Burzynski Steps Away From NIU Rebuilding Plan, Updated X10

March 3rd, 2008 at 12:15pm Aaron Chambers

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.”

Entry Filed under: Robert Pritchard, Brad Burzynski, Rod Blagojevich, Illinois politics