February 21st, 2008
If I live to be 110 years old, I’ll never forget the day the governor of this state made me the bogeyman of his moment.
It was in May 2004, and I gathered with other reporters in the governor’s office for a news conference he called. A Chicago television reporter asked the governor a series of leading questions about tension — already apparent during the second year of his administration — he shared with lawmakers and other folks working in Springfield.
The governor deflected the question, suggesting Capitol reporters had misled the public with their stories about him. From my column at the time:
The governor was explaining Statehouse reporters to a television reporter from Chicago. As you may imagine, this was a truly comic event: The governor has generally avoided Springfield and, to a greater degree, the Statehouse press corps.
We require detail.
Nonetheless, Blagojevich saw fit to explain our nature to his fellow Chicagoan during a news conference in his Capitol office, as if the governor were leading a friend through a strange land.
The television reporter was working on a story about how people around Springfield appear angry at the governor. So the reporter tried to coax the governor to give up a sound bite by alluding to the tense mood at the news conference.
YET, THIS GOVERNOR does not miss an opportunity to look like a regular, warm-hearted, moderately intelligent guy.
“This is what they do here,” the governor told the reporter, referring to our aggressive approach. “But they’re like that. They’re really nice people. They sound angry and mad, but they’re really nice when you get to know ‘em.”
Then the governor looked at me. I was sitting on the floor in the middle of the room, between his podium and a row of television cameras. We were surrounded by reporters and his aides.
“Mr. Chambers over here is a nice guy,” Blagojevich said. “He just sounds very angry.”
The television reporter persisted. He told the governor that people in Springfield think he is rude.
“You think so?” the governor asked. “Who says that? Chambers?”
I was in no way participating in the exchange between the television reporter and the governor. I had not said a word.
Nonetheless, the governor saw fit to drag me in and paint me as the bad guy. Somehow, by the governor’s logic, I was individually responsible for the negative phenomenon captivating the television reporter.
Then there was the time in March 2005 I sought to cover a delegation of Rockford officials meeting with Blagojevich in his Capitol office. The governor’s aides said I couldn’t attend because the delegation didn’t want me there. But when I talked to delegation leaders, including then-Mayor Doug Scott, they said they had no problem with me following along.
At last, the governor’s staff relented. I joined the group in his office. And just as the meeting began, Blagojevich scolded me. As I reported at the time:
The governor shook a couple hands, then pointed at me. “Nattering nabobs of negativism, right there!” he declared.
THE ALLITERATION WAS compliments of Spiro Agnew, the GOP vice president who resigned from Richard Nixon’s administration amid scandal. Agnew used it to describe the press corps during a speech in 1970.
I suppose it was Blagojevich’s way of saying he wasn’t pleased that I attended the meeting. Or that he doesn’t care for my work.
Blagojevich is seldom without a bogeyman. When he wanted to take control of the State Board of Education, he called it a “Soviet-style bureaucracy.” When he wanted to generate more money for state coffers by imposing a new tax on businesses last year, he said the businesses weren’t paying their “fair share.” When Rep. John Bradley, D-Marion, refused to support his budget plan in 2004, the governor went on a local radio show and repeatedly called Bradley a “wallflower.”
Blagojevich has often played the role of the schoolyard bully. Just as often, he played the kid who refused to cooperate with a group’s rules, and then threw a fit when the others refused to play by his.
Vilifying adversaries has been integral part of the governor’s approach to governance, as a recent article in the St. Louis Post Dispatch pointed out.
Since early in his first term, when Blagojevich diplomatically set the tone with lawmakers by comparing their spending habits with those of “drunken sailors,” the Democratic governor’s MO has been clear to his fellow politicians.
In one major policy speech after another in the years since, Blagojevich has reliably identified a nemesis to vilify, as a way of building steam for his policy initiatives. Big business, bureaucrats, fellow politicians and his own schools chief have all worn the black hat at various times.
But the strategy arguably has not been effective. The governor simply cannot point to a string of victories following his rhetorical outbursts. Kristin McQueary remarked in the Daily Southtown on the governor’s “weasel” mentality. In a column that ran before his budget address on Wednesday, she predicted:
Blagojevich’s stature among legislators is so amputated, he’ll need an extension ladder to see over the podium. His agenda is dead on arrival unless he dramatically improves his approach.
The governor’s budget address on Wednesday was, remarkably, the most modest and conciliatory speech of his administration. There was no bogeyman. There was no super-charged rhetoric.
Instead, the governor pointed to bipartisan cooperation in Washington and suggested there’s no reason why he and lawmakers can’t work together too. He has this to say about his own position on how best to craft a capital construction plan: “I’m flexible.”
Lawmakers are suspicious of the governor’s new-found sensitivity. I can’t blame them. Any reasonable person must wonder whether the governor’s dramatically changed approach is sincere.
Then again, last year was quantifiably the worst of the governor’s administration. Lawmakers resoundingly rejected his policy agenda, from his universal health care plan to his gross receipts tax. At the same time, his approval rating sank to a low of near 20 percent. A fellow Democrat publicly called him “insane.”
Maybe this year, the governor wants to walk away with something he can call a success.
February 21st, 2008
I am a couple weeks shy of my two-month anniversary here in the state capitol, but it didn’t take more than a few days to figure out one thing.
Whenever there is a major day here in the Legislature, lobbyists and interests groups flood the capitol with people wearing coordinated T-shirts, memorable gimmicks and news releases for the pressroom.
Wednesday was no different, in fact it is probably one of the most important days for lobbyists and legislators alike as the governor sets the year’s legislative agenda through his budget address.
Predictably, the news releases began streaming into the pressroom and into our e-mail inboxes even before the speech began. Of course, it is impossible to put every post-speech response into our stories, but since this blog is more for insiders this is a perfect place for them.
We’ve already given you many of the press releases from our local delegation. Now here some excerpts from a few more:
A statement from Illinois Federation of Teachers‘ President Ed Geppert, Jr.:
“We appreciate Governor Blagojevich’s recognition that preK-12 education needs additional funding and that school construction dollars must be madem available to build an repair schools throughout ILlinois. However, the funding methods listed in the Fiscal Year 2009 budget proposed by the governor today do not appear to be sufficient to address the underlying structural deficit under which our state struggles. …
Today we … urge members of the General Assembly and the governor to pass an income tax proposal that would once and for all fix the education funding problem in Illinois.
We are also concerned about the continued lack of funding for higher eucation. Our colleges and universities are constantly forced to raise tuiion because the level of state funding has decreased over the years. … This downward trend must stop. …”
From the Transportation for Illinois Coalition:
Leaders from the Illinois business, labor, local government and transportation industries today said they were pleased that the Governor proposed a transportation capital investment packagae in his Fiscal Year 2009 budget, but cautioned lawmakers and the public that the size of the capital program being proposed appears to be so modest that, if approved,woul require lawmakers to revisit tranporation funding in just two or three years.
“For years, the members of the Transportation for Illinois Coalition have worked to make ivestment in our transportation infrastructure a priority of state lawmakers and the Governor, and we are encouraged that the issue has risen to a level of prominence,” said Doug Whitley, president of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce and co-chair of the TFIC. “Unfortunately the modest size of this proposal makes it clear that, though some investment will be made, we won’t come close to meeting the needs of the infrastrucutre in any significant way. If a proposal of this modest size is approved thisyear, we will all be bakc in Springfield in two or three years to approvea new funding package that will enable the state to invest adequlately in our transportation infrastructure to ensure our economy is not crippled.” …
From the Illinois Community College System:
A coalition of Illinois community college supporters urged Governor Blagojevich and the Illinois General Assembly to invest in Illinois’ community college system at a morning news conference today at the State Capitol. Representatives included the leadership of the Illinois Community College Trustee Association, the Council of Community College Presidents, the Cook County College Teacher’s Union, and a Student Trustee from a suburban community college.
The Community College Coalition for Funding was formed to advance the cause of Illinois community colleges, which have suffered from declining state revenues.
“We are beginning a campaign to articulate the benefits of a community college education, not just to the students who attend, but to the public who benefit by the educated workforce our colleges produce,” said Kathy Wessel, president of the Illinois Community College Trustees Association and a board member of the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn.
The campaign will kick off with an unveiling of billboards all across Illinois. It will then be followed by promotion of the Community College Impact Study, released in fall 2007, that describes the many economic benefits that Illinois community colleges provide to our state. Finally the campaign will bring its message to the General Assembly for consideration.
“Students are facing a much more difficult time affording the rising cost of tuition,” said Lesliefaye Gogins, student trustee at Prairie State College in Chicago Heights. “Community college tuition has risen by almost 50 percent in the last five years.”
Perry Buckley, president of the Cook County Teachers Union, noted that community colleges enroll the vast majority of minority students in Illinois higher education. “When you make access to higher education more difficult for students in community colleges, you are making it particularly painful to the students who need it most,” he said. …
February 21st, 2008
Sieben’s press release:
SPRINGFIELD – Despite his claims of addressing an economic slowdown, Gov. Rod Blagojevich is calling for a sixth year of increased spending, higher debt and more hits on businesses that employ Illinois citizens, according to Assistant Senate Republican Leader Todd Sieben (R-Geneseo).
Blagojevich outlined his $49.7 billion budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2009 to a joint session of the General Assembly on Feb. 20. Fiscal Year 2009 runs from July 1, 2008, through June 30, 2009.
Sen. Sieben says the Governor’s financial blueprint for the coming fiscal year relies once again on record-high state debt; a record-high backlog of unpaid bills; financial gimmickry such as leasing the state lottery, yet another pension bond sale, more raids from the Road Fund; and continued attacks on business.
“You certainly have to wonder if this Governor ever reads the newspaper or watches the news,” Sieben said. “He seems to be on the same reckless financial course that has left Illinois in such bad economic shape in the first place. Even his fellow constitutional officers have recently issued strong warnings about the need to hold the line on spending. He should not be adding new programs when the state cannot meet its current financial obligations. We should, instead, work within our available resources.”
The 45th District Senator noted that past fiscal policies have resulted in several harsh financial realities:
* Illinois faces a deficit for the current fiscal year, conservatively estimated at $750 million.
* The state has a $1.7 billion backlog of unpaid bills – the highest in state history.
* The state’s Medicaid program requires at least $500 million in new dollars, just to meet existing obligations.
* The state’s unfunded pension liability is among the worst in the nation.
Gov. Blagojevich also continues to target employers and the jobs they provide, and the long-term effects of his policies show in state’s lackluster job growth. Illinois is 45th in the nation in job growth since Gov. Blagojevich took office.
According to federal jobs numbers from December, Illinois has a 2.5 percent job growth rate, while Iowa has a 5.9% rate, followed by Wisconsin at 4.3%, Kentucky at 4%, Missouri at 3.9% and Indiana at 2.8%.
The 45th District Senator says strong job growth – not huge tax increases – is a better way to address budget woes. If Illinois had kept pace with the national average in job growth, it would have more than 213,000 additional jobs today, which would mean more than a half-billion dollars in additional tax revenues.
Sen. Sieben says the Governor’s budget proposal is the first step in a long negotiation process, and he looks forward to working with his fellow lawmakers to craft a fiscal plan that reflects the spending priorities of the citizens who live and work in northwestern Illinois.
