GOP ideas to trim budget

By Hilary Russell
Republican lawmakers still believe there’s more than one way to skin a deficit, and it’s not by raising taxes.



Read more about the Deficit Reduction Committee here. The GOP committee members, including Sens. Matt Murphy and Carole Pankau, released a report today that offered ways to save money, saving the most cutting and consolidating various programs within Medicaid. (Full report here; summary here.)

“There’s a public expectation out there that we get serious about tightening government’s belt — like they’re having to do it at home — and to do it without raising their taxes,” Murphy said in a Statehouse news conference. “And we’re here to say we heard the public in that regard.”

According to the report, the most significant Medicaid cut could come from applying for a federal waiver for Medicaid-eligible programs to capture as much as $435 million more in federal matching funds. Another suggestion is the creation of a private-public partnership, which would transfer decisions regarding benefit eligibility to private partners. That, in turn, would help to decrease the opportunity for fraudulent claims. And, while all of the savings weren’t specified, the report suggests that a new way to manage pharmaceutical benefits and higher co-pays could save $110 million in one year and $730 million over five years.

Murphy said the Republican committee members found areas in the state’s finances that could be reduced or eliminated, saving a total of more than $3 billion annually and more than $20 billion throughout the next five years.

“This is a meaningful deficit reduction without raising taxes, and it’s a serious answer to those who are asking for alternatives to the governor’s record-setting tax hike,” Murphy added.

Last week ended the series of four bipartisan Deficit Reduction Committee meetings in which members heard from various budget experts about ways to fix the state’s deficit. Despite hours of testimony, members were no closer to solving the state’s financial crisis than when they started.

Without assigning a dollar amount to the savings, the report also listed trimming pension benefits for new state employees, requiring more managed care health benefits for existing and new employees and allowing more charter schools to open as additional cost-cutting measures.

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Starting points, but no consensus, yet

By Hilary Russell and Jamey Dunn
It's the time of year when legislative leaders continue to say everything is on the table, but nothing seems to be falling to the ground.

The Senate’s special Deficit Reduction Committee ended today without any clearer answers about solving the state’s financial crisis than when the committee started meeting a month ago. Gov. Pat Quinn also held a meeting with Republican leaders and business leaders today in the Statehouse in an attempt to find some consensus.

Neither provided a common ground. But they did provide more "starting points."



“We had a really good discussion and dialogue,” Quinn said. “I’m sure not everyone is of the same mind, but I think it’s healthy to have a discussion about our economic crisis. The statistics yesterday were extremely sobering.” The state’s unemployment rate reached 8.6 percent, according to the Illinois Department of Employment Security.

The meeting included House Minority Leader Tom Cross of Oswego, Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno of Lemont and business leaders, including the Tooling and Manufacturing Association and the Illinois Chamber of Commerce.

The special Senate committee charged with finding consensus about where to cut spending out of the state budget with little consensus. Here's the report.

“What we did not come up with in the past four weeks — and this was not the intent of this committee — we did not come up with the final solution,” said Sen. Donne Trotter, co-chair of the committee and a Chicago Democrat. “We did, in fact, meet and define some parameters in which we should start this appropriation process as we go forward with the strong intent to be out of here by May 31.”

Republicans want to cut spending and avoid raising taxes.

“We heard many people from this committee who passionately and sincerely believe that raising taxes is essential,” said co-chair Sen. Matt Murphy, a Palatine Republican. “Speaking for myself, … I think the proposal to raise taxes is profoundly misguided. Raising taxes in Illinois will cost more Illinoisans their jobs. Period. With 8.6 percent unemployment, we cannot afford to lose any more jobs.”

Quinn proposed a 1.5 percentage point increase in the state income tax as part of his budget plan for next fiscal year, which is projected to have up to a $12.4 billion deficit.

Democrats, in turn, said cutting spending is not nearly enough to fill the gap.

“I hope we can also agree that we cannot solely cut our way out of this deficit,” said Sen. John Sullivan, a Rushville Democrat. “The cuts will be, to say the least, drastic and devastating, and when you talk about making some of the cuts that would be necessary to balance this budget, we would be laying off thousands of people across the state of Illinois to do that.”

One way to increase the number of jobs available is for the legislature to pass a capital bill; the problem reverts to how to pay for it.

Quinn proposes funding the capital plan through fee increases and some new tax revenues. Republicans oppose that idea and support gaming as a funding source.

One example is to legalize video gaming. Sullivan said revisiting gaming as a funding source for a capital plan, however, is a mistake. He said that two previous capital bills that included gaming advanced through the Senate with bipartisan support, but they stalled in the House. “We tried it. It didn’t work. There wasn’t enough support in both chambers for it to become law,” he said. “So, why are we still having that discussion?”

Sullivan suggested that lawmakers move on to an income tax increase or come up with some new suggestions for funding sources.

Watch for Republicans to release some proposals next week. In the meantime, Murphy said that some of the broad suggestions made by the committee such as Medicaid and pension reforms are important starting points. The one thing everyone seems to agree on is the need to pass a capital plan. “We just have to get around to doing it and stop making excuses,” Murphy said.
Quinn remains opposed to gambling expansion. " I think it's a bad bet. Take a look at some of the stocks at these gambling firms. I don't think you'd want to buy those penny stocks today.”

Video gaming advances in the House
By Bethany Jaeger
Meanwhile, a House committee advanced a bill that would legalize video poker machines and tax them, potentially generating between $300 million and $500 million a year, according to Rep. Frank Mautino, the Democratic sponsor. He would dedicate the revenue to school construction projects, starting with a list of 23 schools that have been waiting for money that the state promised to them since 2002.

“The realization is that some of the things in the governor’s budget proposal are going to fail,” Mautino said shortly after his bill sailed through committee. “And so there have to be other alternatives that are out there. I don’t think the speaker’s interested in a big gambling package, but here’s something that we have to make a decision to either get rid of it or tax it — because they’re producing this money one way or the other.

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Party politics

By Bethany Jaeger
Politics often intertwine with state government, but it’s not often that state government tries to control the operations of political parties.



Democrats today advanced a measure that would force the Republican Party to change the way it selects State Central Committee members to match the process of the Democrats. Currently, the general public elects Republican precinct committeemen, who then internally select people to lead the GOP State Central Committee. On the contrary, the Democratic State Central Committee members are elected directly by voters during primary elections.

Rep. Lou Lang, a Skokie Democrat and an assistant majority leader in his chamber, is the new sponsor of HB 825, which would require open ballots for Republican State Central Committee members, too. He said the change would improve transparency and would respond to Republicans’ repeated argument that voters elect someone to replace U.S. Sen. Roland Burris, a Democrat appointed by impeached Gov. Rod Blagojevich to fill the seat vacated by President Barack Obama.

Republicans debated the idea of letting voters elect their State Central Committee members but rejected it during a statewide convention last year.

Yet, a similar bill, SB 600, is sponsored by Republican Sen. Chris Lauzen and has the support of Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno. Several top Democrats also have signed on in support. Patty Schuh, spokeswoman for Senate Republicans, said while the caucus is split on the measure, it's peculiar that Democrats want to have such a heavy hand in the way Republicans conduct their own business.

Rep. Michael Tryon, a Crystal Lake Republican, said political parties are private organizations that should have the right to self-governance, and it would be “very wrong” for one political party to dictate to another how to operate.

Rep. Skip Saviano, an Elmwood Park Republican who also is a Republican State Central Committee members, said the Democratic leadership flat out is trying to retaliate against Republicans for calling them out on inconsistencies over how to handle Burris’ controversial appointment. It also would kick the GOP when it’s already down, when they hold minorities in both chambers and don’t hold a single constitutional office. “This is an attempt to keep the Republican Party in disarray,” Saviano said to Lang during a House committee this morning.

Saviano said there’s been a longstanding agreement that each political party could conduct its own business. “Now, they’ve crossed the line.”

Then again, the numbers favor the Democrats, which have enough votes to send the bill to the Senate without a single Republican vote. “If they want it to be a done deal, Democrats could pass it and hijack the Republican Party,” Saviano said. “I mean, that’s what this is all about.”

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Similar concepts, new context

One week before Gov. Pat Quinn proposes his first state budget to the General Assembly, legislators and advocates of all stripes are revisiting a lot of issues they tried but failed to enact during the Blagojevich Administration. This time, there’s a new context:

1. Legislators and Statehouse insiders trust Quinn more than they trusted Blagojevich.
2. Senate President John Cullerton has a better working and personal relationship with House Speaker Michael Madigan than did former Senate President Emil Jones Jr.
3. The economic and fiscal crises have sparked a new sense of urgency to find quick fixes at the same time they have inspired a willingness (however reluctant) to pursue more long-term reforms.

Whether the new context and new players actually will foster consensus and meaningful changes to revenue and spending, however, is yet to be seen. At this point in the spring session, it’s still all talk. Here are a few examples:

Gaming for capital
Republican leaders oppose increasing the state sales tax on gasoline to pay for a major construction program. Instead, they rekindled ideas to fund a capital program for schools, mass transit and infrastructure projects by expanding gaming. Their goal is to avoid raising any state taxes in a recession.

“Right now is absolutely not the time to be raising taxes on people who are struggling themselves,” said Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno.

She and House Minority Leader Tom Cross propose expanding gaming to generate $1 billion in new revenue, which would help finance a $25 billion capital program. (They propose bonding about $12 billion, tapping $11 billion in the dedicated Road Fund to pay for transportation projects and leveraging about $3.5 billion from federal and local matching funds.)

Their gaming ideas include recurring proposals to allow a Chicago casino, expand positions at existing gaming facilities and enter a public-private partnership so that private investors manage the Illinois Lottery while the state continues to own it. Newer ideas include allowing video poker, as proposed in HB 4329, which is sponsored by one of Madigan’s assistant majority leaders, Rep. Frank Mautino of Spring Valley. Republicans also mentioned allowing Lottery tickets to be sold online, a proposal previously advanced by Cullerton.

Madigan took gaming off the table last year, but his spokesman, Steve Brown, said this is a new year. However, he said gaming tends to be a regressive source of revenue that usually generates a bunch of hype before falling by the wayside.

Senate Majority Leader James Clayborne said gaming for capital is still on the table in his chamber.

Tax reforms for education and economy
Ralph Martire, executive director of the Chicago-based Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, reintroduced a concept of increasing the state income tax rate and expanding the state sales taxes to cover services. The goal is to reform the way the state pays for public education and to reduce the burden on local property taxes.

Cutting back on state spending during a recession may sound logical, Martire said, but “it is quite clearly the absolute worst thing the state of Illinois could do.”

He joined two leaders in the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus to cite new evidence from Mark Zandi, Moody’s Economy.com’s chief economist, that the idea could help reduce the length of the economic recession in Illinois by preserving thousands of jobs and helping taxpayers spend money in their local economies.

The plan has been proposed in various forms before and would increase state income taxes, expand state sales taxes and provide targeted tax relief to low- and middle-income taxpayers. He added that broadening the sales tax to apply to services could reduce its rate, although it would be a hard sell to Cook County residents who already pay some of the highest sales tax rates in the country.

Sen. James Meeks, a Chicago Democrat and longtime sponsor of education funding reform measures, said Blagojevich is no longer in a position to threaten to veto tax reforms, and Cullerton has been a co-sponsor of such reforms. However, he added, his peers in the Senate likely would not support an income tax increase if it didn’t lead to education funding reform and property tax relief.

GOP budget reforms
By Hilary Russell
House Republicans flatly disagree and say Illinois has a spending problem, according to House Minority Leader Tom Cross.

He joined his GOP Caucus members and John Tillman, chief executive officer of the Chicago-based Illinois Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research organization, to propose budget reforms that would help reduce the $9 billion deficit and increase accountability. Introduced today in a Statehouse news conference, the proposals include:

The Sunshine Act (HB 4134) would create a volunteer commission of four legislators and four members of the public to review each of the state’s executive branch programs. The bill is sponsored by Rep. David Reis, a Willow Hill Republican. The state does not have an accurate list of existing programs, making it difficult for lawmakers to keep track of them, GOP members said.

Reis is also sponsoring the Stimulus Watch Act, which would require the General Assembly’s approval to use federal stimulus funds to create new state programs. Once the funds run out for a particular program, it would end.

“Pay as You Go Spending” (HB 3189), sponsored by Rep. Mike Connelly, a Lisle Republican, would implement a start and end date for new state spending programs. Just to add a program another must be eliminated.

Rep. Darlene Senger, a Naperville Republican, is co-sponsoring a constitutional amendment that would change the required number of votes to raise taxes. Currently, a majority of 60 votes in the House and 30 in the Senate is needed to increase fees or taxes. Senger’s proposal would increase the required number of votes to a “supermajority,” or 71 votes in the House and 36 in the Senate, making it more difficult to pass tax bills.

Rep. Lou Lang, a Skokie Democrat, said that the Republican’s timing was more showboating for their constituents than offering real solutions. “I find it very interesting that whenever there is a public policy decision to be made and the facts are clear that many people look for a political peg to take the chance to hang their hat on rather than take any political risk whatsoever.”

Gun control vs. gun rights
By Jamey Dunn
On the same day that thousands of people came to the Capitol building to participate in the annual gun owner lobbying day, every gun control measure voted on in a House committee advanced to the floor. A feeling of déjà vu was in the air.

Two of the gun control measures that passed through the committee today were proposed last session by the same two Democrat sponsors from Chicago. House Bill 12, sponsored by Rep. Luis Arroyo, would limit handgun purchases to one per person per month. House Bill 165 , proposed by Rep. Edward Acevedo, would ban semi-automatic assault weapons.

Other measures before the committee included House Bill 179, proposed by Chicago Democrat Rep. Deborah Graham, which would require that guns must either be equipped with gun locks or stored in lock boxes around minors. House Bill 180, also sponsored by Graham, would make gun dealers register with the Illinois State Police, who could then do spot checks on the dealers.

Rep. Brandon Phelps, a Democrat from Harrisburg, supports gun rights and is pushing for a few different bills that would allow counties to decide if they wanted to allow concealed carry of guns. One concealed carry bill sponsored by Sen. John Jones, a Republican from Mount Vernon, did not make it out of the Senate Public Health Committee yesterday.

Special elections
Two special election bills were killed today in a partisan showdown in the House Executive Committee. The hearing only included Cross’ special election bill and one proposed by Rep. Jack Franks, a Democrat from Woodstock. Both votes split along party lines. Republicans on the committee were visibly miffed and protested the demise of the bills.

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AG: Burris' appointment "temporary"

By Bethany Jaeger
Attorney General Lisa Madigan issued a legal opinion late last night that confirms the Illinois Republicans’ interpretation of the 17th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution: An appointment to fill a vacant U.S. Senate seat is considered temporary, and the state legislature can set up an election to fill the seat currently held by U.S. Sen. Roland Burris.



According to her reading of the 17th Amendment, “although a state legislature may permit the state executive to fill a vacancy by appointment, that appointment is only ‘temporary.’” She said the General Assembly could reduce the U.S. Senate term without violating the senator’s right to due process of removal based on “cause.”

“A temporary appointee to the U.S. Senate has no right that prevents the General Assembly from passing legislation to enable the people to elect their U.S. senator.” In short, the opinion says nothing in the state or federal Constitution prohibits the General Assembly from changing the date of an election to choose a new U.S. senator.

Illinois House and Senate Republicans took that as a cue to call for another special election. “We do, in fact, have an opportunity legally and legitimately to have a special election and let people fill the Senate seat and stop the embarrassment that is the Roland Burris appointment,” said Sen. Matt Murphy, a Palatine Republican sponsoring a measure, SB 285, to move the primary election date to April 7 and the general election to May 26.

Senate Democrats also are sponsoring their own version of a special election bill, SB 1271, which is scheduled to be heard in a committee this afternoon.

If the Republican version were approved, the election to replace now U.S. Sen. Roland Burris would be on the same dates as local elections and, therefore, save money, Murphy said. Democrats also cited those two dates in December, when the party initially supported the idea of holding a special election to fill the seat vacated by President Barack Obama.

Murphy said Democrats, which have estimated the cost of a special election at more than $40 million, are motivated by politics, not financial concerns. “I think it’s a little ironic that the people who spent us into a $9 billion hole are now going to get a little worried about $15 [million] to $25 million on an issue as important as this.”

He said the state budget still allots more than $15 million for member initiatives this fiscal year. If the General Assembly zeroed out those lines, he said the money could be used to help local governments with the cost of holding a special election. “So sure, it’s a concern but one that we can address if our priorities are right.”

Rep. Bill Black, a Danville Republican, also said the price tag of a special election doesn’t cost as much as public cynicism. “What’s been the cost of the loss of confidence in this state? What’s the cost of people saying, ‘Why bother to vote? It doesn’t make any difference.’ Haven’t we learned anything from the last two or three years?”

The timing, however, would condense the process of finding candidates, circulating petitions and educating voters. Murphy said he’s less concerned about the timing than he is about Burris remaining in office until 2011. “Every time we think we can’t possibly get embarrassed one more time, we do.”

Today’s Chicago Sun-Times reports that Burris’ son received a job with the Blagojevich Administration in September, the month before the governor’s brother called Roland Burris for fundraising help, according to Burris’ February affidavit to the special House committee that recommended Blagojevich’s impeachment.

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Republicans want a special election

By Hilary Russell, with Jamey Dunn contributing
Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno and House Minority Leader Tom Cross and other Republican legislators said they are disappointed with House Democrats’ delayed response to the latest chapter in the case of U.S. Sen. Roland Burris. During a Statehouse news conference today, GOP members of both chambers argued that a special election was the only way to immediately begin restoring the state’s reputation.

“Returning that, to use the phrase, bleeping golden Senate seat back to the people is the only real way, the only real solution to the state’s embarrassing problem,” said Sen. Matt Murphy, a Palatine Republican.

He’s sponsoring SB 285, which calls for vacant U.S. Senate seats to be filled by special election rather than gubernatorial appointment. A special primary election would be held April 7, and a special general election would be held May 26.

Meanwhile, Rep. Bill Black, a Danville Republican, introduced two resolutions today designed to make House Democrats go on record about how to handle Burris. HR 92 calls for Burris’ resignation, and HR 93 urges the U.S. Senate to investigate him. Democrats did not let either measure get called for debate.

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Partial restorations and restored hope

State parks could remain open, but historic sites definitely would not. And substance abuse treatment services would receive the $55 million they need to remain active and to secure federal matching funds. But the state attorney general, other constitutional officers and legislative commissions weren’t so lucky.

In short, the battle ain’t over, even though the legislature’s annual fall veto session is.


Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed legislation Thursday restoring, according to his office, about $180 million that had been vetoed as part of his $1.4 billion budget cuts earlier this year. That leaves about $55 million unfunded from what the legislature wanted to restore this fall. The General Assembly approved a plan to transfer money from special dedicated funds to save state parks and historic sites, programs that deal with substance abuse and developmental disabilities, and funding for constitutional officers. Blagojevich approved half of the plan in September, leaving the restorations up in the air. And some of the budget restorations for state parks could remain up there, as the governor left himself some space to maneuver.

Blagojevich announced the $180 million in restorations minutes after the House and Senate adjourned their annual fall session Thursday evening. Through a news release, Blagojevich said certain special funds are restricted by the federal government and could jeopardize future federal funding if swept.

“If you discount those federal funds that are restricted, then that only leaves a certain amount available,” said Katie Ridgeway, a spokeswoman for Blagojevich’s budget office.

She added that the bigger picture is that these cuts are accompanied by a $2 billion deficit, for which the governor introduced a four-point economic plan. The House started early Thursday by discussing one part of the plan to let the governor reserve up to 8 percent of the budgets approved for numerous state services, but the bill wasn't called for a vote. Ridgeway said the governor will continue to work with the legislature to find more agreeable language, but she would not specify whether those changes would address some lawmakers’ concerns that the governor could withhold 8 percent of the budgets for some state services and not others. (See background here.)

The legislature is not supposed to return until January 12, meaning the governor’s economic plan won’t advance unless Blagojevich calls lawmakers back into special session before then.

What’s funded by SB 1103:
The governor’s release says he restored $175.9 million, much of it for substance abuse treatment centers, front-line staff for the Department of Children and Family Services and a reduced fare subsidy for the Chicago-area Regional Transportation Authority. Other beneficiaries include state parks front-line staff, water and soil conservation, higher education, mental health and developmental disabilities.

What’s not funded because of the veto of SB 1103:
The governor did not spare the $2.4 million for the Historic Preservation Agency’s front-line staff, which means the 32 employees already laid off won’t get their jobs back. And without the staff, about a dozen historic sites scheduled to close Nov. 30 will close for the remainder of the fiscal year, says Dave Blanchette, agency spokesman.

Another significant portion of the $55 million vetoed by the governor is from Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office. Functions affected range from personnel to state law enforcement and contributions to the state employees’ retirement system.

The attorney general’s chief of staff, Ann Spillane, didn’t buy the governor’s explanation and said through e-mail that the restorations would have come from “money generated exclusively through this office’s litigation — and Illinois law requires that this money can only be used by the attorney general’s office. The governor’s decision to veto this funding is nothing more than petty politics. And his explanation for the veto is false. In this current economic crisis, when the attorney general’s office is working to help Illinois homeowners stay in their homes, it is a disgrace to let the governor’s politics get in the way of this critical work.”

Ridgeway would only say that the governor made difficult decisions and set a priority of protecting core services.

The secretary of state, also, maintained significant losses. Others include the lieutenant governor, the treasurer and the auditor general. The legislative branch wasn’t immune, either. Cut were budget items for legislative research, printing and audits, as well as funding for two commissions that project economic activity and review the governor’s administrative rules.

A brighter spot: New leaders
Thursday was a historic day in the Senate. Wednesday night’s rare, simultaneous internal elections of new leaders for the Democrats and Republicans undoubtedly will change the dynamic of leadership in the Capitol. Sen. John Cullerton of Chicago is slated to become the next Senate president and leader of the extraordinarily large Democratic Caucus. Across the aisle, Sen. Christine Radogno of Lemont will replace Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson as the first female caucus leader of either party. They start in January.

The mood in the Capitol Thursday felt lighter. People smiled, mingled, debated some serious legislation and congratulated each other. Perhaps the most touching moment came when Watson returned to the chamber floor for the first time since experiencing a stroke last month. Shortly after the stroke, he announced he would not seek re-election as minority leader but would continue to serve as a senator.

He spent four days in the hospital, 18 days in recovery and numerous days in therapy, but on Thursday, he Watson was walking, talking, laughing and crying. He broke down as he recalled the way he felt when he realized he had the symptoms of a stroke: slurred speech and difficulty walking. “I thought of [former Sen.] John Maitland and my dad,” he said, unable to finish his sentence through the tears. Both had serious strokes with lasting side effects.

Watson is undergoing intense therapy three hours a day, three days a week. He said he had low cholesterol, low blood pressure and didn’t smoke, although his family history increased his risk. He urges awareness. “People need to take care of themselves. They need to recognize that something like this can happen at any time. You need to take care of your diet, take care of your weight, take care of your blood pressure, take a baby aspirin every day.”

The previous night, Watson cast an important vote for Radogno over Sen. Kirk Dillard of Hinsdale. “She was my deputy leader,” Watson said. “I supported her and wanted to see her become leader. She did such a good job on the campaign side and on the policy side. And that’s important.”

Radogno, a moderate Republican, says she sees her role as a continuation of Watson’s. “One of the things that Sen. Watson did very well is keep the caucus together. And I think that’s probably the primary job that the leader has because when you’re in the minority, if you’re fractured, you’re even less effective. It’s going to be a challenge because we do have diversity within our caucus, but I think everyone in our caucus recognizes that we need to stick together. And I think it’ll be easy for us to do on both issues that are in the forefront right now, which are the tax issues and fiscal issues.”

We’ll have much more from Radogno in the coming months of Illinois Issues magazine.

Cullerton says he, too, will foster a more inclusive atmosphere in the Capitol, where the governor, House Speaker Michael Madigan and outgoing Senate President Emil Jones Jr. have been in years of gridlock. “I’m not going to fight with the speaker. I’m not going to fight with the governor. And hopefully, I can be a good go-between to try to bring about positive change.”

He already appointed Sen. James Clayborne, the runner-up in the Democrats’ internal elections, as his majority leader to signal a fresh start. “Even though we ran against each other, we remain friends,” Cullerton says of Clayborne. “He’s a very talented guy. He comes from another part of the state from me, and we need to make sure the downstaters feel like they can work with a leader from Chicago, which we can. So it’s important to have him as a person and the symbolism of having somebody from downstate in majority leader.”

Watch Illinois Issues for more about Cullerton’s first priority: advancing a long-awaited capital bill.

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Veto session preview

As we head into the first week of the Illinois General Assembly’s fall session, the biggest questions are whom will be selected to lead the Senate Democrats and the Senate Republicans? Leaders of both caucuses are stepping down, opening the door for a rare change in leadership that has potential to drastically change the atmosphere in the Capitol.


See this month’s Illinois Issues magazine for information about the Democratic race for Senate president.

So far, two Senate GOP members are openly seeking the minority leadership position, while two others are mentioned as potential candidates if the caucus can’t agree. Sen. Christine Radogno of Lemont and Sen. Kirk Dillard of Hinsdale both represent suburban Chicago districts in mostly DuPage and Will counties. Both have described themselves as fiscal conservatives who can work with different factions within the Illinois Republican Party. And both say they have a good understanding of issues throughout the state.

Radogno says she’s “definitely” interested in becoming Senate minority leader. Although she says she had absolutely no intentions to become a career politician, she now fills the caucus’ No. 2 position and serves as its budget negotiator. She also ran for statewide office in 2006 but lost to Democrat Alexi Giannoulias, the current state treasurer.

Radogno didn’t agree or disagree with former Gov. Jim Edgar’s statements that the Illinois GOP needs to move toward the middle for it to revive its stature. She simply says: “I think what we need to focus on are the issues that we all agree on. And those, quite frankly, are the very ones that are on voters’ minds right now, and that is jobs, the economy and policies that allow people to succeed. That would be making sure they have job opportunities so that people can make their own way.”

Her name also has been mentioned as a potential gubernatorial candidate in 2010. Radogno doesn’t rule it out. “It’s hard to never say never. Right now, my interest is clearly legislative,” she says, adding, however, that, “it may make it more challenging to run for governor if I were leader.”

Dillard also uses the word “definitely” in describing his interest in the position. “I definitely know that I am the best person to move my caucus and the state’s business forward in Springfield.” He says the principles in which he ran Edgar’s office as his chief of staff and in which he used to run the DuPage Republican Party are the blueprint for the way he would operate as a Senate leader.

Dillard sought the leadership position before, but the caucus selected outgoing Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson. Watson announced last week that he would not seek the position after having a minor stroke last month.

“Sen. Watson was my friend. And I tried to help him in any way that I could, from fundraising on down,” Dillard says, but, “no matter who the new Senate leader is in the Republican Caucus, it is imperative that we remain cordial and cohesive because when you only have 22 members, you have no room for dissention.”

Some dissention did occur when Dillard, who says he has a personal relationship with President-elect Barack Obama, appeared in a TV ad for the Democrat during the campaign season. But Dillard cites his relationship with Obama as helping to break the logjam of recent ethics legislation, in which Dillard says he was one, with Comptroller Dan Hynes’ leadership, who encouraged Obama to call Senate President Emil Jones Jr. to call the bill for a vote. Dillard also cites his legislative work with Obama to revise the state’s death penalty statute.

Dillard also won’t rule out a run for governor, but he says he won’t run in 2010. “I’m 52 years old. I have time.”

Two other names mentioned as possible compromise GOP candidates are Sen. Dave Luechtefeld of downstate Okawville and Sen. Dale Risinger of Peoria.

We’ll see if commitments to the leadership candidates solidify this week and next. Republicans have an internal caucus meeting scheduled for November 19.

Veto session
The Illinois Senate will return to the Capitol Wednesday and currently is scheduled to meet through Friday, although that could change. The House canceled the first week of session and won’t convene until November 19. Action during so-called veto session could be somewhat light but significant if the General Assembly considers allocating more money to such state agencies as the Illinois Department of Transportation.

Veto session serves as a good time to review the state’s fiscal realities, including whether revenues match up to spending. They don't, according to the Illinois Department of Revenue. They're $800 million out of whack. This comes on top of Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s $1.4 billion budget cuts that are causing state parks and historic sites to close this month, although the General Assembly approved ways to restore about $221 million to keep those sites open and to save some social services from closing. Blagojevich still hasn’t signed Senate Bill 1103 that would release the money. He has until December 5 to do so before it automatically becomes law.

Tenaska update
Watch for Senate action that would take one more step toward the state’s first clean-coal power plant. Senate Bill 1987 would kick off a study to estimate the cost and design of the proposed Taylorville Energy Center, but it also would set the framework for the state’s long-term energy portfolio. Future power plants would have to use Illinois coal and advanced technology to reduce pollution, and the door would open for a system of carbon tax credits as one more way to reduce pollution. Tenaska Inc., a Nebraska-based energy company, announced today that it already purchased half of the land for the energy center.

Medical malpractice update
This Thursday, the Illinois Supreme Court will consider the controversial medical malpractice law that limits the amount juries can award for pain and suffering caused by malpractice. See the background here.

My update
I’ll be on an airplane headed for North Carolina for the annual CapitolBeat conference for Statehouse reporters Thursday, so, unfortunately, I’ll catch up with these updates next week.

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10-4 on 11/4/08

I’m about post-election analyzed out for the week. You can listen and/or watch my interpretations and the perceptions of other political junkies from panels and interviews in which I participated this week:

• WILL-AM Focus 580
• The Illinois Government and Public Affairs luncheon with Gov. Jim Edgar and political scientist Kent Redfield, courtesy of the Illinois Channel
• WUIS 91.9’s State Week in Review (Scroll down to see the November 7 link.)

And here's a recap of the most common and obvious questions discussed:

What does President-Elect Barack Obama’s win mean for Illinois?

• Read Illinois Issues’ PRE-election analysis here. Stateline.org reporter Dan Vock reminds readers that while Illinois officials form their wish lists, this state won’t get its fair share of construction dollars or other earmarks unless the state General Assembly and the governor finally approve a capital plan. Also, Obama has "railed against earmarks," Vock writes.
• In the next year, we'll also watch for Obama’s presidency to affect Illinois tourism and Illinois scrutiny. And he could increase awareness about life in urban areas, as well as the effort to protect the Great Lakes and, maybe, just maybe, the effort to bring FutureGen to Mattoon. Whether that all translates into more money for Illinois, however, will be interesting to watch.
  
• If Obama continues to recruit Illinoisans to his cabinet in Washington, D.C., then the vacancies left by those state and Chicago officials will enhance the domino effect already in play.
• Obama ’08 completely changed the ground game and the technological savvy required of political campaigns.

What is the future of the Illinois GOP?
Former Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar says his party needs to move toward the center, particularly when recruiting gubernatorial and U.S. Senate candidates. That’s with the understanding that some politicians should continue representing their conservative Illinois districts.

Edgar also says the thing that concerns him the most is that to be a viable political party nationally, the GOP has to secure the Hispanic vote. “We’re going to have to show a little more sympathy and understanding and try to bring Hispanics in more party roles and run them for office and show that we appreciate them being part of the Republican Party.” Either way, the state GOP will have to overcome perceptions of the national Republican Party, which Edgar says took most of the blame in the court of public opinion for killing immigration reforms a couple of years ago.

Political scientist Paul Green of Roosevelt University says the Democratic wave rippling through the nation is sustainable, and it’s not exactly created by what the Democrats are doing. “It’s what the Republicans are not doing. You have a Republican Party that’s fighting against itself.”

He, like Edgar, says the middle is where the GOP needs to aim if it wants to attract and retain new individuals in Cook and Lake counties. He points to the reelection wins of two moderate Republicans in the Chicago suburbs: Rep. Rosemary Mulligan of Des Plaines and Rep. Beth Coulson of Glenview. Both survived targeted races. “And they’ve been able to withstand the Democratic Party because their issues and their positions are much more aligned with the people living out there,” Green says.

He adds that his philosophy on what the Republicans should do resembles what he wrote for Illinois Issues in 1978: Downstate holds the key to victory. Right now, he says, downstate is irrelevant. If Democrats carry Chicago, suburban Cook County and a few of Chicago’s surrounding counties, then there aren't enough people downstate to help Republicans win a statewide election.

“So the Republican Party has to decide does it want to remain divided, or does it want to find itself back to where it used to be — a party of small government, lower taxes and business growth? If they do that, they have a chance to rebound. If they keep talking about abortion and guns and gays and stem cell research, they are going to keep losing.”

Will Con-Con 2008 turn into Con-Con 2010?
Read Wednesday’s post to see what Con-Con supporters say. They are unlikely to pursue legal action to reverse or redo Tuesday’s 68 percent “no” vote. But they likely could pursue legal action to clarify the process of future referenda.

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The Democratic wave

Update: I was interviewed by WILL-am's Focus 580 this morning. Listen here.

There were two questions heading into Election Day in Illinois. The first was how far the Democratic wave would overcome traditionally Republican areas. The small tide in the Chicago suburbs swept away at least one and potentially two suburban Republican incumbents in the House. The Dems gained another open seat in Peoria. But Republicans also held on to a number of open seats and even gained one in southern Illinois. The Democratic majorities in both chambers, on the other hand, remain in tact. The second question was how the GOP would rebuild before 2010.

One change is that Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson, who suffered a minor stroke in October, told his members Tuesday that he would not seek the leadership position again. We’ll consider who could take his place in another blog. The Senate’s makeup remains the same, with 37 Democrats and 22 Republicans. The Democratic Caucus, however, hasn’t unified to make use of its so-called supermajority in the past two years. The retirement of Senate President Emil Jones Jr. in January will open the door for change there, too.

The House Democratic Caucus increased its majority from 67 to 69 members out of 118. And they could gain one more, pending official results in what turned out to be a barn burner. If the Democrats gain 70 members, they're one member away from the magic number needed to approve major spending, borrowing and other legislation without Republican votes.

Keep an eye out for these official results:

• House 66: GOP Rep. Carolyn Krause is retiring. The race is still too close to call this morning, but Democrat Mark Walker leads Republican Christine Proncho, as of this morning. If Walker is declared the winner, among the dynamics in play was the “Obama factor,” where a record number of Democratic voters cast ballots for President-Elect Barack Obama of Chicago.

Two Republican incumbents lost to Democrats:

• House 85: Rep. Brent Hassert, a Romeoville Republican in Will County and a member of the House Republican’s leadership team, lost to Democrat Emily Klunk-McAsey. The Democratic campaign machine was in the works, with the help of the Obama factor; Hassert was active in gaming and revenue issues.
• House 43: Rep. Ruth Munson, an Elgin Republican, initially appears to have lost to Democrat Keith Farnham. A Green Party candidate, Dane William, got 3 percent of the vote. [UPDATE 5 p.m.: Munson's campaign office confirmed that the representative conceeded to Farnham this afternoon. The office cited the vote: Farnham's 12,589 to Munson's 12,911, a 322 difference. The county clerk will have to count provisional ballots and absentee ballots within 14 days of the election.] Munson currently serves on committees related to business, technology, trade and pensions. The district is vulerable to the Democratic wave. A Democrat took the Senate district from Republicans when former Sen. Steve Rauschenberger retired. And the House district adjacent to Munson’s transferred from Republicans to the Democrats when Rep. Fred Crespo defeated veteran GOP Terry Parke in the last election. The Obama factor was at play.

Democrats also won this open seat, most recently held by a Republican:

• House 92: GOP Rep. Aaron Schock ran for Congress and won that seat last night. He will be replaced by Democrat Jehan Gordon, despite some alleged credibility problems released about the candidate during the campaign. Gordon beat out Republican Joan Krupa. Before Schock, the Peoria district historically was Democratic territory.

Two Senate Democratic incumbents hung on to win close races:

• Senate 59: Sen. Gary Forby, a Benton Democrat in the southern tip of Illinois. He barely won against Republican Ken Burzynski, the brother of state Sen. Brad Burzynski of Clare. It was the most expensive race for legislature in the state. The Campaign for Political Reform reported that a total of more than $2 million was spent by both sides. Forby fought hard during the electricity rate debate but was the sacrificial lamb in a political move by Senate President Emil Jones Jr. That opened the door for his Republican opponent to say Forby failed to get lower Ameren rates for his constituents.
• Senate 42: Sen. Linda Holmes, an Aurora Democrat, kept her seat. It was another expensive race exceeding $1.5 million, according to the Campaign for Political Reform. Holmes edged out Terri Ann Wintermute of Bolingbrook. Holmes took over the suburban seat when Republican former Sen. Ed Petka retired; Holmes got a lot of financial support from Sen. John Cullerton, one of the Democrats in the running to replace retiring Senate President Jones.

Two Republican incumbents held on in relatively close races, despite the Obama factor:

• House 17: Rep. Beth Coulson, a Glenview Republican in northern Cook County, and active voice for human services and environmental issues. She pulled out the win.
• House 46: Rep. Dennis Reboletti barely won in 2006. He took the seat after former Rep. Lee Daniels retired.

More Republicans filled three open seats vacated by the GOP:

• House 48: GOP Rep. Jim Meyer is retiring. Republican Michael Connelly won the race against Democrat Joe Heneghan.
• House 96: GOP Rep. Joe Dunn is retiring from the DuPage and Will County district that includes Naperville. Republican Darlene Senger barely beat out Democrat Diane McGuire in a race where about $1 million was spent.
• Senate 26: GOP Sen. Bill Peterson is retiring from the seat, which represents the northwest suburbs of Chicago in Lake and McHenry counties. Republican Dan Duffey comfortably won against Democrat Bill Gentes.

House Republicans gained one seat from the Democrats:

• House 107: Democratic Rep. Kurt Granberg retired. He'll be replaced by Republican John Cavaletto, who challenged Granberg in a tight race in the last election. Cavaletto defeated Democrat Patti Hahn Tuesday.
  

Illinois’ Obama
Personal story: I have a distinct memory of U.S. President-Elect Barack Obama. When I worked as a health reporter in Decatur, Obama visited a local community college during his first year as a U.S. senator. He met with military veterans and talked about their health care, among other things. After the event, Obama made himself available to a handful of reporters. He answered our questions, and then most of the reporters except me said thanks and walked away. I asked for one more question. He said I could ask as many as I wanted and suggested we walk into a neighboring room so he we could hear each other better. We walked into the next room, and he pulled two folding chairs over for us to sit. Except he turned his chair around so that he straddled the chair and rested his elbows on its back. He stayed until I asked all of my questions. Unfortunately, I don’t remember his exact answers. But what stuck out were his mannerisms and his willingness to answer as many questions as I had. No staffers tried to cut off the conversation and whisk him away to his next appointment.

Some of my fellow reporters haven’t had as good of luck when trying to break through the communications lines of Obama’s presidential campaign. I can only hope that a President Obama would remain as genuine, considerate and open as he was in the that instance.

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Chicago Documentary: Where Is Obama?

This video from the John McCain campaign looks at what has Sen. Barack Obama done for the Latino community.

Cross-posted at The Sixth Ward!

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Unconventional Wisdom - Scott Harper's 13th Congressional Strategy

[Cross-posted at WurfWhile.com]

It is a political campaign maxim, particularly for non-incumbents, that campaigns must jealously focus on their own race to win - and that any 'distraction' from their campaign comes at great or even unbearable cost. While examples may exist, how often have you heard of an underdog congressional campaign taking their volunteers to canvass for a neighboring congressional candidate? Perhaps more uncommon, how often have you heard of a congressional candidate taking their volunteers out of state to canvass for a presidential candidate in a party primary? It may be unconventional strategy, but 13th Congressional District Democrat Scott Harper has taken campaign volunteers to support neighboring 14th District Congressman Bill Foster in his historic win, and just last weekend was canvassing for Barack Obama in Lafayette, Indiana with his volunteers.

Scott Harper may be in a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) "targeted race," indicating that the party thinks he has a real chance of winning, but under traditional campaign standards one has to ask - is what he doing lunacy?

While not without risk, the unique circumstances Scott Harper's campaign finds themselves in may justify this unique strategy. Consider:

- No congressional Democrat had won a seat in DuPage County for decades, until Bill Foster's congressional win a couple months ago;

- Only small parts of DuPage have had any Democratic state-level representation in recent memory - and with the exception of State Senator Don Harmon, the current elected officials (State Senator Linda Holmes and State Representative Paul Froehlich) have served Democrats under two years; and

- "Serious" DuPage Democratic challenges at the federal and state-level have been very few and far between until two years ago.

Scott Harper has the burden of proving viability in a way that few candidates do, in a district that only became majority Democratic this year. One way to "prove" viability is to show that candidates like Congressman Bill Foster can win - and to support them during an 'off-time' special election in the hopes of support (perhaps from "maxed out" donors among others) during the general election.

A second issue for the Harper Campaign is how to motivate the record number of Democrats voting in DuPage (more than half of the 13th District) to continue voting Democratic down ballot in the general election. By aligning himself with Illinois' U.S. Senator and Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama, Scott Harper hopes to gain many of those Democratic votes from a popular senator who won DuPage with 64% of the vote in 2004.

DuPage represented almost 54% of 13th Congressional District votes in 2006 (109,411 votes) when Democrat Joe Shannon ran against GOP Congresswoman Judy Biggert. If Scott beats Congresswoman Biggert in relatively conservative DuPage, even by a percent or two, it's unlikely that she will win. Shannon got about 40% in both DuPage and suburban Cook County, and his stronghold was in Will County, the second highest vote total (64,247 or almost 32%) where he got over 45% of the vote. Suburban Cook voters cast 29,623 votes in the election (under 15%). Scott Harper is a different candidate than Joe Shannon, but Scott already has more money than Joe did, Harper runs in a DuPage County that has gone Democratic for the first time in memory, and Scott Harper has a bigger, more professional organization than Joe Shannon, who lacked permanent management, field and fundraising staff. Joe Shannon worked very hard, but his effort was part-time. While allowances might be made for Joe Shannon being a more conservative candidate than Scott Harper, Shannon's numbers based on very limited resources are best viewed as a baseline for Harper's full-time effort.

If Scott Harper looks like the best chance Democrats have had in a long time to capture the 13th Congressional seat, that doesn't mean it will be easy. That's what makes Harper's gambit to help his race by helping others so intriguing. Will Scott Harper compensate for limited/new Democratic Party infrastructure by strategically leveraging goodwill gained in two other ongoing campaigns? It's a counterintuitive approach that may make the difference in the 13th District race.

One knowledgeable campaign source summarized Scott Harper's strategy this way,

"Not only does Scott support both Bill Foster and Barack Obama but there's also an advantage for us when and if they both do well. People saw Bill Foster's victory as evidence that the collar counties are changing and that we can win back these seats. If a Democrat can take Former Speaker Hastert's seat in a worse Democratic performing district than ours, then surely Scott can win as well. And as for Senator Obama, Scott absolutely backs him but also understands that having him on the ticket will greatly help us as well.
....
"[T]hough we're mostly focused on Scott, we understand the value of being team players."

The Scott Harper Campaign "team player" strategy may be unconventional, but the timing may be right. We'll know in November.

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Ex-alderman, ex-con, ex-Dem, Jones seeks political comeback

I saw this somewhere, perhaps some Republican communique decrying this as another Republican problem. I don't know what say you out there. From Crain's today...

ormer Alderman Virgil Jones’ latest attempt to reclaim public office after serving time in prison lasted about two weeks.

Mr. Jones, a former police officer who served as alderman for the city’s 15th Ward from 1991 until he was convicted of extortion and tax charges in 1999, had attempted to fill the vacancy on the ballot for state representative in the 32nd District.

He had even switched parties, from Democrat to Republican.

State law does not prohibit convicted felons from seeking office — unlike municipal law, which prevented Mr. Jones from reclaiming his aldermanic seat, a move he attempted last year. He was rebuffed by the city Board of Elections, and when he took his case to the Illinois Supreme Court, the judges sided with the board.

Mr. Jones said Thursday he will withdraw his nomination to run on the 32nd District Republican ballot after conferring with the leaders of the Cook County and city Republican parties. His nomination application was filed 10 days ago with the Illinois State Board of Elections.

“It’s what is best for the party,” Mr. Jones said. “There will be another time (to run for office).”

Though he was a member of the Democratic Party for years, Mr. Jones said his switch to the Republican Party represents his true political ideology.

“When I was a younger man, I was a member of the Young Republicans,” he said. “In the city of Chicago, you can only get elected (if you’re a Democrat).”

that last statement sounds like a cop out. Even worse I don't know if I'd touch the guy for his criminal history. Hmmm, here's what Crain's had to say about that...

Mr. Jones spent three years in prison after being convicted of extortion in the 1990s’ FBI investigation dubbed Operation Silver Shovel, which exposed political corruption. The probe ended with 18 convictions, six of them sitting or former aldermen.

Mr. Jones maintains his innocence. “I didn’t take any money. That was a lie,” he said.

He’s also preparing to file an appeal to have his conviction overturned. “I want to serve the people. I know what the people need.”

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OUCH!!!

Heh, the last line in this post from Newsalert, "The GOP really doesn't exist in Cook County." Surely that stings to somebody doesn't it? This could beg that question, Why did Republicans abdicate Cook County to the Democrats?

Anyway the gist of the post shows the legal problems of the soon to be outgoing Cook County GOP Chair Liz Gorman and her husband. And she herself is looking for a "puppet" so she can maintain her influence. Yeah I suppose there really isn't a GOP in Cook.

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Let's hope it's not a lemon

By Patrick O’Brien and Bethany Jaeger
Correction
I mistakenly labeled Democratic Sen. A.J. Wilhelmi as a Republican. My apologies. Sen. Wilhelmi is a Joliet Democrat.

The House and Senate finally agreed on major legislation for the first time since the electric rate debate. They approved a mass transit deal Thursday, but the hitch is that Gov. Rod Blagojevich said he’d make a change that would allow all seniors in the state to ride public transportation, including trains, for free. “I’m going to turn what I believe is a lemon into lemonade. I’m going to sweeten the bill,” he said at a Statehouse press conference.

The “sweetness” of the deal would cost almost $20 million statewide in fares that seniors would have paid in reduced rates. The change also means lawmakers will have to come back next week to either accept the governors changes or reject them with a super majority of votes, which would be difficult given that they’re short by a handful of votes in each chamber and that it’s a few short weeks before the primary elections.

House Democrat Julie Hamos stressed caution about declaring victory too early. “This is not over yet. It’s incumbent on us to bring back to Springfield 60 supportive voters in the House and 30 supportive voters in the Senate."

Regional Transportation Authority Chairman Jim Reilly said the job was only half done because the transit systems of northern Illinois needs upwards of $10 billion in infrastructure improvements. That requires a statewide capital bill.

Chicago Transit Authority President Ron Huberman said the deal could close a “difficult chapter” in the CTA history, especially when his employees received layoff notices three times last year. But he said his agency must “keep the wheels in motion” for January 20 service cuts until a “signed, executable bill” is delivered by state government. The CTA’s doomsday scenario involves more than 2,400 job cuts and eliminating half of all bus lines.

After months of wrangling, the General Assembly delivered a bill to the governor in a matter of hours. A last-minute change of heart by Democratic Sen. James Clayborne of Belleville allowed the bill to pass with no margin to spare in the Senate. The bill passed by two votes in the House.

Clayborne, who voted present for the bill last night, explained his switch: “I had to deal with reality. I want a capital bill. I think everybody in the Senate wants one. But until Madigan sits at the table and decides that we’re all going to negotiate in good faith like we did with medical malpractice, like we did with Ameren, then why should we jeopardize services in Chicago?”

He added that downstate transit riders also benefit from this version because the state aid for mass transit districts increases from 55 percent of operating costs to 65 percent. See our November feature, Token support. The increase means a lot for those districts.

The measure, HB 656, uses a small sales tax increase in Chicago and the surrounding counties, one-quarter of one percent, to fund the following:

- $100 million for paratransit services for people with disabilities

- A 10 percent increase in state aid for downstate transit districts

- $20 million for PACE bus services in the Chicago suburbs

- $100 million a year if the Chicago City Council enacts a real estate transfer tax. The revenue would help fund pension and health care costs of CTA retirees.

- The counties surrounding Chicago also would have the option of using their funds from the sales tax increase for public safety purposes

Republicans are still relevant
by Bethany Jaeger
The approval of a mass transit plan has political ramifications for House and Senate Republicans. All along they’ve fought for a statewide capital bill to fix roads, bridges and schools in their districts. They tried to gain leverage by saying they wouldn’t vote for a mass transit plan without the promise of a capital bill.

“There’s no question there’s a leverage issue that’s gone,” said House Minority Leader Tom Cross after his chamber approved the measure Thursday. “But there’s still a need there from a policy standpoint to do this bill that spans the whole state. So I hope people recognize that.”

Republicans also have lost their seat at the negotiating table that they enjoyed for the past seven months of overtime session. Democrats still have a majority in each chamber, but the new calendar year means the House and Senate technically don’t need Republican votes to approve legislation. The House has 67 Democrats but only needs 60 votes; the Senate has 37 Democrats but only needs 30 votes.

Republicans fear the politically difficult, clunky legislation for a gaming expansion coming any time soon is “as likely as the Cubs winning the World Series,” as Sen. Kirk Dillard said during Senate floor debate. Dillard lives in Hinsdale and said DuPage County has dire transportation needs that are met by the approved mass transit deal. He and Sen. Dan Cronin of Elmhurst broke with their GOP Caucus to vote in support of mass transit despite lacking a capital bill.

Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson said he’s disappointed but that he would never tell his fellow lawmakers that they shouldn’t vote with their districts. But now they're back to square one on capital. “I think we’ve lost an opportunity to make sure that capital, infrastructure would be a part of any solution here," Watson said. "I think we’ve taken a step backwards"

Republicans are still needed, however, for major spending and borrowing plans that require three-fifths majority. Capital for infrastructure projects is the biggest example. So are other budget-related items and overrides of the governor’s vetoes.

Republicans also may be needed as a buffer between the dueling Democrats. Cross already took the role as peacemaker last year. He and Watson partook in “shuttle diplomacy” between legislative offices because House Speaker Michael Madigan declined to join a series of leaders’ meetings that included the governor.

Watson said that practice has to end. “Everyone has to be in the room. Everyone has to check their egos at the door. Everyone has to understand this is an important issue for the state as an entirety, not just a region.”

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DuPage Budget Debacle - What Others Are Saying…And What About Long-Term Planning?

[Cross-Posted at WurfWhile.com]

The current budget proposal is to cut about 10% of the DuPage County government workforce, about 235 people, as part of a plan to cut over $50 million. That means hundreds of people, who worked hard and did their job, now will lose their job through no fault of their own. It also means a lot to other DuPage residents, who will face cuts that threaten safety and key government functions. It should have never gotten to this. Many people, many of them Democrats like me, have railed about county mismanagement for years and advocated more fiscal responsibility. Now that disaster has struck on the all-Republican watch, it seems appropriate to me to permit office holders to describe what they will preside over - and in many cases what they've created. Warning to readers and residents - you may find the following material deeply offensive, and you should.

What Others Are Saying About The DuPage Budget Debacle (Alphabetically By Last Name)

DuPage County State's Attorney Joseph Birkett denies what the county board tells him is true, according to the Daily Herald, saying layoffs are not an option for the criminal justice system that stands to face almost 200 lost jobs. "It would mean not even doing the bare minimum that is required by law.... Probation will become a joke. The youth home will shut down. Courtrooms will have to be shut down because we can't staff them."

Chief Judge Ann Jorgensen in the Chicago Tribune, "'There won't be enough assistant state's attorneys to prosecute cases; there won't be enough public defenders to represent indigent defendants'.... Jorgensen said probation officers are already spread so thinly that further staff cuts will prevent them from providing services and monitoring that are designed to steer convicted criminals away from a life of crime. 'We have the finest probation officers in the state of Illinois, but I have already asked them to do more and more with less and less.'"

DuPage County Board member Linda Kurzawa, Board President of the DuPage County Board of Health, in the Naperville Sun said, "department services are severely threatened and the Convalescent Center is facing 'the beginning of the end.... The cuts will mean the loss of breast and cervical cancer screenings, hands-on health programs and a large scale-back if not elimination of our dental program.'"

DuPage County Board Chair Robert Schillerstrom in the Chicago Tribune, "'This is not a budget I want. It is not a budget you want.... It is not a budget that will meet the needs of DuPage County or our constituents. ... [The proposed budget cuts] are deep and they are real, and they will affect every department across our county.'" And in the Daily Herald, Chairman Schillerstrom is quoted saying, "Government should cut fat - we have.... Government shouldn't cut muscle - we must. This budget may change people's ideas about our county."

Coroner Pete Siekmann in the Daily Herald, "Siekmann said staff cuts to his office would translate to delayed autopsies and possibly the closing of the coroner's office on weekends. 'People aren't going to quit dying.... If people die in the hospital or their residence we can't just let them lay. We need to respond.'"

Sheriff John Zaruba in the Daily Herald, "'If the county board passes this budget, they have failed in their responsibility to protect the public,' said Sheriff John Zaruba in a written statement. 'The consequences of this budget proposal are unconscionable.'" And in the Chicago Tribune, Sheriff Zaruba is quoted saying, "This office has already been reduced to 1980s staffing levels. ... Crime prevention, alternative sentencing and anti-recidivism programs have been eliminated.... I cannot and will not stand by and let cuts of this magnitude stand. The safety of our citizens is not negotiable."

What About That Long-Term Planning?

Laurence Msall, president of The Civic Federation, told the Daily Herald that "part of the reason the county is in trouble is because it hasn't implemented a long-term strategic plan to address lean financial times." But wait, don't we have a strategic plan - a "roadmap" of where we're headed? Yes, we recently got one - it's here. So why are we in this mess? Well, the "roadmap" is apparently crap (to put it politely). According to the Naperville Sun, before this so-called "roadmap," "[i]n the 20 years that Robert Schillerstrom has been with the county, DuPage has not had a strategic plan." Just as damning, with Schillerstrom counted, ten of the 19 members of the DuPage County Board, a majority, have served at least eight years (and some around two decades). Yet these supposedly business-oriented county board members never thought, until just recently, that a strategic plan was a priority - and then they failed to create and follow a good one.

Conclusion

Now, of course, it's probably too late for a good, short-term fix. Chairman Schillerstrom and the county board want to blame the problem on not getting the $1 a pack cigarette tax through Springfield, but as the Chicago Tribune notes today, "Even that appears to be insufficient to roll back the cuts proposed by Schillerstrom because it would raise an estimated $25 million a year for the county when the cuts total $52 million."

Put simply, the DuPage County Board is responsible for the county budget - and it has lost control. Public safety and crucial government services will likely suffer. Robert Schillerstrom and the DuPage County Board have totally failed to plan for the future - and they've totally failed us. When campaign season comes, and everyone's making promises about being fiscally responsible and cutting taxes and running on their record, or running with the support of incumbents, you need to think about this and think hard. Decades of total Republican control of the DuPage County Board have led to this result. If you like what you see, vote for them. If you believe we need a change, then vote Democrat. As far as I'm concerned, we need big change. It can't come soon enough.

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