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The first media report about the governor’s southern Illinois trip is positive.
Governor Rod Blagojevich (bluh-GOY’-uh-vitch) toured southern Illinois today to publicize economic success stories.The governor joined cheerleaders and local politicians in a pep rally to celebrate construction of a new coal-burning power plant. And he posed for pictures with executives of a trucking company opening a new terminal in Illinois.
Cheerleaders? I wonder what their cheers were.
OK, let’s keep the comments clean on this one, please. We’re starting to get a bad reputation, although I stuck up for y’all in comments.
UPDATE: That new trucking terminal looks like a big win for Illinois and a loss for that allegedly pro-business state of Missouri (from a press release):
USF Holland Inc., an operating company of USF Corporation (Nasdaq: USFC - News), announced that it has broken ground on a new terminal in Edwardsville, Illinois which will serve the southern Illinois and St. Louis Metro area. The terminal will replace an older, smaller terminal in the USF Holland system. […]The new 102 door St. Louis facility, which is located in an industrial park in Edwardsville, Illinois, will replace an 84 door operation located across the river in the city proper of St. Louis. The terminal will be ready for operation in the second quarter of 2005.
The taxpayers had to pony up, though.
“USF Corporation wishes to acknowledge Gov. Blagojevich for the financial assistance provided by the Opportunity Returns program,” said Thomas E. Bergmann, Chief Executive Officer of USF Corporation.
posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Feb 7, 05 @ 6:02 pm
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What a Trucking Company coming to Illinois? Come you Rod haters out there what is taking so long post on this one?
Let my guess.
This all an evil ploy by Rod. They really are not coming becuase of the anti trucking climate Rod created in Illinois. This is just a smoke job which will be exposed by the God Fearing, Family Values GOP Gang of Crooks.
By the way, is Madigan going to go around the State and hold revenue hearings too? Seems like he couldn’t be bothered to show up and his own Dog and Pony Show Saturday. Maybe the groups screaming about the cuts should be asked to submit their ideas on how to fix the budget. O, and make sure the Anti-Tax, Smaller Govertment is Good, GOP Gang get their two cents in also. Come on Repubs. lets hear your plans to fix the budget.
Comment by Anonymous Monday, Feb 7, 05 @ 6:28 pm
Easy on the Mountain Dew, big fella.
Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Feb 7, 05 @ 6:35 pm
Someone ask Blowhairdyovich or DCEO what kind of tax breaks or financial incentives they forked over. Wonder who paid for the PR Newswire piece. Well, that’s one trucking company that came back and 2,999 to go. Sorry we’re all so cynical.
Comment by Anonymous Monday, Feb 7, 05 @ 8:45 pm
It might, just might have something to do with Misery have crappy roads and infrastructure and Illinois investing in its infrastructure. I seriously want someone to do an analysis of what OTR trucks end up spending in extra maintenance because of the Misery road system.
It helps to be able to get somewhere if you are in the business of moving stuff.
Business friendly my ass. Tell that to the backasswards Lege members trying to ban biotech research and institute creationism in biology classes while Saint Louis is trying to be a biotech power.
Comment by ArchPundit Monday, Feb 7, 05 @ 10:18 pm
OK, but what about the big intermodual terminal outside Rochelle? Is that still coming?
And at what cost….
But let’s give GB credit - he gets credit for the big stuff, the problems are hidden, hard to understand. Not doing a bad job of running the Clinton playbook.
Much as I hate to say it.
Comment by Pat Collins Monday, Feb 7, 05 @ 10:19 pm
The intermodal terminal in Rochelle is already up and running. It was in the works for awhile, though. Definitely was started in the last admin. and still growing in this one…but it was more of a private sector thing. They will have about 2000 semi’s in and out every day at full build out. Maybe more if the area sprouts some additional industrial/warehouse business off of the terminal.
Even with the added truck fees, etc., there are certain advantages on being positioned near the Chicago area, transportation hub of the US. Let’s hope the golden goose is not plucked too much more.
Comment by Anonymous Monday, Feb 7, 05 @ 11:39 pm
Good News for GRod. Joe “Punches” Birkett, still in debt to DuPage DUI lawyers & trying to fry Rolando Cruz plots his “comeback” I think Kelly and Wilhelm are behind this stooge.
Birkett weighing run for governor
By Eric Krol Daily Herald Political Writer
DuPage County State’s Attorney Joe Birkett is exploring a bid for governor, focusing his political aspirations on the state’s top elected office instead of a rematch for attorney general.While the 49-year-old, three-term Republican from Wheaton won’t make up his mind until mid-summer, Birkett said the thrust of a campaign would be cleaning up a state government in which Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich “has festered the pay-to-play culture.”
“The governor inherited the office from George Ryan and said he was going to change the way we do business in Springfield, and he’s made a mockery of that promise,” Birkett told the Daily Herald Monday in an informal announcement of his exploratory bid. “He’s raising money at a record pace. He’s outpacing George Ryan. There’s no question this state is hungry for new leadership.”
Blagojevich campaign spokesman Pete Giangreco declined to engage in a war of words.
“The governor hasn’t declared for re-election yet,” he said. “If (Blagojevich) does run, we’ll look forward to exchanging ideas with whoever the (Republican) nominee is.”
Blagojevich, who has $11 million in his campaign fund, has taken his ethical lumps lately. His father-in-law, Chicago Ald. Dick Mell, claimed and then recanted allegations that appointments were being traded for campaign contributions. State and Cook County authorities are probing nonetheless.
Birkett, who plans to travel across Illinois the next several months gauging GOP support, arguably could carry the integrity mantle, something Republicans haven’t been able to do lately given the scandal that led to a federal indictment of former Gov. Ryan. Birkett enjoys some statewide name recognition from his narrow 2002 loss to Democrat Lisa Madigan for attorney general. Also, Birkett is a conservative from DuPage, two subgroups that vote in GOP primaries.
On the downside, Birkett’s campaign fund remains nearly $700,000 in debt, although much of that money is owed to friends, cousins and retired former Senate President James “Pate” Philip.
Birkett also would be trying to bypass the stepping stone of holding statewide office before running for governor. Former Attorney General Jim Ryan, who ran and lost for governor in 2002, had two terms as attorney general under his belt.
Also looming in the background is the fate of Brian Dugan, who during plea negotiations confessed to the 1983 murder of 10-year-old Jeanine Nicarico of Naperville but has yet to be charged. Birkett declined to discuss the case, which his office is still pursuing.
Dugan is serving two life sentences for two other murders. DuPage authorities prosecuted three other men, including former death row inmate Rolando Cruz, for Nicarico’s murder, but Cruz was freed after a judge acquitted him at a new trial.
Beyond ethics, Birkett also attacked Blagojevich for hiking fees on businesses. On economics, Birkett didn’t offer specific solutions to create jobs but said he’s still looking into the issues.
Birkett joins a crowded field of those mulling a GOP governor run. Congressman Ray LaHood of Peoria, State Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka of Riverside, state Sen. Steve Rauschenberger of Elgin, and former State Board of Education Chairman Ron Gidwitz of Chicago all are thinking about governor runs in the March 2006 primary.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Feb 8, 05 @ 9:56 am
Birkett has the same baggage LaHood does: How do you complain about the ethics of Milorad when you were happily quiet for GRyan???
Pretty hard question to answer, even without the Dugan stuff.
Comment by Pat Collins Tuesday, Feb 8, 05 @ 1:31 pm
Re: Rochelle’s Global III Intermodal Facility:
“Maybe more if the area sprouts some additional industrial/warehouse business off of the terminal.”
That’s more to the point. But what the Blago fans keep missing isn’t the slow growth of the Rochelle Intermodal facility, it’s the slow (and slowing) growth of the added industrial/distribution/warehouse facilities in the area.
As an example, there’s the recent Petsmart distribution facility at Ottawa (located in the TIF or Enterprise Zone, as I remember), or the Costco distribution facility at Morris (but that was fully up & running well before Blago hit the scene). The problem isn’t that we’ve gotten a few - it’s all the ones we’ve missed, or that Illinois hasn’t even been seriously contacted about - and there’s more than a few of those.
What it all comes down to is that IL are right now experiencing a major drought in the DEVELOPMENT PHASE for industrial, distribution, & warehouse facilities in the I-39 / I-80 corridor - and it really hasn’t kicked back into gear yet. In fact, I’m hearing that as far as the siteing players go, Illinois is no longer a leading candidate for these types of facilities, and those folks (and when you lose the siteing folks, you are in trouble) are putting a large portion of the blame on our current administration. And that one should be right at Blago’s doorstep.
Say what you will about Blago’s predecessors - at least they were willing to smooze the business community (and they did good!). In Blago’s administration, it’s like doing that is a Capital Offense. That’s going to continue to cost this state in terms of jobs for the next few years.
As a btw, part of the reason that the new terminal will be in Edwardsville, Illinois instead of on the St. Louis side is because it’s superior OTR truck access (vehicle ingress/egress) to Interstate road network from the Edwardsville area. Simply put, it’s easier in/out road access in almost any direction in a business where time is money.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Feb 8, 05 @ 7:07 pm
Blowhairdryovich just handed over more than $2 million to a Salem trucking company to persuade them NOT to leave Illinois. The paper said it was a GRANT, not incentive or what have you. Just hand over the big bucks so a company will stay. Why don’t we all line up and stick our hand out. This is economic development?
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Feb 8, 05 @ 8:33 pm
to the first comment:
Nice mountain dew comment Rich. How old do you think the angry little dew drinker is.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Feb 8, 05 @ 10:08 pm
I’m going back to the one with too much Mountain Dew for a moment. Why has there been nothing printed in the papers about the “town hall meetings” being held about the budget. They’ve been going on and yet, not a word in the press. Kinda odd. I went to one, and it wasn’t a one sided deal. ?????
Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Feb 9, 05 @ 7:11 pm