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* Today’s Tribune headline: “Tribune poll finds nearly 60% oppose video gambling” isn’t exactly what it appears to be. Once again, you have to read way down in the story to find out what’s going on…
The poll found that 58 percent of voters would vote against legalized video gambling in a local referendum, while just 34 percent would support it. Opposition was about 60 percent from voters in suburban Cook County, the collar counties and Downstate, while 49 percent of Chicago voters said they would vote against it and 42 percent for it.
But…
Overall, voters were split on the question of whether Illinois’ various forms of gambling have been good for the state, with 40 percent saying it had indeed been good and 37 percent saying it had been bad.
And…
The poll found that 48 percent of those surveyed disapproved of legalizing video gambling anywhere in the state, while approval was voiced from 40 percent of voters. Though those numbers suggest video poker is still broadly unpopular, it is nonetheless gaining in acceptance. Six years ago in a similar Tribune poll, only 19 percent of those surveyed said they approved of allowing video poker machines into Illinois restaurants and bars. Back then, 71 percent said they were opposed.
Maddeningly, Mother Tribune refuses to publish full toplines and crosstabs, so there’s no way of knowing exactly how the question was phrased nor where it was placed in relation to other gaming, capital bill or budgeting questions.
* Meanwhile…
Gov. Pat Quinn has a 3:30 p.m. meeting in his Chicago office [today] with fellow Democrats House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton to “set an agenda” for the fall legislative session. Quinn told reporters yesterday the meeting will focus on campaign finance and state funding.
Hopefully, we’ll have live audio of any post-meeting press availabilities.
* Related…
* Illinois Juvenile Justice Dept. Missed out on Thousands: The Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice won a $330,000 grant to buy computers but failed to buy the computers and therefore lost the grant. That’s one of the findings detailed in a new audit of the agency.
* Chief Justice wants budget cuts reversed: State funds for community-based probation programs were cut 44 percent in the current budget. This same area was cut 13 percent in 2005 and, Fitzgerald said, the money was never restored. “The practical effect … is that probation officers must be laid off, criminal offenders sentenced to probation receive inadequate or no supervision, and the public safety is thereby severely compromised,” he wrote.
* Ill. chief justice wants probation cuts restored
* Illinois chief justice blasts funding cuts
* Peters and Quinn meet to talk about MAP grant
* Milton Township GOP opposes video gambling
* Capitol Q&A: Primer on horse-race betting from home
* 3rd St. fight imperils high-speed rail in Illinois, rail official warns: Springfield officials’ public fight against additional train traffic along the Third Street corridor could derail the entire plan to provide high-speed rail service between Springfield and Chicago, a vice president of the Union Pacific Railroad says.
* SJ-R Opinion: Step up opposition to 3rd Street plan
posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Sep 9, 09 @ 9:30 am
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One way to increase funding for parole activities is to reduce the number of prisoners in jail. Jail is an awfully expensive way of correcting behavior.Is it really such a great idea to give somebody free housing, food, medical care, entertainment, legal services, and educational opportunities because they got busted for illegal drugs.
Quinn seems to be dragging his feet on the prison population issue. Likely, he is hoping that his regressive middle class tax cut will allow him to
keep if not expand the massively inefficient, costly, and patronage-ridden Department of Correction. Democrats, like Republicans, love to put folks in jail…and damn the cost or the actual risk to the community.
Comment by cassandra Wednesday, Sep 9, 09 @ 9:36 am
OK. What is happening to our state if government agencies cannot even spend appropriated funds?
Comment by Brennan Wednesday, Sep 9, 09 @ 9:49 am
The state should be focused on cutting spending and job creation not putting these machines all over kingdom come. I realize that’s a foreign concept to chicago democrats, but it’s needed.
Comment by Shore Wednesday, Sep 9, 09 @ 10:02 am
cassandra, please provide numbers of inmates who are in on an offense that is not against person and who do not have an offense against person on their record. cause those are the only people who should be eligible for a literal get out of jail
free card. also see the recidivism of a rapist recently released from IDOC. i’ll bet his victims wish he were in getting
free housing and food and that they were not raped.
and, the staff person/s stupid enough to apply for a grant certainly knowing the rules under which the money was to have been spent and not taking care of business must be fired. if we don’t have money to take care of the younger offenders they
will just grown in to older offenders.
Comment by Amalia Wednesday, Sep 9, 09 @ 10:11 am
Quinn shouldn’t have any trouble making it to the meeting on time this afternoon. Not like he has to travel back here from Springfield. Has he even flown over Springfield in the past couple of months? I know it is minor in the whole scheme of things but he is the one who keeps stating that he lives in “the people’s house.” It starts with the little lies, Pat, and then they just snowball into bigger and bigger lies.
Comment by Chi Gal Wednesday, Sep 9, 09 @ 10:18 am
Amalia–
Read what I said again. I didn’t say that there shouldn’t be a correctional process. I said jail is an extremely expensive way of correcting behavior.And even in tax-loving Illinois, there is a limit to how much money citizens can afford to pay for the correctional system. So, instead of free housing, etc., enhance the monitoring systems and the parole systems, and reduce the use of incarceration.
Want to see the future? California, where judges have ordered the release of thousands of prisoners because of massive overcrowding. California has reached the limit of its financial ability to build multibillion dollar jails. Japan, where elderly prisoners, no longer a threat to society, must be retained in prison
for extremely expensive care, including medical care, because they have no place to go when they get out.
Comment by cassandra Wednesday, Sep 9, 09 @ 10:29 am
Shore, if you read the Fitzgerald comment, the state, led by Chicago Democrats, has severely cut spending on probation programs, and the result is:
“The practical effect … is that probation officers must be laid off, criminal offenders sentenced to probation receive inadequate or no supervision, and the public safety is thereby severely compromised,” he wrote.
There are some things the state must do, and this is one of them. “Job creation” is a rather dodgy duty of state government in a capitalist, global economy. However, the capital bill is supposed to do that.
Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Sep 9, 09 @ 10:43 am
When citizens are given the opportunity to voice an opinion on the expansion of gambling in their area they tend to vote no.
Lake County had a referendum in ‘99 I think and it was over 70% no.
Shouldn’t their legislators respect that opinion or does the eternal quest for cash override the wishes of the voters?
Comment by Plutocrat03 Wednesday, Sep 9, 09 @ 10:44 am
Regarding the college scholarship for low income students (MAP), it was cut by half this year. Unless the GA and Gov can find $200 million, a really sad e-mail will be going out to 150,000 Illinois families telling them they’re out of luck for next semester.
Expect to see LOTS of college students turn into activists by mid-November. A potentially valuable source of campaign help to whichever candidates can tap into it. Every legislative district has about 1,000 MAP families, so the phone lines should be burning up just in time for the holidays and right on through the primary.
Today’s meeting should include some talk getting MAP on the legislative agenda for the Veto session. If a solution isn’t found then, every college (including the Community Colleges) will be informing Spring semester students they are SOL and will point the finger at those responsible. It won’t be pretty.
Comment by 47th Ward Wednesday, Sep 9, 09 @ 10:49 am
Again, Cassandra, please give us numbers of people in custody who have not committed crimes against person, ie. they hurt someone, and who do not have such a crime on their record.
this will tell you how much can be saved in letting these folks out or keeping more out. if you have experience with the criminal justice system you should know that it is very difficult to put someone in prison with a small charge and no record of crime against person.
no one on this blog is thick enough to think that the corrections systems is inexpensive. the question is, how do we keep the public safe?
Comment by Amalia Wednesday, Sep 9, 09 @ 10:50 am
47th,
The MAP program is hardly limited to low income students. Amounts are based on a formula of what percentage of tuition costs the family can afford. Those that go to expensive private schools would qualify, because of the high tuition, for funds that a family of a student in a state school with the same income wouldn’t qualify for.
Not many community college students receive MAP funds because of the relatively low tuition. Really low income students can receive PELL grants from the feds. MAP is really a tuition assistance program for the middle and upper middle classes.
I agree that the program should be funded but a better way would be to adequately fund the public institutions that these students attend.
Comment by Bill Wednesday, Sep 9, 09 @ 11:45 am
Not exactly accurate Bill. All families apply for aid using the federal FAFSA form. It determines what is called the Expected Family Contribution, which in some cases is $0. Lots of community college students receive this grant, albeit a smaller grant than those attending private schools. Almost every MAP recipient is a Pell grant recipient, again, based on income.
So you are wrong to suggest this is simply a program for middle and upper middle class families. The intent of the program is to keep Illinois students in Illinois rather than Iowa, Wisconsin, Ohio or Michigan. Private colleges graduate more Illinois students than public colleges in Illinois.
I guess your point might be that saddling college students with roughly $2,500 in extra debt is a perfectly fine policy choice. That’s fair to debate, but I don’t think most college students are going to take this lightly.
Comment by 47th Ward Wednesday, Sep 9, 09 @ 11:55 am
–Private colleges graduate more Illinois students than public colleges in Illinois.–
I’ve never heard that before. Private colleges in Illinois do this? How is that even possible?
Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Sep 9, 09 @ 11:59 am
Word, it’s one of the best kept secrets in Illinois. Simply put, there are many more private colleges in Illinois than public colleges. Enrollment is not only higher in privates, it is increasing at a faster pace than the publics.
http://www.ibhe.state.il.us/Colleges%20and%20Universities/default.htm.
Comment by 47th Ward Wednesday, Sep 9, 09 @ 12:10 pm
That link may not work. Check out the IBHE website for more info.
Comment by 47th Ward Wednesday, Sep 9, 09 @ 12:11 pm
47, it worked and you’re right, more students are enrolled in private colleges than public. Learn something new.
Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Sep 9, 09 @ 12:18 pm
47th,
In addition to misrepresenting what I wrote there are some fallacies in your response. Not many (certainly not most) MAP recipients in private schools also receive PELL grants. Again, these awardees are mostly middle class families who can afford the rest of the high 5 figure annual tuition at private schools. If awards were limited to students at public schools, or at least if the tuition portion of the formula was limited to tuition at the highest priced public institution then more money would be available for the really needy and for others. Of course, that might tend to limit the amount of tuition increases that privates could perpetrate.
No, I don’t think that students should take on more debt but that is their choice when they decide to attend a private institution. The $2500 MAP grant that a Northwestern student receives this semester would pay for a year or more in a community college. Of course there would be no lakefront dorm room, no big ten football, etc. but the actual classroom education would be just as good if not better.
It is unfortunate that we have to have this discussion but until the state realizes the benefit of investing in higher education and adequately funds it, the minuscule amount it does spend should be directed to where it is most needed and can benefit the most citizens.
Comment by Bill Wednesday, Sep 9, 09 @ 12:20 pm
The problem is, no matter how you justify gambling, your conscience reminds you why gambling hurts, your eyes see the folks addicted to it, your neighborhood uncovers the damage it does to families, and no amount of tax dollars collected can make up for the cancer it unleashes on us all.
So while you might want a concrete reason to why folks oppose it - folks just know instinctively that it is wrong. Not being able to create a reason is only silly to those who like to argue and pretend everything in life can be reasoned away - you know, boring people.
Comment by VanillaMan Wednesday, Sep 9, 09 @ 12:22 pm
47th and word, look again. (47 just del the period in your link for it to work)
those community colleges are all public
add in the community colleges and public univiersites the enrollment far out strips the privates; BUT the privates had a monster 16% increase compared to flat/declining enrollment in the publics.
Comment by Ghost Wednesday, Sep 9, 09 @ 12:28 pm
Ghost, I was looking at the four-year colleges. Still surprised.
Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Sep 9, 09 @ 12:30 pm
Here’s another surprise. More than 68% of all Illinois college students, including graduate students, attend a community college and those colleges receive about 15% of state higher education funding.
Comment by Bill Wednesday, Sep 9, 09 @ 12:38 pm
Bill, that 68% of students/15% of funding is a joke. Add in the local property taxes that support community colleges and tell me again what percentage of funding they receive.
I agree that community colleges are important in this debate and that they are part of the solution. But 68/15? Are you their lobbyist?
Comment by 47th Ward Wednesday, Sep 9, 09 @ 2:22 pm
The sad part of the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice is that there are certain facility’s that have BEGGED to get computers put into housing units. There are facility’s that have BEGGED to have the equipment updated only to be told there was no money. How sad is it that the grant is lost. There is no excuse for this and as “Amalia” stated someone should loose their job for this. At the very least have that person explain themselves. The way the department is set up it is 99.9 percent probable it is a Blago appointee. Quinn - clean up the Blago mess in IDJJ and elsewhere!
Comment by walkinmyshoes Wednesday, Sep 9, 09 @ 2:28 pm
===someone should loose their job===
Lose.
Lose.
Lose.
Try to spell that write.
lol
Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Sep 9, 09 @ 2:36 pm
walkininmyshoes is probably one of those proprietary school graduates 47th was bragging about.
Comment by Bill Wednesday, Sep 9, 09 @ 3:00 pm
Bill, don’t be obtuse. I’m bragging about the private, nonprofit higher education community, and the contribution it makes to Illinois.
Proprietary schools like DeVry serve a purpose too, but that’s not what I was referring to as I think most here understand.
So I take it you agree that community colleges receive local property taxes in addition to receiving 15% of state higher ed dollars? Good. And I agree that strong and thriving community colleges are a critical component of a healthy higher ed system in the state.
Comment by 47th Ward Wednesday, Sep 9, 09 @ 3:09 pm
walkininmyshoes is probably one of those proprietary school graduates 47th was bragging about.
Bill - You are not welcome in my sandbox!
Rich - Someone should lose their job. Is that better?
Comment by walkinmyshoes Wednesday, Sep 9, 09 @ 3:40 pm
Hmmmm,
No comments on the #1 flaming hot potato issue in Springfield (3rd street vs. 10th street high speed rail). Massive protests threatened, will IDOT or the railroad budge? What are you hearing, Rich? Or is this just an issue that affects a few nearby residents and businesses?
Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Wednesday, Sep 9, 09 @ 4:08 pm
3rd street already has a track and a train!! The city made the wrong call on this one and needs to get back on track.
Comment by Ghost Wednesday, Sep 9, 09 @ 4:22 pm
To beat this dead horse a bit more, and because Bill raised a point I forgot to refute:
In 2004, the last year ISAC compiled these stats, 83% of 238,000 students who were eligible for Illinois’ MAP were also eligible for federal Pell grants.
*Raspberries to Bill*
Regardless of which college Illinois students choose to use the MAP grant for, the students receiving MAP are generally low income college students. Furthermore, the Obama administration increased the maximum Pell award under the stimulus plan. For two years. Then there is a cliff.
They also wanted a provision to hold states to a “maintenance of effort” clause, to avoid exactly this scenario: Pell increases enable states to cut scholarship aid. But the maintenance of effort provision was eliminated in committee. Thanks to Democrats like Ben Nelson (D-NE) and others.
So the IL General Assembly gave the Governor the authority to allocate a $1.2 billion lump sum approp to needs as he saw fit. They also included “allocation principles” to guide the Governor’s spending. Among the “guiding principles” was to maximize any federal matching funds. Which is sort of how Pell grants work, in this scenario.
So IL public and private colleges, when MAP students drop-out, lose the MAP grant AND the Pell grant, plus whatever loans the students have/had.
I’m agnostic on possible funding sources to reverse this $200 million cut to MAP ($400 million in FY 11), but am on record in support of raising the state income tax.
Bill, where are you on the state income tax increase?
Comment by 47th Ward Wednesday, Sep 9, 09 @ 9:32 pm
47th,
Thanks for asking. I am supporting HB 174, passed in the Senate, which would raise the income tax, extend sales tax to services, and provide for some minimal property tax relief. Some form of a 750 type bill would raise sufficient revenue to reduce the state debt, continue services at today’s level, and possibly alleviate some of the inequities that exist in over reliance on the property tax to fund pre-k-12 education. Revenue would be then be there, hopefully, to fund worth- while programs like MAP.
If this and other similar programs are important to you , you can’t be agnostic on funding. The 1.2 billion that Quinn supposedly has to maximize federal matching funds comes nowhere near the amount necessary and I don’t feel confident in his judgment at all.
In the meantime, if the privates are hurting because of MAP cuts they are well positioned to make up the difference from their multi-million ( in some cases billion) dollar endowments which the publics, in most cases, don’t have. I’m not against fulling funding MAP. I just think that until the legislature passes adequate revenue streams everyone will have to share the pain including students attending expensive private universities with state assistance.
Comment by Bill Thursday, Sep 10, 09 @ 8:14 am
Thanks Bill, and I agree with you 100% on HB 174.
Comment by 47th Ward Thursday, Sep 10, 09 @ 10:14 am