Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Morning Shorts

Posted in:

Illinois

* Durbin threatens to block Department of Energy appointments

* Governor halts health program enrollment

* Blagojevich flip-flops on decision to close prisons

Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s decision to close a state prison is a reversal of what his own prison experts said just a year ago.

* Lawmakers vow to keep Pontiac state prison open

* IDOT move could cost $1 million

* Reilly: Kids museum would grow after OK

* Children’s Museum debate offers glimpse of things to come

* Children’s Museum Prez Takes Aim at Relocation Proposal Opponent

* Illinois House approves legislation to arrest parolees charged with domestic battery

* Bill would tighten state’s leash on parolees

* Carpentersville teacher named one of state’s best

* A stacked deck

If the County Board meekly approves the Stroger Nine, chances are high that Democratic pols will continue to use the health system to reward friends, punish enemies and spread money around.

* Libertarian candidate bids for spot on 14th Dist. ballot

posted by Kevin Fanning
Wednesday, May 7, 08 @ 8:54 am

Comments

I’m all for punishing domestic abuse perpetrators but has anybody thought out the fiscal consequences of putting a lot more of them in jail for a lot longer time. A lot of these guys (and, yes, most of them are guys) are working. They lose their jobs and go to jail, where they are fed, clothed, housed, and give free medical care and free education at the local community college…to the tune of about $40,000 a year per inmate. And remember, food and medical care are going up in cost. Soon, it will be $50,000 a year. And so on. States like California, not as flush with cash as blue Illinois, are looking hard at research-based alternatives to incarceration right now. Illinois, confident of endless taxpayer generosity, is not apparently.

A parole officer makes a serious mistake (maybe he or she had discretion, who knows, so it wasn’t a mistake) and now Illinois taxpayers will pay the freight to the tune of additional millions per year to incarcerate these guys. The head of the parole agency gets a raise, no doubt, and the
pols and their crony prison contractors pull in
even more taxpayer cash. Incarceration is such
a great cash cow for the politicos.

If the parole agents are incompetent, what about increased electronic surveillance. This is the 21st century and all our 19th century politicians
(and the 19th century state’s atty’s office) can think about is how to do things the old way…which, fortuitiously, is also the most lucrative way, for them and their patronage and contractor cronies.

Comment by Cassandra Wednesday, May 7, 08 @ 9:19 am
===If the County Board meekly approves the Stroger Nine, chances are high that Democratic pols will continue to use the health system to reward friends, punish enemies and spread money around.====
Of course they are. Those rubber stamps aren’t gonna stamp themselves you know!

Comment by Belle Wednesday, May 7, 08 @ 9:21 am
Maybe I missed something: Governor B is trying to close prisons in IL? Thompson Correctional Center is just sitting there, still not running 100%. Our beloved legislators long ago voted day-for-day time off [cutting sentences in half] to save $$ and jail space… to the delight of criminals.

Did I miss where felony crime went down in IL? Did I miss where our leaders changed their duty to protect us from criminals feasting on us? Between early release and parole, an unused prison and threatened shuttering of more prisons I have to ask:

Whose side is the Governor on? The law-abiding tax-paying working citizens of IL OR
the criminals? The side of the honest taxpayers expecting to be safe from crime OR the side of the rule breakers preying on the rule followers?

Comment by North of I-80 Wednesday, May 7, 08 @ 9:26 am
=== IDOT Move ===
I did not see in those figures the costs for phone and data line transfers, which could add up to a sizable sum as well. Other factors in a major move like that will also add up to quite a few bucks.

While we’re thinking about it, will someone please ask one of the Governor’s mouthpieces why - if the administration is so committed to strengthening Southern Illinois - they don’t move some of the hundreds of jobs they have snatched and moved to Chicago BACK to Springfield and downstate?

Comment by BehindTheScenes Wednesday, May 7, 08 @ 10:35 am
BehindTheScene;
Since he already moved the state capitol to Chicago [Ravenswood actually], moving IDOT to southern IL would be a good balancing move for the state…. think teeter-totter. CMS will go south next and IL will be fine.

[My logic is as good as any we’ve scene from this group - agree?]

Comment by North of I-80 Wednesday, May 7, 08 @ 11:26 am
Blago has to pay for his unilarally-imposed and unfunded health care programs somehow. Not to worry! When the released criminals beat you to within an inch of your life, maybe you can go through mountains of red tape to get the state to pay 5% of your medical bills!

Comment by Snidely Whiplash Wednesday, May 7, 08 @ 12:19 pm
++ FutureGen ++

With the damage that plant will do to the area’s aquifers and the cost involved in manufacturing “alternate fuel” - this is a lose - lose situation for all of us. Grocery prices are higher, thanks to these pork barrel projects, water tables are diminished and damaged beyond repair, all for what? A fuel source that is not economically feasible!

As far as the energy department backing out of this, they’re the only smart ones noted. Maybe they realized, despite the rhetoric that this is nothing but a pork barrel project at it’s best.

Comment by Sahims2 Wednesday, May 7, 08 @ 4:16 pm
So much for the Sufferdin vote…..just another pathetic rubber stamp.

Comment by downhereforyears Wednesday, May 7, 08 @ 8:21 pm