March 3rd, 2008
Sen. Brad Burzynski, R-Clare, said Monday that he doesn’t think NIU’s plan to replace Cole Hall, where a gunman recently killed five students plus himself, is going anywhere.
“Demolition is going to be taken off the table, and what I think is going to occur now is there is going to be discussion on campus of if there is good use for the building, what it should be and those kinds of things,” Burzynski said.
Our below post on this topic was getting far too long, but if want some more background on this rapidly evolving story please go here.
Burzynski said he was surprised by some elements of the $40 million plan to replace Cole Hall. After the excitement died down, Burzynski said he realized selling $40 million in bonds would not be fiscally prudent.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich, together with NIU President John Peters, announced the plan at NIU last Wednesday. Burzynski and Rep. Robert Pritchard, R-Sycamore, stood with them.
“Everyone got caught up in the governor’s announcement and willingness to try to help the university,” Burzynski said.Pritchard on Monday stood by his earlier position to help the university with its most pressing need – additional classrooms. He said solving the need for more classrooms may evolve as the NIU community and the Legislature continues to discuss the future of Cole Hall.
“We may come up with a plan that may look a little different than it is today,” Pritchard said.
Pritchard stopped short of concurring with Burzynski’s harsh assessment, saying it was not clear to him whether the $40 million rebuilding plan would get anywhere.
“Any legislation has to go through a process of input from both citizens and legislators, and as more people have time to weigh in on that decision, it is always typical that things could change,” he said.
UPDATE 1 — by AC
NIU officials today did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
March 3rd, 2008
Sen. Brad Burzynski, R-Clare, stood beside Gov. Rod Blagojevich last week when the governor announced a plan to demolish NIU’s Cole Hall, where a gunman in February killed five people and himself, and replace it with another facility.
Blagojevich, together with NIU President John Peters, called on lawmakers to immediately find $40 million for the project. Burzynski expressed support for the plan and said he would work with the governor to shepherd the plan through the Legislature.
But Burzynski is now distancing himself from the plan. Here is a letter he wrote to constituents:
Thank you for writing to express your concerns relative to the NIU tragedy and the Governor’s response regarding a new building. As you can imagine, those most closely associated with this tragedy have been through a tremendous amount of emotional and physical stress.
After the Governor’s announcement on Wednesday, my phones and email have been quite busy! Now that the Governor has gotten his “press pop,” we have already begun re-evaluating what needs to be done to accommodate the students on campus, not what needs to be done to accommodate the Governor.
During the next few weeks, I believe you will see a concerted effort by all facets of the university community and the Legislature to determine what immediate needs are necessary to accommodate the space required for displaced students. Discussion about demolishing Cole Hall will cease, but the building will remain closed at this time; a decision, by the way, that I agree with, at least in the short term.
In closing, please remember these have been emotional times on campus and in our community. It is now time for us to take a step back, re-evaluate recent actions and announcements made by the Governor, and then move forward.
Best wishes,
State Senator J. Bradley Burzynski, 35th District
Assistant Republican Senate Leader
1101 DeKalb Ave., Sycamore, IL 60178
UPDATED X1 — by A.Z.
A few hours before Burzynski took the stage with Blagojevich last Wednesday to announce the rebuilding plans he spoke with me about the few details he knew.
At the time, he said he believed razing Cole Hall was the right thing to do. Rep. Robert Pritchard, R-Sycamore, also supported the plan:
Burzynski said the money to pay off the loan would probably come from the state’s general fund, but because the legislation is not drafted yet details are still unclear. The general fund is the state’s central account for operating expenses.
“I’m confident we will be able to find a revenue stream to pay for these particular bonds,” said Burzynski, R-Clare.
And if he can’t find the money in the state’s coffers?
“We will cross that bridge when we get there,” he said.
Pritchard, R-Sycamore, said he doesn’t believe the logjam in Springfield will be a problem.
“We can’t allow government just to shut down because of personalities or lack of leadership or whatever other adjectives you want to say,” Pritchard said. “We have to address the needs of the citizens of Illinois.”
UPDATE 2
Just this morning, the governor’s office insisted it was working with Buryznski and Pritchard to craft the governor’s plan. When I e-mailed the governor’s office asking when they planned to produce the actual legislation necessary to implement the plan, Blagojevich spokeswoman Rebecca Rausch responded:
We are working with Rep. Pritchard and Sen. Burzynski to finalize the language before introducing it probably later this week.
I subsequently asked the governor’s office to respond to Burzynski’s letter, noting that Burzynski all but accused the governor of exploiting the NIU tragedy for political gain. The governor’s office has not responded.
UPDATE 3
Over the weeked, the AP published a story that foreshadowed Burzynski and Pritchard’s changed view of the governor’s rebuilding plan. The story included this:
Two lawmakers who represent DeKalb, where NIU is located, said they’re open to replacing Cole Hall, though they’re not backing any particular proposal.
“Nothing has been introduced yet,” Sen. Brad Burzynski said. “What that will entail at this point in time will probably not be what the governor envisioned.”
Rep. Robert Pritchard said he has received calls from alumni, students and community members.
“People think the governor reacted too quickly and that he’s calling for a solution that hasn’t thoroughly been discussed so that people can understand it … to see if the solution matches the need,” he said.
UPDATE 4
We should note that NIU President Peters has gone out of his way to say that he — and not the governor — took the initiative to develop the rebuilding the plan.
The fact is that Blagojevich is horribly unpopular with many legislators, maybe the vast majority of them, and NIU may have doomed this initiative by making — or allowing the governor to make — Blagojevich its public face. Lawmakers don’t trust him and they’re suspicious of his motives.
When Blagojevich joined Peters at NIU last Wednesday to make the announcement, more than a few folks around the Capitol wondered whether Blagojevich was seizing an opportunity to deflect attention from the corruption trial of his pal Rezko.
As I said above, Peters has gone out of his way to say that he — and not the governor — is driving this plan. But like I also said, Blagojevich has precious little credibility.
UPDATE 5
Blagojevich spokeswoman Rebecca Rausch just responded to Burzynski’s letter with this one-sentence statement:
We stand by President Peters and the NIU community and will continue to
support their decisions on how best to move forward.
It is not clear from that statement whether Blagojevich is still pursuing the $40 million rebuilding plan.
UPDATE 6
Speaking of politicking on public tragedy, Blagojevich apparently will try today to correct his blooper at the Pilgrim Baptist Church in Chicago.
After the historic church was gutted by a fire in 2006, Blagojevich swooped in and promised the church $1 million. Only, as the Sun-Times reported this morning, the church never got the money.
Blagojevich made his election-year commitment to the ”rebuilding of the Pilgrim Baptist Church” by stressing the money would have to go toward fixing a destroyed, adjoining church building that housed offices and classroom space but wasn’t used for religious services.
But in March 2007, that money instead went to a private school that leased space from Pilgrim Baptist but has no other church affiliation. No state money has come to rebuild the charred administrative and school building, as Blagojevich promised, prompting church leaders and at least one state lawmaker to question whether Blagojevich had lived up to his word.
The governor’s office just notified the media that the governor will appear at the church today at 2 p.m. for “an announcement.”
UPDATE 7 — by A.Z.
Before Wednesday’s news conference, Burzynski also told me this:
“I think that that (finding the money to pay for the proposal) certainly will be a concern of some legislators. I think, from my standpoint, this is the right thing to do. The decision has been made to raze Cole Hall and to move forward. … I think we will be able to pass this out of the Senate with no problem.”
After the news hit the fan, so to speak, we corralled our other local legislators and asked their opinions on the proposal. As a whole, they disagreed with the proposal and their reactions were par with much of the General Assembly.
By Thursday afternoon, I caught up with Burzynski in the Senate chamber, and asked him about the overwhelmingly negative reactions from his colleagues.
His optimistic tune was not quite as cheery as it was on Wednesday. He said his main focus right now was on helping NIU deal with its classroom space issues in the interim.
“I think what we really need to do is focus on the fact that that hall cannot be used really for the rest of this year and the rest of next year. So what are we going to do in the meantime? We are going to have to be able to look and make sure the students are getting the educational opportunity they need in the facilities that are left on campus. That’s the real issue for me is to how we move that ball forward.”
So would you be willing to consider re-opening Cole Hall, I asked.
“Well, perhaps not as a classroom, but if there was some other activity that could be conducted in that facility. And that’s something that we will be looking at. … People agree that they really don’t think that Cole Hall is a suitable building, at this point, to put kids in,” Burzynski said.
UPDATE 8
Back to the Pilgrim Baptist Church ordeal, Blagojevich this afternoon issued this news release:
Gov. Blagojevich provides $1 million grant agreement to Pilgrim Baptist Church to help rebuild
Governor straightens out bureaucratic mix-up
CHICAGO – In response to reports that $1 million in funds intended to help rebuild the historic Pilgrim Baptist Church did not meet that purpose, Governor Rod R. Blagojevich today announced plans to fulfill the 2006 commitment. The Governor was joined by Deacon Robert Vaughn and other leaders from Pilgrim Baptist in signing a grant agreement that solidifies the commitment.
The Governor is designating $1 million in available capital funds that are intended for the development and improvement of educational and human service facilities. The church operates a food pantry, senior citizen programs, after-school programs for teens and other non-religious service programs that qualify.
“There was never any doubt in my mind that the Governor was fully committed to our church and our community,” said Robert H. Vaughn, Chairman of the Pilgrim Baptist Church Board of Trustees. “I and all the members of my congregation deeply appreciate the Governor’s help in restoring our administrative facilities so that we can again provide vital services to the Bronzeville community and beyond.”
The Church burned down on January 6, 2006, destroying everything inside, including rows of murals by William E. Scott and priceless records of black history in Chicago. Pilgrim Baptist Church, designed in the late 1800s by the famous architectural firm headed by Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler, had been in the midst of a renovation project when it burned down. It is considered to be the birthplace of gospel music and a spiritual backbone for Chicago.
Blagojevich and his people truly refuse to concede error — i.e. accept responsibility for failure — on any point.
Rather than directly acknowledge that his administration dropped the ball by failing to get the $1 million to the church, as the governor said he would, he points to a “bureaucratic mix-up” and news “reports.”
Amazing.
UPDATE 9
More on the Pilgrim Baptist Church funding blooper: Blagojevich reportedly acknowledged this afternoon that the $1 million intended for the church went to the “wrong place.”
The AP reports:
Governor Rod Blagojevich is giving $1 million to the historic Pilgrim Baptist Church in Chicago because the initial $1 million grant he pledged to the burned out church mistakenly went somewhere else.
Blagojevich says the first $1 million went to a preschool that had been using space at the church before it was destroyed in a 2006 fire.
He says that money went to ”the wrong place.”
Does that count as conceding error? It’s close.
UPDATE 10
At least one lawmaker is alarmed by the parallel between the administration’s botched attempt to help Pilgrim Baptist Church and the governor’s plan to send $40 million in state money to NIU:
(Blagojevich spokeswoman Abby) Ottenhoff said there are ”plenty of cases where the governor has said he wanted to provide money to address a certain problem that he’s encountered along the way and we’ve done so.”
One example she cited was the controversial $3 million commitment he made to a campaign donor to help build a minor-league baseball stadium in Downstate Marion.
But Sen. Christine Radogno (R-Lemont) said the promises made to Pilgrim Baptist Church are characteristic of Blagojevich and ought to give pause to those at NIU wanting state money to raze Cole Hall.
”In both instances, the governor took a tragedy and just came in and attempted to portray himself as the rescuer. The guy is a complete opportunist,” she said.
”He has absolutely no shame about using any kind of difficult situation or tragedy to make himself look good.”
March 3rd, 2008
State and local governments routinely borrow money to support long-term infrastructure programs. They borrow by selling bonds — notes purchased by lenders, guaranteeing them a fixed interest rate on their investment.
But do governments pay more than they should interest to secure such loans? This story, by the New York Times, says that maybe they do. Taxpayers, of course, get the bill.
The Times reports:
A complex system of credit ratings and insurance policies that Wall Street uses to set prices for municipal bonds makes borrowing needlessly expensive for many localities, some officials say. States and cities have begun to fight back, saying they can no longer afford the status quo given the slackening economy and recent market turmoil.
Municipal bonds, often considered among the safest investments, sank along with stocks last week, darkening the already grim mood in the markets. Several big hedge funds unloaded bonds as banks further tightened credit to contain the damage from mounting losses on home mortgages and other loans.
States and cities rarely dishonor their debts. The bonds they sell to investors are generally tax-free and much safer than those issued by corporations. But some officials complain that ratings firms assign municipal borrowers low credit scores compared with corporations. Taxpayers ultimately pay the price, the officials say, in the form of higher fees and interest costs on public debt.
This is just one more point to watch when Illinois finally gets around to approving a long-awaited capital construction plan. The state has not implemented a major capital plan since 1999, the first year of former Gov. George Ryan’s administration. There is much talk about approving another capital plan this year, just as there has been each year since Rod Blagojevich became governor in 2003.
There’s also the obscure but potentially significant matter of reinsurance associated with government bonds — an issue that’s driving up the cost of borrowing.
The state has also inflated its costs just by waiting so long to implement another infrastructure plan. The longer the state waits, the more expensive construction becomes. A road or bridge in a greater state of disrepair obviously costs more to fix. Plus, inflation each year drives up the cost of labor and materials.
March 3rd, 2008
Illinois has heard about “Public Official A” since 2005, the third year of Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration.
Back then, the mystery official popped up in plea agreements filed by political insiders who pleaded guilty as part of an alleged kickback scheme. One of those insiders pleading guilty said he heard from another insider, Stuart Levine, that Public Official A was steering state business to firms willing to make political contributions.
Only, Public Official A’s identity wasn’t such a mystery. Media outlets immediately speculated that the unnamed official was none other than Blagojevich, who had won election on a promise to clean up government.
The governor retorted that the allegations pointing at him were “hearsay upon hearsay upon hearsay by someone who pled guilty to extortion.”
“No one who is associated with me operates that way,” Blagojevich said at the time. “We do things legally, we do things ethically and we do things right.”
But the indictments and guilty pleas continued as part of the growing federal probe which, increasingly, appeared to focus on activity in the governor’s inner circle. Public Official A kept popping up in documents filed by prosecutors, and Blagojevich kept denying it was him.
Last Monday, a federal judge provided a bit of closure when she said Public Official A, or at least the Public Official A referenced in the case of Blagojevich pal Tony Rezko, is in fact Blagojevich. In an order describing evidence the feds intend to offer during Rezko’s trial, which begins today, U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve substituted Blagojevich’s name where prosecutors had used Public Official A.
It’s now unambiguous, among other allegations, that prosecutors contend Blagojevich’s campaign fund stood to benefit from kickbacks Rezko and Levine allegedly tried to extort from firms seeking business with the state.
Blagojevich’s new strategy is the same as the old strategy, with a twist. He still refuses to acknowledge that he is a central character in the federal probe. Only now, he’s acting like he has no idea what anybody is talking about when they ask about his place in the investigation.
“My reaction is it doesn’t matter what letter of the alphabet it is, what was described there doesn’t describe me or how I do things,” he said while touring the state this week.
“I don’t know much about it,” he said.
He added, “That’s a court case and a judicial proceeding that I’m not involved in. I don’t really know much about what’s happening with that particular court case.”
As Southtown Star columnist Phil Kadner observed, Blagojevich, like now-imprisoned George Ryan before him, is just the latest governor “who didn’t know nuttin’”:
The governor contends that he didn’t know anything. He claims that he has nothing to fear from either the Rezko trial or federal investigators.
Like Ryan, he does not comprehend that even without a trial, he stands guilty in the court of public opinion.
Citizens and jurors don’t buy the “I don’t know nuttin’ ” defense.
Blagojevich surrounded himself with people who were willing to trade on his name and, in the process, sell out the state of Illinois.
The word got out to businessmen and elected officials alike that if they wanted something done under the table, there were ways to cut deals with this administration.
Blagojevich, like Ryan, would have people believe that he couldn’t possibly know this was happening and was powerless to stop it.
Rezko’s trial begins Monday. Beyond Levine, the government’s key witness, the feds have indicated they plan to lead to the witness stand a parade of officials who traveled in Blagojevich’s inner circle.
Rezko also ingratiated himself to U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, raising money for the rising political star and entering into a kinky land deal that arguably helped Obama and his wife buy their mansion on Chicago South Side. Now that Obama is Democratic frontrunner in the race for president, the national media will be following Rezko’s trial closely.
But as the Tribune noted it its Sunday coverage:
Obama, however, is expected to be a footnote in the trial, Blagojevich and his administration will be a central focus.
Indeed. The feds have indicated they intend to lead a parade of former Blagojevich insiders to the witness stand, beginning with the former director of his campaign fund.
We likely will hear a lot more about how Blagojevich allegedly did business in the weeks to come. We’ll probably also hear the governor tell us just how little he knows.
UPDATE 1
The Sun-Times adds that Blagojevich’s early promises to clean up government now “ring hollow”:
As Rezko’s trial plays out and Blagojevich’s legal problems possibly deepen, he very well could carry the air of a lame duck unable to advance even the most basic things in Springfield, including a budget.
While Blagojevich continues to struggle, Illinoisans can look back to a legacy that was supposed to be different — that of a governor who promised to “change business as usual” as successor to the corrupt George Ryan.
“The people of Illinois expect a new day of integrity, of openness and accountability,” Blagojevich told Illinoisans barely a week into his first term, “and they deserve a government as good and honest as they are.”
The Rezko trial could end up showing how Blagojevich allowed that promise to go unfulfilled.
UPDATE 2
Here’s an update from the AP on jury selection at Rezko’s trial.
