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On pork and hypocrisy

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Illinois

* Once again, the governor’s hypocrisy shines through. Yesterday, he complained about all the “pork” in the budget which passed both the House and the Senate…

Blagojevich also criticized the number of pork-barrel projects.

“It’s got so much pork in it that if you were to hold the budget document itself, you’d probably be unable to hold it because it’s so greasy,” Blagojevich said.

* How much?

(E)ach representative was getting $650,000 and each senator $1.3 million. That would put the total around $153 million.

* But, Blagojevich himself is drafting a capital plan that makes the budget pork look like child’s play…

Senate Democrats quietly working with the governor revealed that lawmakers could receive as much as in $400 million in pork-barrel projects through a construction program on top the pork in the separate operating budget.

There’s more than that. Every project will essentially be a “pork” project because Blagojevich will be able to use that cash as leverage against individual legislators. Is it any wonder why Speaker Madigan isn’t thrilled with the capital plan idea? Blagojevich will use it to mess with his caucus as long as he’s in office.

* And this is just goofy…

Further, critics complained of what they called pork spending, pointing to Madigan’s wife Shirley, the board chair of the Illinois Arts Council, which is getting $3.6 million in state funding, a 17 percent increase over last year.

So, now the Illinois Arts Council’s funding can’t be increased because it’s pork? Please.

This is the same governor who offered one state Senator (Mike Jacobs) a $75 million project for one vote and he’s complaining about relatively small member initiative projects in the state budget?

Give me a break.

The public is conditioned to automatically reject the idea of “pork projects,” because a few of the ideas get out of hand. But, overall, I really don’t see a huge problem with state legislators deciding to allocate money to their districts.

The biggest problem I have is when they hide the pork in the budget with lump sum allocations. Blagojevich also railed against that practice during the 2002 campaign. And who is the only caucus leader to do that exact thing in this budget? Senate President Emil Jones, Blagojevich’s ally. But you don’t hear a peep from the guv about that.

…Adding… The governor is using the truly huge capital spending proposal to entice Senate Democrats into voting for his health insurance proposal. And the guv’s allies in the House used the capital projects in a failed attempt to pry votes away from the operating budget yesterday. As Comptroller Hynes said of Blagojevich on a different topic, the man’s hypocrisy knows no bounds.

* Here’s a small list of alleged “pork” projects in the south suburbs, to give you an idea of how ridiculous the governor’s argument is…

Police equipment and technology upgrades for Oak Lawn: $50,000.

Police equipment for Evergreen Park: $50,000.

Undefined cash grant to Midlothian Police Department: $25,000.

Renovations to the Hometown police station: $50,000.

Firefighting equipment for South Holland: $35,000.

Surveillance cameras in the 14th and 23rd wards in Chicago: $300,000.

Discuss.

posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Aug 10, 07 @ 9:35 am

Comments

The guy…just doesn’t….get it. What else is there to say?

Comment by Diamond Dog Friday, Aug 10, 07 @ 9:40 am
Those projects belong in a capital budget, not an operating budget.

If they want projects for their district - infrastructure investments, and economic development - they need to pass a capital plan.

I see a difference.

Comment by jackson Friday, Aug 10, 07 @ 9:42 am
Boss Hog should know all about PORK. his administration depends on it.

Comment by Who's Greasy? Friday, Aug 10, 07 @ 9:44 am
Basically - if you want “pork”, do it as part of a broader capital plan, not as a way to grease votes onto an operating budget.

I don’t see a problem here with the Dems’ position.

Comment by jackson Friday, Aug 10, 07 @ 9:46 am
From John Patterson at the Daily Herald:

“Although Blagojevich bashed the spending, he could not name a single unworthy project when pressed by reporters.”

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Friday, Aug 10, 07 @ 9:48 am
Jackson, the governor is using the capital plan to “grease” votes for his health insurance proposal. What’s the difference?

Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Aug 10, 07 @ 9:48 am
Jackson - equipment purchases don’t belong in a capital budget. Neither do minor renovations. Capital budgets are for construction.

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Friday, Aug 10, 07 @ 9:50 am
In my district the member initiatives look like they are things that were pretty much needed except for one 300,000 pure pork handout. Looked them over and most look like they pass the smell test. Most, but not all.

Comment by Alex Friday, Aug 10, 07 @ 9:59 am
Rich,

I am not saying I agree with that. But I would point out that they would be different bills. They are not stuck in together. They don’t have to vote to include something unrelated to get what they want.

Comment by jackson Friday, Aug 10, 07 @ 10:02 am
===They don’t have to vote to include something unrelated to get what they want.===

What planet are you from?

Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Aug 10, 07 @ 10:03 am
I had no idea there was a town called Hometown. I wonder how they came up with that name?

Comment by Juice Friday, Aug 10, 07 @ 10:10 am
Now the Governor is a fiscal conservative worried about “pork’? From largest tax increase in history to bribing state senators (I had forgotten about that) to nickle and diming the funding of fire stations and fixing sidewalks. Give me a break. Everyone should send flip-flops to his office.

Comment by jwscott72 Friday, Aug 10, 07 @ 10:22 am
Where’s the full list?

Comment by jackson Friday, Aug 10, 07 @ 10:26 am
madigans use of item specifics to identify the spending lets the public see how many is being spent and covers my concenr with pork spending. Money spread out rationaly and proportianly throughtout the state benefits us all.

Then again, I still hold out a dream that the state will put in place the pork project of a high speed train running from spfld to chicago and st.louis.

Comment by Ghost Friday, Aug 10, 07 @ 10:42 am
My eyes are red from looking through the 1300 odd pages, just to find what’s in it for Osterman’s (my) district. Looking at those, what seems like endless line items, are just plain mind-numbing to say the least….

Comment by The 'Broken Heart' of Rogers Park Friday, Aug 10, 07 @ 10:58 am
Isn’t this the same guy that gave $1,000,000 for a minor league ballpark on a whim?

Comment by Anonymous Friday, Aug 10, 07 @ 11:02 am
Rich,

You nailed this one. DuPage, still think Rich is backing the Gov? Anyway, I don’t know why the hypocracy bothers me SO much, you would think I would be used to it by now.
To Jackson, so its ok to spread $400 million in so called pork around for brick and mortor projects that equal $10 billion, but not ok to spread around so called pork of $200 million on top of $59 billion for an operating budget?
Everyone line items projects except for Blagos buddy the president of the senate, but thats ok to the Gov, who railed against it in his campaign, whatever. It will never end. 99% of pork are needed projects in communities that can’t get the funding any other way. Pork is just a term used in campaigns to make people look bad.
No one picked up the story about the faked signature of the IEA lobbiest by the Governors office?

Comment by Moderate Repub Friday, Aug 10, 07 @ 11:06 am
This just in…

Gov. Rod Blagojevich helped officially open the Illinois State Fair, but he only took one question from reporters because he said he had to get back to the Capitol to work on the budget.

Blagojevich says a proposed budget measure doesn’t take care of health care and infrastructure needs. Versions of that budget proposal were passed Thursday by the House and Senate.

Blagojevich calls the proposal full of “pork, politics and false promises.”

He says there is a long way to go before a budget is in place.

After cutting a ribbon to open the fair in Springfield, the governor said he had to return to work at the Capitol.

Comment by Siyotanka Friday, Aug 10, 07 @ 11:23 am
Amen, Anon (although to be fair, that ballpark IS going to set a frontier league attendance record, and has generally been considered a success here so far).

Comment by So Ill Friday, Aug 10, 07 @ 11:23 am
Does $1 million for Pilgrim Baptist Church not count as “pork?” I have no idea if the funding for the church destroyed by fire is actually written into the operating budget anywhere, I just find it contradictory. But therein lies no surprise. The governor has contradicted himself before. Would it be proper usage to say that it is in the zeitgeist of the Blagojevich administration?

Comment by Nobody's opinion Friday, Aug 10, 07 @ 11:59 am
I believe it was George Ryan who said something along the lines of, if money is given to your district, it’s a “necessary project.” If money is given to someone else’s district, it’s “pork.” If these very same projects for the very same amounts were in a budget that paid for Blago’s beloved healthcare plan, he’d be praising them as “necessary projects.” He didn’t have a problem signing the last few years’ budgets that had money for member projects in them.

Comment by Bonzo's Montreux Friday, Aug 10, 07 @ 11:59 am
Pork will never go away. But we can limit it. Perhaps we need an amendment banning pork as an incentive to buy votes for a major legislative plan. One can hope.

Rogers, why do you think they do that? It’s the best way to keep the voting public (and some reporters) from knowing what projects are funded and who gets what.

Comment by Team Sleep Friday, Aug 10, 07 @ 12:04 pm
I’ve seen some of the pork that’s been processed in the last five years in Illinois, and I can attest to the fact that a lot of it does not pass the sniff test. Emil Jones’ use of the lump sum line items allowed him to award prominant religious supportes with funding for their “daycare” programs or “after school arts” programs, when in reality, the funding went to pay for personnel, more specifically it went to his buddies. I agree that the infrastructure and emergency management grants are warranted and necessary, but when public funds are used to line the pockets of private organizations, that’s where I draw the line.

Comment by One who knows Friday, Aug 10, 07 @ 2:54 pm
Private organizations such as Catholic Charities? Lutheran Family Services? Oh. the shame of it all!

Comment by steve schnorf Friday, Aug 10, 07 @ 6:20 pm