA list, just as there are no service providers clamoring to be included in the shift to privatization of care for the folks in these institutions.
When I have asked vendors why they haven’t signed up they tell me that they don’t want to go through all the hassle of providing seven years of profit and loss statements, plus the other paperwork to get on the list and then have to wait six months or a year to get their money. They see the state as a risk and they are unwilling to take it.
What the leaders in Springfield don’t understand is that perception is detrimental to the business climate. You don’t have to hand out millions of dollars to attract and keep business. Just provide a stable foundation for economic growth. You do that by not being a deadbeat in paying your bills, by at least having a clear plan for solving the fiscal problems, and by having everyone on board with that plan instead of all the infighting that makes one wonder if anyone is in charge or if they even care.
The situation is not helped by all of the outside influences who are trying to grab all they can for themselves and to better their position in the ensuing confusion, like the IPI, the CCC, and others.
Comment by Irish Thursday, Apr 12, 12 @ 1:11 pm
But we will spend $10m to clean up the Chicago River
Comment by sadie Thursday, Apr 12, 12 @ 2:10 pm
-sadie- but only the portion in Cook county.
Comment by Irish Thursday, Apr 12, 12 @ 2:24 pm
Illinois is already a national leader in gambling expansion but some would like to take it further.
That said, Kadner is right that the politically powerless are ill-served in Illinois. But that comes more from the self-interested party establishment than Quinn himself. Quinn can crony with the best of ‘em, and it would be nice to see him lead by example regarding shared sacrifice. But unlike most Illinois Dems, his area of interest appears to extend beyond his little band of insiders and public-union money. He led the push for a small increase in the state’s earned-income tax credit, which alleviated at least somewhat the Dem tax hike on the poorest Illinois workers to fund retirement packages that they can only dream of. To be sure, “progressives” would have liked to see him advocate a graduated income tax, as Dan Hynes did. But that issue will presumably have to wait at least until the 2014 campaign.
More than most Illinois Dems, Quinn intends to provide a hand up to the less fortunate. Even though he’s governor, his options are limited by a powerful Springfield Democratic establishment.
Comment by Anon Thursday, Apr 12, 12 @ 3:44 pm
I consider the “Citizen Quinn” stuff to be bs. Especially on this site, people should know how much harder it is to govern than to critique (what we do on here, btw)
Comment by steve schnorf Thursday, Apr 12, 12 @ 5:43 pm
Sadie, that comes out of a capital fund, which is paid for with borrowing. The state shouldn’t borrow for operations, except for possibly the mountain of overdue bills.
Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Apr 12, 12 @ 9:33 pm
How about reclaiming the $100 million tax cut for CME and keeping Tinley open?
Comment by truthteller Thursday, Apr 12, 12 @ 9:45 pm
@truthteller - that shows us something about our state government’s priorities, doesn’t it? We can find the money for that, but not for this.
Comment by Freeman Friday, Apr 13, 12 @ 10:35 am