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Will he or won’t he?

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* Kurt Erickson takes us down memory lane…

In 2004, the governor announced he wanted to close Vandalia Correctional Center. He ended his quest amidst heavy political pressure from lawmakers.

Also in 2004, the Chicago Democrat said he wanted to close the maximum-security prison in Pontiac, but again dropped that plan. Earlier this year, he said Stateville Correctional Center near Joliet should close, but then backed off that plan and set his sites on Pontiac again.

In April, the governor also threatened to cut funding for 4-H programs, but relented as lawmakers worked to revamp the state budget.

Blagojevich also said he would cut funding for Amtrak service in Illinois, but put the brakes on that plan too.

Now, in addition to his plan [to close the Pontiac state prison], the governor says 14 state historic sites will be closed Oct. 1 because of the impasse between himself and the Legislature. He’s targeted 11 state parks for closure on Nov. 1.

I just don’t think he’ll follow through with these threats, for various reasons, including history and the impact on the November elections. What do you think?

* Meanwhile, the governor’s budget cuts are putting pressure on the secretary of state’s office…

Nearly 4,000 Illinois government employees will lose four days of pay because of state budget cuts, Secretary of State Jesse White announced Monday.

Facing $26 million in cuts, White ordered all 3,900 of his employees to take four unpaid days off. […]

White is not the only statewide official forced to take action by the governor’s cuts.

Attorney General Lisa Madigan asked older employees to retire and made nonunion workers pay an additional 1 percent to their pensions. Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias cut six of his office’s 190 jobs and ordered others to take one or two furlough days, depending on their salary, GateHouse News Service reported.

Something’s gotta give soon.

* Related…

* Pressure builds

* SOS workers must take 4 unpaid days off

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Sep 16, 08 @ 9:03 am

Comments

Why will no one stand up to this Governor? Lisa Madigan vowed that she would have indicted George Ryan had she been AG. Does anyone believe Blago is not at least as bad? She won’t even stand up and fight the Governor for her own loyal employees. She is biding her time to be the next Goveror or Sentator. Somebody has to shake this thing up. Neither Madigan has the courage to do it. Right now the Governor is holding all the cards and no one will call his bluff.

Comment by the Patriot Tuesday, Sep 16, 08 @ 9:08 am
I believe when there is an active federal investigation, the AG’s office has to sit on the sidelines. That is of course assuming RB is “Public Official A” … hmm…

Comment by BandCamp Tuesday, Sep 16, 08 @ 9:18 am
BC, that’s a pleasant thought,…however it does nothing for the people who have to take off from work soon for free, the parks that are closing and the devastation those closings have on the local economies.
This incompetent buffoon is hurting real people and having a horrendous effect on local populations while the AG, Feds, and Legislature sit on their hands.
Time to either p^^^ or get off the Pot.
I sure isn’t getting any better.
IMHO.

Comment by shermans ghost Tuesday, Sep 16, 08 @ 9:30 am
Helter skelter comes to mind. When you lose site of your plan, because you strayed almost immediately from that plan and mandate handed to you by the citizens, you start grasping at anything that will get you headlines. Then you move to the fear and intimidation strategy. Now we are in the outright “I’m punishing everyone who doesn’t support me” phase. This fellow has stopped governing and is now in the throws of lunacy. I cannot for the life of me understand why someone hasn’t stepped up and said enough is enough? He was courageous enough to make certain his family didn’t have their lives changed, thus he refused to move to Springfield…..yet he doesn’t hesitate to destroy thousands of others lives. I don’t know what the rules are regarding impeachment but surely there are rules regarding bankrupting one’s state, rules of decency, and rules of common sense. It is my opinion that he has lost all honor and trust and is now wreaking as much havoc as possible. If he can force it, he will cause these sites to be closed. Bumping right are ongoing in many areas now and the discord among the rank and file has started. That ill will cannot be undone. The “let’s you and him fight” scenario has begun as he stands aside and watches. This isn’t what we need in a governor.

Comment by Justice Tuesday, Sep 16, 08 @ 9:31 am
I don’t have the energy to defend RB. He may be a cuckoo, non-responsive at times, say some of the most off the mark comments, etc., however, he alone is not to blame for the fiscal condition of the State of Illinois. He certainly doesn’t seem to be doing the right things to try and steer the ship right, but to point the finger at him exclusively is bogus.

Comment by BandCamp Tuesday, Sep 16, 08 @ 9:42 am
I didn’t get a chance to weigh in on Emperor Daley’s remarks about Governor Pinocchio yeaterday, but I think the governor’s fiscal policies have been totally “cuckoo” from day one/year one of his adminstration.

Anyone who knew what they were doing would have raised income taxes the first year in office -way
back in 2003. The decimation of State government
and the current terrible fiscal situation is directly traceable to the Governor’s adamant opposition to an income tax increase back in 2003 and thereafter.

Failure to address the State’s structural deficit for five years has put the State of Illinois in a ficcal straitjacket. I heard one legislator describe the current fiscal situation as possibly the worst in the Illinois history - also noting that it will probably worsen nest year because of the serious national recession and the Wall Street meltdown.

There’s not much the Constitutional Officers can do about Governor A’s fiscal insanity,except cope by cutting staff and implementing involuntary furloughs.It’s a sad state of affairs, but tax increases sufficient to right the ship of state are highly unlikely in the current economic climate. People are struggling to keep their heads above water.

Comment by Captain America Tuesday, Sep 16, 08 @ 9:58 am
Attorney General Lisa Madigan asked older employees to retire

You can do that? I was under the impression that was, shall we say, illegal??

Comment by Pat collins Tuesday, Sep 16, 08 @ 10:08 am
Band Camp has a point.

While the Governor has his problems, the bulk of the spending problems are related to the other bodies of government. This year’s budget had 1.6 billion dollars of new revenue. The structure of the spending and desires for new splashy programs took that new revenue and turned it into a large deficit.

To the Governor’s credit, I believe that we would have had an increase in income and sales taxes without his influence.

Comment by Plutocrat03 Tuesday, Sep 16, 08 @ 10:10 am
Pat, that set off bells for me, too.

The statement isn’t attributed, it’s hard to judge. I suspect it’s sloppy writing. I find it hard to believe that any attorney, much less any attorney general outside of Alberto Gonzales or John Mitchell, would be so reckless. Because that lawsuit’s a slamdunk winner.

Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Sep 16, 08 @ 10:31 am
Band Camp…That is exactly my point. She knew Jim Ryan had been given orders from the Feds to stay away from George Ryan. Yet she campaigned stating she would have indicted anyway. She is a Liar on the most important campaign issue of the 02 election cycle when she came into office. She knew she would have never done anyting.

My biggest point is that the two people who have the authority to stop this, won’t because they are protecting Lisa’s career, not our interests. If it was about the people file the indictment and make the feds file an injunction. Then he is on the ropes and has to back off.

The second issue is that Mike Madigan can impeach him. Jones is a Lame duck and the only reason not to impeach him is because there is a 50/50 shot he will get to name a new Senator from IL in January…Lisa. It is Chicago Politics. Jones goes to the Obama administration, Mike gets the legislature, Lisa gets the U.S. Senate, Blago gets to run against Pat Quinn with Madigan staying neutral, and the people get…use your own explitive.

Comment by the Patriot Tuesday, Sep 16, 08 @ 10:37 am
Who wants to be governor right now considering the fiscal disaster we are confronting? Who wants to take a stand publically regarding the course of action needed to lessen it? Which of our career politicians wish to risk their political dreams by taking on real decisions and suffering the consequences of those decisions?

Now we better understand why there is deafening silence concerning solutions to our problems, but no lack of yelling at Blagojevich. He has to make decisions, has put off decision making for years hoping the situation would resolve itself, and now playing triage as everyone else plays Monday morning quarterback.

What would happen if we cut back on state services? What would happen if we closed parks? What would happen if we closed prisons? We all expect disaster, but what are we facing now? Doesn’t it depend on the kind of disaster you are willing to face, the depth of the disaster and the political ability to survive it? Yes, it does.

So it seems that every special interest bellows as Blagojevich thrusts his hungry hand at them. Daley accuses him of being insane when the Governor suggests a solution that doesn’t mean filling empty coffers. Democrats bemoan how this or that person or entity is not getting tax hammered, so that they can appear empathetic to angry voters.

Hence the stagnation. The government meltdown. The Russian Roulette style of budget cuts.

The people in charge are out of options. They cannot fix our situation. There are too many shrubs and rocks for them to hide behind and avoid making decisions. We need to clear that field by voting for a Constitutional Convention.

We must address amending our constitution so that decisions wouldn’t hang endlessly unresolved. We must address amending our constitution so that the decision makers we elect are supported in order to make tough decisions, and are rousted out of office when they fail to make tough decisions. Government is broken. Doing nothing is now worse than making mistakes. It is the mistakes we’ve been refusing to fix that are at the root of so many of our current dilemnas.

It isn’t from a lack of new ideas. It is because there are too many constitutional cracks and crevices to hide within that are preventing our career politicians to face the reality we must face. And we cannot have good government when those in charge are so disconnected from reality.

Comment by VanillaMan Tuesday, Sep 16, 08 @ 10:38 am
I reiterate that I believe the governor and the legislative leaders are doing us a favor regarding the budget by showing us what a budget balanced on the spending side is going to look like.

Some of us believe that cutting spending is what our state government should do. Others of us believe that the inadequacies and unfairness of our current tax structure needs to be addressed, and part of that change needs to be increased revenue.

With this year’s budget allowing the medicaid payment cycle to raise by 20 days or more, it simply guarantees that next year’s problem will be worse. There probably won’t be enough revenue growth next year to even break even on the payment cycle, much less fund the pay plans, hold elementary and secondary ed harmless, and pay the pension payment, etc.

This is what budgets are going to look like for a long while, so get used to it I have. I would have told both the governors I worked for that the state could probably lose a couple or three thousand employees and be functional, but no way could we lose 10,000 and survive. For better or worse, I was wrong.

We are a long way from down to state government’s core functions. All of us need to face the fact that automatic growth of annual spending exceeds annual growth of revenue for our state government as currently constituted. There will simply have to be more prison closings, mental health center closings, state park and historic park closings, and so on. It’s a simple as doing the math.

Comment by steve schnorf Tuesday, Sep 16, 08 @ 11:01 am
We can’t afford the government we have. Our choice, raise taxes–taxes that will raise on the lower middle class and the upper middle class at the same rate. Everyone is struggling right now, does the state have the right to expect a struggling lower middle class mother to pay yet more in income taxes? A down economy is exactly the wrong time to raise taxes.

So I agree with the gov, that income taxes shouldn’t rise. So if we don’t raise income taxes, then cuts have to be made. I worked at a company that really struggled in the post 9/11 economy in 2001 & 2002. We took unpaid days off. The company took a vacation from contributing to our 401Ks for a couple of quarters. We had massive rounds of layoffs. This happens in the real world. It isn’t unreasonable to expect state workers to experience the same thing. It’s unfortunate, but I wouldn’t call it a catastrophe.

And yes, needy populations will suffer too. It is a grand paradox that when the state’s programs for the poor become most necessary, funding dries up because of the economy. It is the nature of a government funded on taxes that ebb and flow with the general economy. Food banks are having the same problem with need being higher now and donations being down now. I don’t know how to fix that, perhaps a rainy day fund that is built up during good times and only spent during down times?

Comment by cermak_rd Tuesday, Sep 16, 08 @ 11:26 am
Pat, You can’t go to an employee and ask them to retire but, you can make the offer in general to all employees. I’ve seen retirement packages where they target older employees with an eligibility clause: employees who have at least 25 years of service and will be 50 years old by December 31.

Comment by eek Tuesday, Sep 16, 08 @ 11:27 am
“We must address amending our constitution so that the decision makers we elect are supported in order to make tough decisions, and are rousted out of office when they fail to make tough decisions.”

VM - Rousted indicates you support a recall provision. How do we change the constitution so the decision makers we elect are supported to make tough decisions? Seems likely they might be recalled. Thanks.

Comment by Excessively rabid Tuesday, Sep 16, 08 @ 11:42 am
“Attorney General Lisa Madigan asked older employees to retire”—she asked them to ‘consider’, an option. No different than one of the ‘option’ selections that will be presented to workers attending lay-off meetings this week in Springfield.

Justice: “Bumping right are ongoing in many areas now and the discord among the rank and file has started. That ill will cannot be undone. The “let’s you and him fight” scenario has begun as he stands aside and watches.”—-

actually anyone who has been a union member in effected sites understand the bump process and has always known that it is a part of the contract. It’s not so much ‘you guys fight it out’, it’s a ‘one knows how it works and there is nothing to fight over’. The biggest fights so far have actually been getting the state online with what and how it all works. Many of the workers being affected this week had to be sent out a second lay-off package with corrections in them. Meetings were to start today, but were pushed back to tomorrow thru Friday, that notice came out yesterday. Sure, no problem, state, we’ll just call and try to rebook the arrangements already booked for the 3 day stay in Springfield. Nice notice, thanks.

Steve “There will simply have to be more prison closings, mental health center closings, state park and historic park closings, and so on. It’s a simple as doing the math.”—-

State parks don’t have to be closed this time around. The money supposedly ’saved’ by these closings could have been spread around all regions and prevented any closures. And then of course there is an issue with with perhaps what if any ’savings’ will be realized from the selected chosen. If the goal was to really save money, little to no thought was put into the process. While I understand what you were going for with your post, DNR is not a good example to have put into it in the manner inwhich you did.

Comment by Princess Tuesday, Sep 16, 08 @ 12:12 pm
==VM - Rousted indicates you support a recall provision. How do we change the constitution so the decision makers we elect are supported to make tough decisions? Seems likely they might be recalled. Thanks.==

If one prescribes to the notion that elected officials are somehow unreplaceable, that they should be valued as some kind of all-knowing elite, then one would not want to harm these civil servants with a recall or an impeachment.

But they work for us, and we are not stupid. Campaigning for the responsibility of deciding public policies, budgets, and services should be put into better context than to be seen as a valid career choice for a lifetime of fame.

When making difficult public decisions, public officials must use the campaign tactics they won their seats with, in order to help sway citizens regarding the decisions they make. Transparency would be appreciated. Effective press relationships would be important. Using the Internet to state their case should be a given. If they fail to sway enough supporters that the difficult decisions they made were the correct ones, they should resign themselves to the next electoral decision made by their supporters.

We are not stupid. We know we are in tough times. We can talk to one another. We read, listen, blog, watch television, radio and print regarding societal issues and arguments. Voters are forgiving when they recognize that there were no easy solutions for our elected official to take. We give newly elected officials time to deal with challenges, some consider this a “honeymoon period”. If an elected official fails, it doesn’t mean that they made correct decisions that were spurned by voters, it means that they didn’t level with voters when discussing the options before them and didn’t justify their difficult decision sufficiently.

What I believe we see within politics today is a disgust towards common citizens and our ability to make informed decisions regarding our governments. With the rise of blogging and punditry has been a self-promotion within these groups that their written opinions are worthier of consideration than others. The millions who enjoy public debates are climbing over one another attempting to prove that they are the enlightened ones. Consequentially, regardless of political stripe, often these same commentators denigrate the masses as ignorant uncaring sheep.

We have to believe in our ability to govern ourselves through the democratic process. We have witnessed throughout history the leadership qualities within men and women who through personal intelligence and experience, could go from a soldier’s life, a ministry, an actor’s stage, a classroom, and other positions to lead our country successfully. We need to stop questioning democracy.

Public officials are replaceable. We need to stop pretending they are special and boot them out of office when they screw up. By demanding better leadership, we will get better leadership.

Comment by VanillaMan Tuesday, Sep 16, 08 @ 12:32 pm
4 days of pay isn’t a lot but the SOS people who run the facilities are the lowest paid state employees. I’m sure they’re all happy just to keep their job. Before the last union contract they were paid at the poverty level. And Emil thinks he needs food stamps…

Comment by Wifey Tuesday, Sep 16, 08 @ 12:39 pm
The SoS people who run the facilities aren’t the state’s lowest paid employees. Misinformation is part of what makes this sort of discussion even more difficult.

Comment by steve schnorf Tuesday, Sep 16, 08 @ 1:05 pm
Well Blago has decided to leave parks open until 30th of Nov. Giving workers another month to fuss n bother and worry. But of course it’s the big bad unions fault with their bumping rights he says is at fault for not closing them on 31st Oct. Blago, did a light bulb go on somewhere?

Comment by Princess Tuesday, Sep 16, 08 @ 1:08 pm
There’s your answer!

Comment by BandCamp Tuesday, Sep 16, 08 @ 1:24 pm
Of course state parks didn’t have to close this time. Public Aid offices could have, or funding to community colleges could have been reduced–lot’s of options. What you don’t hear in this debate is any leader saying what should have been closed rather than the parks, or the prison. For better or worse, that’s what we elect governors for, to make these kind of decisions, and we elected this governor twice. My personal opinion is that this governor tried too long to avoid making these sorts of decisions. I’m not sure who would have done much better though.

Comment by steve schnorf Tuesday, Sep 16, 08 @ 1:28 pm
So, what you’re saying, Steve, is that it was a wise decision to choose a park for closure that could force millions of dollars to be paid back in federal grants? Forget operational funding at a site, it has been slashed to non-existant over several years, the potential savings was suppose to be wages, but instead it may cost millions more than the wages to actually shutter it. I fail to find that a good decision. And the wages from the site? They will just be moved to another site and the funding for them continue on. The ones having to leave will be the ones with beginner wages. And there is a good share of the longer employed who may choose to go lay-off or retire that have a pretty decent sized ‘kitty’ from pre 1992 that will have to be forked over. How does any of this save a Com. College?

Comment by Princess Tuesday, Sep 16, 08 @ 1:41 pm
So, Princess, nothing needed to close?

Comment by steve schnorf Tuesday, Sep 16, 08 @ 1:44 pm
that exactly is not what I said, don’t turn my words around and/or imply them to mean something they may not have. For one, education funding, human services funding and DNR funding all come from different areas. One can’t assume fees for hunting/fishing lic. and special funds for bike trails meant only for such purposes can be shifted over to the other agencies for education and human services. And I guess as long as it’s brought up, there as been increases in spending and efforts to increase programs that have been the agenda of this adm. So if we don’t have revenue raises you fully support drop kicking other existing services to have new services?

And, yeah, look at a region map with closures of parks. See any thing, anything at all for parks in region 4 or 5? No, you don’t. So are are going to tell me that the only way to ’save’ money in DNR was to pick closures in the upper regions?

Comment by Princess Tuesday, Sep 16, 08 @ 2:03 pm
Steve, Misinformation? State employees who work for facilities that care for the mentally ill, addicted, mentally disabled are paid around $17000 to $18,000. I don’t see how you think that $18,000 is a decent salary.

Comment by eek Tuesday, Sep 16, 08 @ 2:40 pm
Salaries for those employees are what their unions negotiate for them, and in many areas of Illinois have nothing to do with market wages. But, that poster was referring to SoS facilities (drivers license stations).

Comment by steve schnorf Tuesday, Sep 16, 08 @ 2:48 pm
Princess, of course it wasn’t the “only way”. Have yo been reading what I’ve been posting?.

Comment by steve schnorf Tuesday, Sep 16, 08 @ 2:55 pm
Any word yet on this afternoon’s vote of the commission of government forecasting and accountibilty meeting on Pontiac Prison?

Comment by Princess Tuesday, Sep 16, 08 @ 4:25 pm
Steve/Princess

Try this take on the state park’s delayed closings. The Gov and his inexperienced folks like usual didn’t think this layoff thing through past the political retrbution phase of whose legislative district is the park in.

When the employee exercises his/her bumping rights a less senior person looses their job and not necessarily at the preferred location. Those folks getting bumped more than likely have five or less years seniority. Who do think any state employees hired in the last five years supports? It’s not Judy Barr Topinka. Their plan has caused them to eat their own young.

Comment by Leave a light on George Tuesday, Sep 16, 08 @ 4:26 pm
Actually Leave a light, we’ve got guys and gals with over 20 years going to find no places to go with the bumping according to contract and supplementals. Rangers, for example, are a scarce title rather long ago discarded and it leaves them with little choice when meeting the ‘rules’. SAS positions meeting the rules is also sparse on places to bump but they can take a jump down if it fits the rules. Getting the state to realize where main complexes are though has been a enlightening experience.

Comment by Princess Tuesday, Sep 16, 08 @ 4:59 pm
Geez, back to the phone to once again unbook arrangements for Springfield that were just rebooked yesterday. Rod, once you get the details worked out would you please stick to the layoff meeting dates? I’m sure the reservation takers now think I’m a complete idiot.

Comment by Princess Tuesday, Sep 16, 08 @ 5:09 pm
Here’s a really sad thing about the grand plan to close those state facilities - there’s no place for the people to go that live in them. There’s no money in the community for them (the gov cut that as well), and most parents can’t care for them at home. We’re talking about people whose entire adult lives have been at one place, striving to make changes so that some day they can live more independently. But they aren’t there yet. It’s sad. I’ve worked both sides of this argument and the people who lose can’t speak up. Closing parks bites, but closing a place someone calls home isn’t the answer.

How about checking out how tightly stacked and highly paid the upper management levels are in the state? It’s unreal how many SPSAs and PSAs there are in Chicago and Springfield over the past 6 years. Making a whole lot more than those in the SoS office, or any DHS local office, or any Ranger at a park.

Comment by Wickedred Tuesday, Sep 16, 08 @ 6:12 pm
My agency basically eliminated most of the PSA positions in the field offices in the 2005 MC layoffs. Since then, they have slowly gone back to reposting and refilling these positions. Odd because the postings have to be approved by the Gov’s office.

Comment by Emily Booth Tuesday, Sep 16, 08 @ 9:35 pm
Whether or not this was/is a head-fake by Blago, it already has had real and irreversible consequences. A friend of mine just got word he’s been bumped all the way out due to the cuts, and he really can’t afford to sit around a couple months for it to *maybe* get reversed and fixed. Much less hope he can “unbump” all the personnel changes that ensued. The chain reactions have already been set in motion and damage is already being done. He’s got to find other work in Springfield for his narrow specialty, or pack up and move. With his entire family. And take his technical expertise, which was very valuable, to another state or the private sector. And the guy that bumped him? Doesn’t have the same expertise at all. Will fake his way thru the job. We lost double on this transaction, one of many many more I’m sure are already happening. So forgive me and my ex-state-worker friend when Blago shugs in 8 or 10 weeks and says “Just KIDDING!!!” Ask Meeks how he likes that game.

For me, it boils down to cowardice by our electeds who promise more programs and services but lack the stones to ask people to pay for them. Point five percent is the figure I heard, point five percent isn’t going to break anybody that’s paying taxes already. But the cuts, the cuts are bad for everyone, not just the ones laid off. The entire state.

Cowards. Cowards, all.

Comment by Techboy Tuesday, Sep 16, 08 @ 11:20 pm