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* Addicts are being kicked into the street, hospitals and nursing homes will have to wait months to be reimbursed for their services, the governor claims that the state’s budget is $2 billion out of whack.
Yet, there he was playing the big shot at the Kerry Wood Strike Zone fund-raiser last week…
The biggest draw at the Kerry Wood Strike Zone fund-raiser Wednesday night wasn’t one of the star athletes — it was Mark Cuban.
Fans swarmed outside 10Pin Bowling Lounge, 330 N. State, and when Cuban stepped outside they rushed him for autographs. “I can’t really say anything,” he told reporters when asked about his bid to buy the Chicago Cubs. “I just love Chicago.” […]
Gov. Blagojevich came with his 12-year-old daughter Amy, a major fan who likes to call pitches when she watches games with her dad. […]
The party raised about $360,000, which is being matched in a state grant by the governor, to benefit the Organic Food Project. The money will go to supply healthy lunches to students at Louisa May Alcott Elementary School, 2625 N. Orchard, for a year.
The governor just pulled that announcement out of his hat, according to people I know who were there. It was a total surprise.
The charity is a good one. No disputing that. But how about pulling some cash out of the hat for programs that have already been slashed?
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Aug 12, 08 @ 8:25 am
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Comment by Ghost Tuesday, Aug 12, 08 @ 8:33 am
I support the gov’s decision to match this amount. This is a great organization and deserves state support as much as any of the programs that were cut.
Good job, Gov!! Keep up the good work!!!
Comment by anon Tuesday, Aug 12, 08 @ 8:36 am
Perhaps each membe rof the Cubs should raise money for different line items in the state budget.
K Wood for paying doctors for Kid Care
D Lee for building roads
Zambrano for Ceasefire
Ramirez for Metra
Theriot for Pace
Soriano for flood relief
Derosa for education funding
That way, the gove would actually meet with someone to get things done
Comment by Wumpus Tuesday, Aug 12, 08 @ 8:38 am
anon: its not whether the cause is good or bad, its about the guv again deciding where to spend money the sate does not have without benefit of the GA. The guv is a real piece of work!!
Comment by wizard Tuesday, Aug 12, 08 @ 8:39 am
Why is the money being allocated for a school in elitist Lincoln Park?
Comment by Ravenswood Right Winger Tuesday, Aug 12, 08 @ 8:40 am
I will wait for Dan Hynes to rule on writing the check.
Comment by Down South Tuesday, Aug 12, 08 @ 8:41 am
If I were at Organic Food Project, I would not record the pledge until the state check clears. Not that the state ever has trouble sending checks where the governor promises.
On a side note, why is it important for school kids to get organic lunches? I know the religious fervor of the organic food movement, but there is no proof that it is better for you. Why can’t two schools get healthy meals that may not be organic but do include fresh fruit and vegetables instead of one school serviced by Whole Foods?
Comment by South Side Mike Tuesday, Aug 12, 08 @ 8:41 am
This is part of the Governors new program, “re-spend to impress cubs and my daughter.”
The legislature approves funding for certain programs, which the Gov slashes. Then a group that may have not even been seeking State funding get a write in expenditure from the gov of over a quarter million dollars, because the Cubs where present!!
And the Republicans and Senate Dems want to hand this guy 25 Billion? and think he wont play the same games with that money?
Comment by Ghost Tuesday, Aug 12, 08 @ 8:47 am
Maybe if all of the homeless addicts held a rally for the Cubs….
Trust - no and all of these stunts remind us why.
Comment by e Tuesday, Aug 12, 08 @ 9:12 am
Why salvage funding for lesser known, albeit more essential programs when you can make a splash in front of your daughter at a high-profile downtown Chicago event featuring a first-place professional baseball team? Us lakefront liberals need to ensure our public school children are receiving the daily recommended amounts of tofu and soy-based products outside of the home. More importantly, we need to be able to compete with the Latin and Parker kids, from a nutritional standpoint. I’m certain anon will have my back on this one.
Priorities, Rich!
Comment by The Doc Tuesday, Aug 12, 08 @ 9:15 am
Given the track record, I wouldn’t bank that money yet. He has some OCD where he promises money that he may or may not have authority to grant at seemingly every public event.
You’re a bigshot when you put up your own money.
Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Aug 12, 08 @ 9:16 am
Ask the citizen’s of Rochester if they got their money for the school. Ask the city of marion if they got the money for the ball park. Ask NIU if they got the money to build a new building. The list goes on and on and on.
Comment by lifer Tuesday, Aug 12, 08 @ 9:16 am
People I know? Haha, Rich are you talking to big Z? I knew you were a closet Cubs fan!
Comment by Sprint Speed! Tuesday, Aug 12, 08 @ 9:33 am
===I knew you were a closet Cubs fan!===
Bite your tongue.
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Aug 12, 08 @ 9:34 am
Haha fine fine. So maybe it was Representative Bigshot?
Comment by Sprint Speed! Tuesday, Aug 12, 08 @ 9:37 am
But wait. Isn’t Alcott a public school. Why isn’t the school system serving healthy lunches with the money they’re already getting. And if they aren’t serving healthy lunches, what are they serving, and why. Should we be using state grants so that people in trendy city neighborhoods can serve their kids trendy food–in a state where obesity in poor neighborhood is a major problem.
Comment by Cassandra Tuesday, Aug 12, 08 @ 10:01 am
This guy thinks the State treasury is really his piggy bank. He like to run around acting like he is a philanthropist or member of the Pritzker family, when he is really just your classic narcisist.
Comment by Blago stunt No. 307 Tuesday, Aug 12, 08 @ 10:25 am
Dear Men and Women of the State Legislature,
Please rescue the good Citizens of the State from our Government. Please don’t wait for anybody else to grow a pair. It might just start with you this week saying that’s quite enough…you’re down there anyway…do something…call someones’s bluff…
Thank You,
Your Constituents
Comment by Anonymous45 Tuesday, Aug 12, 08 @ 11:03 am
It’s not ‘trendy’ foods, Cassandra. It’s fresh fruits and veggies over canned, non-fried foods extra. It’s trying to deal with exactly poor eating habits which lead to obesity, diabetes, ect. But it should be open to all public schools. Whether or not Blago should be promising matching grants at a Cub fund raiser though is a whole another ‘ball game’.
Comment by Princeville Tuesday, Aug 12, 08 @ 11:06 am
We live in a great world when we have solved all the other problems our kids face and can concentrate on things like making sure our kids can eat organic foods for school lunch. Beats the ham and cheese loaf, star crunch, and cheetos I eat for 13 years. How many kids are in this school, anyway? $720K for a school-years worth of organic lunches seems a little spendy.
Comment by Downstate weed chewing hick Tuesday, Aug 12, 08 @ 11:06 am
Hick, did you have Tuna Boats when you were a kid? Oddly enough, I’ve never encountered them outside of elementary school. Kind of like my Old Norwegian Momma’s cooking — lots of boiled potatoes and black gravy. The trendy Norwegian restaurant craze never really took off.
Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Aug 12, 08 @ 11:28 am
My “favorite” was asparagus, cooked until it became a mealy pile of mush. Yuck.
Because of that, I refused to eat fresh, wild asparagus gathered and prepared by my grandmother. It wasn’t until I was in college that I realized I had made a big mistake.
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Aug 12, 08 @ 11:32 am
This discussion reminds me of the school portrayed in the simpsons, particuarly the cafeteria and its offerings of everything from malk to rat milk.
Comment by Ghost Tuesday, Aug 12, 08 @ 11:37 am
Cassandra - home run.
Comment by Little Egypt Tuesday, Aug 12, 08 @ 12:28 pm
most of the food served in public school cafeterias are laden with salt and fat, cooked in grease and involve financial benefit to giant food conglomerates, not local farmers and producers…the US is headed toward a huge public health crisis with it’s overweight asnd ill fed youth…this is a nice idea but one that the state can ill afford given these
budgetary times…
BTW, my favorite lunch in high school was french fries, a chocolate chip cookie, and a Coke…
Comment by Anonymous45 Tuesday, Aug 12, 08 @ 12:35 pm
All this complaining!
We can expect normalcy, or we can adapt to Blagojevich’s methods and use them for our organization’s benefits and funding. You choose to ride it out as though he knew what he is doing? Your loss!
Really now. We have been watching this guy for seven years, and you are stil expecting a normal governing process? Who is the idiot now?
He thinks he is an African-American king. Go with it! You might look back on these years as one of frivolity and fun, and well funded if you don’t fight Blagojevich, but instead play along!
Get a spokesman celebrity. Hire a Cubbie! Get Ron Santo to speak for your organization. Or get a Rezko-Kelly connected insider who makes Blagojevich happy. Contribute to his campaign fund! Dump thousands into it and just watch the doors of opportunity, (or as Blagojevich would call it), “refom-itunity” swing wide for your group!
Visit www.HireABlagoFlunkie.com today and ask to speak to one of his well-connected minions for your group’s funding needs!
Comment by VanillaMan Tuesday, Aug 12, 08 @ 12:46 pm
For what it’s worth, despite its location in Lincoln Park, Alcott does a tremendous job of educating kids from all over the city.
The real audacity of what the Governor did is that he has refused to release money from last year’s budget for books and computers for schools in my district, including Alcott, and now turns around and gives money to the same school in order to impress Mark Cuban.
Comment by Rep. John Fritchey Tuesday, Aug 12, 08 @ 3:22 pm
Rep. Fritchey—is that robbing Peter to pay Peter? Meanwhile all the Pauls in the state get shafted….
Comment by Vote Quimby! Tuesday, Aug 12, 08 @ 4:11 pm
==”We’ve gone to eight or nine Cubs games this year,” said the gov. ==
More than the number of GA sessions he’s attended?
Comment by Vote Quimby! Tuesday, Aug 12, 08 @ 4:17 pm
“Yes, yes, you had to be a big shot, didn’t cha
You had to prove it to the crowd
You had to be a big shot, didn’t cha
All your friends were so knocked out
You had to have the last word, last night
You’re so much fun to be around
You had to have the front page, bold type
You had to be a big shot last night, Oh oh”
Comment by Anon from BB Tuesday, Aug 12, 08 @ 4:51 pm
Over 500 demonstrated at the State Capital to advocate restoring funding to substance abuse programs, that is leaving over 42,000 without services and thousands more on waiting lists without hope of ever getting services. Not to mention, thousands homeless…too bad the State didn’t see or think they had anything to discuss today.
Comment by Invisible constituency Tuesday, Aug 12, 08 @ 5:54 pm
He truly is a piece of unadulterated garbage. No doubt the project is good but he intentionally hurt other people in his AV’s of the budget to make a point. Is there anything sacred to this guy except his ego. God, how doew he sleep at night.
Comment by downhereforyears Tuesday, Aug 12, 08 @ 6:55 pm
Ghost, when we had Tuna Boats, on Fridays for the Catholics of course, Groundskeeper Willie was sure to have plenty of his special sawdust concoction on hand.
Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Aug 12, 08 @ 9:17 pm