Spotlight on corruption case; reform bills lost in shadows

The Pantagraph  |  Thursday, February 28, 2008 12:22 AM CST

Gov. Rod Blagojevich can deny it no longer. He is “Public Official A” in the public corruption case involving one of his fundraisers, Antonin “Tony” Rezko.

U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve referred to Blagojevich by name in a recent ruling.

It wasn’t exactly a revelation. News media have reported previously that Blagojevich is “Public Official A.”

But the judge’s reference removes any remaining doubts.

Blagojevich has not been charged with a crime, but there are numerous references to “Public Official A” in court documents related to the corruption probe.

So with “Public Official A” back in the news, this is a good time to remind everyone that two ethics reform bills aimed at ending pay-to-play politics in Illinois are still languishing in the Senate Rules Committee.

Perhaps it slipped the mind of Senate President Emil Jones.

Just over a year ago, House Bill 3 passed unanimously in the House. It would give taxpayers easier access to information on state budget earmarks, grants and awards.

House Bill 1 passed unanimously in April. It would require disclosure of previous campaign contributions by anyone bidding on a state contract worth more than $10,000.

The ethics measure also would bar anyone with more than $25,000 in state contracts to contribute to the campaigns of an executive branch constitutional officer responsible for awarding the contracts.

Both bills should have passed quickly in the Senate. They have strong bipartisan support, with 45 Senate sponsors for HB1 and 27 Senate sponsors for HB 3 out of 59 senators.

All Pantagraph area lawmakers are co-sponsors of the reform measures. State Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, is among the chief co-sponsors of HB1.

But the measures don’t have the support of the powerful Jones.

At one time, a spokesperson for Jones said the Senate president didn’t think the reforms were strong enough.

He now has had about a year to come up with an alternative. We are tired of waiting.

Illinois voters are tired of waiting, too. And they are tired of their state being the poster child for political corruption and seeing their elected officials – including Blagojevich’s predecessor – being carted off to jail.

It’s time for the co-sponsors of these two bills to do more than lend their names to the cause. It is time for them to lend some muscle and push Jones to allow the bills to come up for a vote on the Senate floor.

Copyright © 2008, Pantagraph Publishing Co. All rights reserved.

Lawmakers show no love for Blagojevich’s latest budget

Lee Enterprises  |  Saturday, February 23, 2008 11:10 PM CST

Illinois lawmakers weren’t completely dismissive of Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s budget proposal Wednesday.

They were just nearly completely dismissive.

Blagojevich outlined a $58 billion spending plan that includes election-year tax rebate checks, an expansion of health insurance programs and a long-sought statewide construction program.

But the financial foundation upon which his plan is built left most members of the General Assembly shaking their heads.

At a time when the state already is months behind in paying its bills, the governor wants to borrow money to send out the rebate checks. He wants to sell the lottery to pay for a statewide construction program.

He also offered tax cuts to certain businesses, while calling for an increase in other business taxes to pay for an expansion of healthcare.

State Rep. David Reis, R-Willow Hill, summed it all up this way:

“It seems like you’re putting a dollar in one pocket and taking five out of the other,” Reis said.

The short speech

Not only did Blagojevich offer up tax cuts to Illinoisans, he chopped the time he usually spends delivering his speech. Instead of his normal 45 minutes, the governor kept it at an incredibly brief 23 minutes.

What’s more, the governor ended the decades-long tradition of giving off-the-record briefings about the budget to lawmakers, staff and the media on the day before his speech.

State Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, thinks he knows why.

“I think it’s probably a good tactical move given what he put in his speech. There’s nothing there,” Brady said.

State Sen. Dale Risinger, R-Peoria, said the lack of any budget briefings made him think the governor may be embarrassed about his latest budget plan.

“If it’s so great, why not get it out there and get it to us, get it to the media get it to the voters,” Risinger said.

Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson, R-Greenville, described it another way:

“This was a fluff speech again. There wasn’t a lot of detail and it wasn’t very long,” Watson said.

Elements of trust

Blagojevich faces an uphill battle on most of his initiatives. But it’s not only because lawmakers don’t like some of his ideas.

They don’t trust him.

State Rep. Roger Eddy, a Republican from Hutsonville, was in a more forgiving mood Wednesday.

“I’m hopeful that we don’t just dismiss everything because he said it,” Eddy said. “I’m afraid we’re getting to that point in this assembly where if he says it, it must be bad.”

“Let’s look at it and give him a chance to prove it or not prove it and go from there,” Eddy said.

The Madigan factor

After the governor’s speech, House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, issued a terse statement that essentially ignored what Blagojevich said and instead noted that he will hold a series of regional budget hearings, separate and apart from whatever the governor wants to do.

Madigan said he doesn’t want a repeat of last year’s lengthy overtime session.

Senate President Emil Jones, D-Chicago, doesn’t want another overtime session either. But, he said the speaker must be willing to negotiate.

“You cannot sit back and chop holes in everything one attempts to do and then say you want to get out of here early,” Jones said.

Tricky Dick?

In addition to sending people checks worth $300 for every child, the governor also wants to give some businesses a tax break.

That drew a barb from state Rep. Bill Mitchell, R-Forsyth.

“This is like the new Nixon was. This is the new Blagojevich, the tax cutter,” Mitchell said.

State Rep. Mike Boland, D-East Moline, said he doesn’t think rebate checks are a good idea.

“Rather than just sending us a check that will just buy more goods in China, so it’ll be a great stimulus for China, but if we want to put the money into the things that we need, we’ll make some real progress,” Boland said.

Lottery doubts

The governor wants to sell the lottery in order to pay for the construction program. That idea also didn’t sit well with most lawmakers, who fear that it would blow a $600 million hole in the budget.

“If somebody can buy that and pay us that kind of money, then why can’t we run it and get all that money ourselves?” asked state Rep. Pat Verschoore, D-Milan.

KURT ERICKSON heads the Lee Enterprises Springfield Bureau, which serves The Southern and other Lee newspapers; he can be reached at kurt.erickson@lee.net or (217) 789-0865.

Hard feelings another hurdle for Blagojevich in Springfield

AP  |  Friday, February 22, 2008 4:45 PM CST
By DEANNA BELLANDI

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Gov. Rod Blagojevich joked about his frosty relations with lawmakers when he delivered his State of the State address, but those strained feelings are no laughing matter.

If the governor is going to find support for his budget proposal and legislative agenda, he’ll have to win over lawmakers who are still angry over clashes that resulted in a record-breaking overtime session last year.

Early indicators are that it won’t be easy.

Even a bystander in the dispute is taking shots at Blagojevich. State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, a fellow Democrat, called him the “anti-Obama.” Where Barack Obama has a reputation as a coalition-builder, Blagojevich drives people apart, he said.

“Here in Illinois, we have someone who has been divisive, someone who has caused disagreements and confrontations within his own party, and we saw a complete lack of leadership last year,” Giannoulias said.

Lawmakers’ dissatisfaction was clear Wednesday from the anemic applause that greeted Blagojevich when he entered the House chamber to deliver his State of the State address. The clapping ended long before he finished making his way down the center aisle to the podium.

“I’ve never seen a governor receive such little respect and support as I saw this governor in this budget address _ from when he entered the building to when he left,” Republican Sen. Bill Brady said.

Blagojevich made an obvious gesture to try to diffuse some of the ill will when he acknowledged the failure of his grandest proposal from last year _ the largest tax increase in state history to pay for programs to guarantee health care to everyone and overhaul education funding.

“I can tell you, I now have a better appreciation for that old Hank Williams song ‘I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry.’ Needless to say, I’m not asking you to do that again,” Blagojevich joked, eliciting some of the biggest applause in his speech.

Legislators already are wondering whether the state can afford Blagojevich’s latest proposals, the centerpiece of which is a $1.2 billion economic stimulus plan.

Others are leery because his administration didn’t divulge his budget proposals until shortly before he delivered his annual address.

“I think he tried to sound conciliatory, but the very fact that he was unwilling to release any details whatsoever of this speech _ as has been the case for every year prior to this _ says ‘I don’t really want to work with you,’” said Republican Sen. Christine Radogno of Lemont.

House Republican Leader Tom Cross said many General Assembly members feel like wronged spouses and, just like in a troubled marriage, it will take time to rebuild trust.

Cross said that doesn’t mean lawmakers won’t give Blagojevich’s ideas a fair hearing. Lawmakers also are fed up with the infighting, mostly between Blagojevich and House Speaker Michael Madigan, that has splintered the Democrats who control Springfield, he said.

Blagojevich acknowledges “it’d be nice to be able to work in a more harmonious way together to get these things done.”

His spokeswoman, Abby Ottenhoff said Blagojevich has and will continue to meet with lawmakers. She said the success of the current legislative session rests on how willing everyone is to come together.

She said Blagojevich is open to compromise, like he was late last year when he was willing to go along with some lawmakers and accept gambling expansion as a way to pay for a statewide construction program, a plan that eventually went nowhere.

“He continues to be open to their ideas,” she said.

The governor may ultimately accomplish some of what he wants because lawmakers facing re-election this fall will want to show they can get things done in Springfield, said University of Illinois at Springfield political scientist Kent Redfield. A worsening economy might also help Blagojevich push through his plans to cut business taxes, give families a tax credit of $300 per child and raise money for the state through a partial lease of the lottery.

But if Blagojevich scores any wins, it won’t be because lawmakers fell in line behind a governor whose relations with them have soured the longer he is in office.

“I don’t think anybody believes him and anybody trusts him,” Redfield said.

Blagojevich’s nemesis Madigan also shows no sign of getting on board.

“We can always count on Gov. Blagojevich to give a fine speech. However, we have learned from hard-won experience that the devil is always in the details when dealing with his fiscal plans,” Madigan said in a statement.

But Comptroller Dan Hynes, a Democrat, said Blagojevich took a step forward by asking lawmakers to work with him. A chief criticism of Blagojevich has been his tendency to strike out on his own, implementing programs and spending money on things rejected by the Legislature.

“He did not have a good year last year,” Hynes said. “The governor pretty much came away empty-handed and … the proper way to respond to that is not to dig in but to reach out, and I hope he’s going to do that.”

A service of the Associated Press(AP)

Blagojevich revisits old ideas for budget, including tax credits

AP |  By RYAN KEITH

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Gov. Rod Blagojevich offered a long list of ideas for Illinois residents in a remarkably short speech Wednesday: Tax breaks for families and businesses, a major state construction program, big savings in long-term state debt.

Just as quickly, Democratic and Republican lawmakers listed flaws in the governor’s State of the State address, promising to strongly consider alternatives to accomplish many of the same goals.

With state government facing a budget crunch, Blagojevich relied on a series of recycled money-raising ideas to put together his spending plan for next year. The list of repeats includes raising casino taxes, privatizing the state lottery and imposing a business tax to pay for health care.

The Democratic governor also proposed across-the-board cuts of 3 percent at many agencies, with some facing even deeper cuts. The Department of Natural Resources would get a 40 percent cut in state funds, for example.

“To give families and businesses more of their money back, we have to cut spending,” he said in a speech that lasted barely 22 minutes. “If we manage our budget in tough but clear-eyed ways, we can move, and move quickly, on strengthening our economy.”

Legislators complained that many of his ideas, both for spending money and raising it, have been rejected before. They’re even less likely to succeed this time, many said, after last year’s session that took gridlock to history-setting levels.

“He just doesn’t want to stand up to reality,” said Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington. “He’s got no real solutions to Illinois’ problems.”

Blagojevich received only a smattering of applause as he entered the House chamber, and he was interrupted by applause just a handful of times _ including once by some of his top aides. The biggest support came for his mention of Barack Obama’s campaign for president.

Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson and others said that signaled Blagojevich will have major problems trying to get his agenda approved this year.

“There’s so much unsaid about this budget,” said Watson, R-Greenville. “There’s a lot of unanswered questions.”

The centerpiece of Blagojevich’s speech was a $1.2 billion economic stimulus package.

It would feature a one-time credit of $300 per child for about 1.3 million Illinois families _ following up on the federal checks families are in line for this spring _ and give businesses who pay state corporate income taxes a 20 percent credit.

“When times are tough, I believe the best way to fight for families and fight for people is to focus on strengthening the economy,” he said.

The governor suggests paying for that package through “securitization”: Selling off future revenues from a yearly money stream, such as money from a nationwide settlement of tobacco lawsuits, in exchange for a big check today.

That idea has been discussed before but never went anywhere in Springfield.

Both Republicans and business groups said the state would be wiser not to provide such breaks when the budget is already ailing.

“He’s once again playing Santa Claus trying to give away billions of dollars worth of tax relief that, quite frankly, the state doesn’t have,” said Doug Whitley, president of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce.

Blagojevich called again for increasing health care insurance coverage, although not as dramatically as his universal health care plan from last year. He suggested paying for it through a $417 million payroll tax on some businesses _ another repeat idea that went nowhere.

The governor also proposed selling off much of the rights to running the state lottery to get $7 billion this year. Revenue from that idea, which lawmakers rejected last year, largely would go to help pay for an $11 billion statewide construction program but also would provide aid for schools and other budget expenses.

His plan would send just $300 million more to schools next year, after a $560 million boost a year ago. But Senate President Emil Jones, D-Chicago, indicated that amount could grow significantly if lawmakers get behind a long-debated idea to increase state income taxes _ which Blagojevich adamantly opposes.

Blagojevich proposed refinancing $16 billion in state pension debt to take advantage of lower interest rates and save the state more than $50 billion in pension costs over the next several decades. A similar idea passed in 2003, and top leaders indicated they might support it again.

The governor trotted out a plan to raise riverboat casino taxes and bring in hundreds of millions of dollars by selling off the long-defunct 10th riverboat license.

And he again urged legislators to end some tax breaks for businesses and sweep money out of some special funds to help close a $750 million gap in the current year’s budget.

Just how seriously these proposals will be taken by lawmakers is uncertain. Some said the governor can improve those chances if he commits to working with legislators rather than fighting them.

House Speaker Michael Madigan, Blagojevich’s main nemesis over the last year, indicated his members will start work soon on their own spending plan to “avoid a repeat of the 2007 budget debacle.”

Jones said he supports many of the governor’s ideas, even if they have been turned down before, but predicts a solution to the state’s problems only if all the leaders are committed to reaching one.

“You cannot sit back and chop holes in everything one attempts to do and then say you want to get out of here early,” Jones said. “That takes cooperation.”

A service of the Associated Press(AP)