What’s Mike Madigan Up To?

Add comment April 14th, 2008 12:50pm Aaron Chambers

It’s the greatest of perennial questions at the Illinois Capitol: What’s Mike Madigan Up To?

He is the Capitol sage, a man widely regarded for political acumen but difficult if not impossible to read. So it goes that last week when Madigan antagonized House Republicans, Capitol insiders found themselves again asking themselves and each other this question.

The speaker’s strategy over the last week doesn’t make sense on the surface. It doesn’t seem rational. Here we are, less than two months from the formal May 31 end of session, and Madigan and other state leaders have not even a basic framework for the next state budget. Yet Madigan acts to divide the parties in his own chamber — thereby making the prospect of a budget deal even more elusive.

He is already facing off with Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Senate President Emil Jones Jr., his fellow Chicago Democrats, and now he is poised to fight House Republicans too. Is he yearning for a long, ugly summertime session — just like the one last year, only worse? It’s one thing to relish a good fight. It’s quite another to invite additional opponents into the fight against yourself.

Theories on Madigan’s motives abound among political insiders: Perhaps he is trying to supercharge the Democratic base in advance on the Nov. 4 general election. Perhaps he is trying to whip the House Republicans into line. Perhaps, amid a toxic political climate, he is getting paranoid. (more…)

Sacia Pushes For ‘Humane’ Horse Slaughter

Add comment April 11th, 2008 11:40am Aaron Chambers

Rep. Jim Sacia, R-Pecatonica, has emerged this spring as perhaps the Legislature’s greatest proponent of re-opening a shuttered Illinois horse slaughter facility.

The DeKalb plan, known as Cavel, shut down last year.

The shutdown in September of the DeKalb Cavel plant, the nation’s last horse-slaughtering plant, ended an operation that at one point slaughtered 40,000 to 60,000 horses a year. The horsemeat was sold primarily for human consumption in overseas markets.

A series of lower-court decisions upheld a law signed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich in May that effectively ended the operation by banning the import, export, possession and slaughter of horses for human consumption in Illinois.

Cavel, which is based in Belgium, challenged the Illinois ban on constitutional grounds, claiming the law violated interstate and foreign commerce rules because the meat is shipped overseas. The plant had been in operation for about 20 years and had 60 employees.

The plant reopened for a time during the summer while court challenges were heard, but closed in late September, after the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the Illinois law was similar to state bans on bullfights and cockfights meant to protect animal welfare.

Sacia worked this spring to re-open the facility. He said American farmers were shipping horses to Mexico, where workers brutally euthanize them by stabbing them repeatedly in the spinal cord. Killing a horse with a bolt to the head — the practice employed at Cavel — is far more humane, Sacia said.

(more…)

School District, City Hall Talking About Truancy

Add comment April 10th, 2008 03:33pm Aaron Chambers

The Rockford School District is working with Rockford Mayor Larry Morrissey’s administration on a plan to give the administration unfettered “real time” access to the school district’s truancy data.

The school district and city have for months been at loggerheads over the matter, so the fact that they’re now working together appears to represent significant progress toward a resolution. (more…)

Feeling the Pain At the Post Office

1 comment April 9th, 2008 07:17pm Andrea Zimmermann

It’s 7 p.m., and I just got out of a marathon Senate committee hearing, where several state agencies talked about their budget proposals for next year.

I’ll have more later on the hearing’s juicier details, but a quick tidbit from Comptroller Dan Hynes‘ testimony took me by surprise.

He said his office, which is in charge of paying the state’s bills, expects to pay $1.6 million for postage in the upcoming fiscal year, which runs from July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009. That number shocked me until I got back to the office and saw this:

Starting on May 12 from the U.S. Post Office:

To add to the misery, Hynes said his office’s $800,000 postage budget was eliminated last year when the budget got to the governor’s office. He told the committee that the $1.6 million for postage was, “the lion’s share of the increase” he was seeking for his agency.

Conservative Group Blasts State Lawmakers For Wasteful Spending

Add comment April 9th, 2008 03:30pm Andrea Zimmermann

The Illinois Policy Institute blasted state lawmakers Wednesday for $686 million in “pork” spending, which is money that it says could have been diverted to pay down Illinois’ growing budget deficit.

The conservative organization joined up Wednesday with the equally conservative Citizens Against Government Waste, an anti-pork group in Washington, for the second edition of its, “2008 Illinois Piglet Book.” You can read the entire report here.

Using expampes such as $550,000 for the conservation of pheasants and $4 million for a Ford Technical Training Center in Chicago Heights, Greg Blankenship of the Illinois Policy Institute called the earmarks tucked into last year’s $59 billion budget unnecessary spending for lawmakers’ pet projects. (more…)

House Tussles Over Gun Legislation

Add comment April 9th, 2008 02:33pm Andrea Zimmermann

The House has debated two gun-control bills over the past two days, but both times the measures failed to pass.

Today, Rep. Deborah Graham, D-Chicago, presented a bill that would require adult gun owners who have minors under 18 years of age living in their house to keep their gun in a locked box. Rep. Chuck Jefferson, D-Rockford, is a co-sponsor on this bill.

Since September, 21 students in the Chicago Public Schools have been killed. Twenty of those are by gunfire. Last year, 24 students were shot to death. In previous years, the numbers have been between 10-15.

This legislation was one of many bills the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus is carrying this session, prompted by a rash of gun violence among teens in Chicago. (more…)

3 Area Lawmakers Approve Provision To Recall Elected Officials

Add comment April 9th, 2008 08:43am Andrea Zimmermann

Three of four legislators from the Rock River Valley voted Tuesday for a constitutional amendment to allow voters to recall their elected officials.

In a 75-33 vote, Rep. Chuck Jefferson, D-Rockford, was the lone area lawmaker to vote against the proposal, which still must clear the Senate and the governor. Then the question would be put on the ballot for the voters to decide.

But the obstacles this amendment faces in the Senate cannot be ignored. House sponsor, Rep. Jack Franks, D-Woodstock, has openly said the momentum behind this provision stems from increasing dissatisfaction with Gov. Rod Blagojevich. This wouldn’t be the first time that Senate President Emil Jones, D-Chicago, has protected Blagojevich from legislation like this.

Here’s the background on the recall amendment.

Rep. Dave Winters, R-Shirland, spoke during Tuesday’s debate in favor of a proposed amendment. (more…)

Illinois Wants Country to Use Popular Vote to Elect President

3 comments April 8th, 2008 06:42pm Andrea Zimmermann

If I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard Democrats wistfully say, “If only we elected the president by the popular vote in 2000,” I could live a very comfortable life.

Well, Illinois this week joined Maryland and New Jersey in the push to choose the U.S. president by popular vote. Currently, the electoral college elects the president. The law, which was sponsored by freshman Rep. LaShawn Ford, D-Chicago, is modeled after the National Popular Vote Plan.

“I think the days of the electoral college is way past its time,” Sen. Terry Link, D-Waukegan.

In 2000, Vice President Al Gore beat President George W. Bush for the nation’s popular vote by 543,895, but lost the electoral college vote 261-277. Critics use this case, and the three other times the president-elect did not win the popular vote, as evidence that the electoral college system does not work.

Over the years, lawmakers, media and other institutions have argued to abolish the electoral college altogether. Others, such as the Cato Institute, have defended the electoral college, saying to eliminate this would go against the will of the founding fathers and the spirit of the Constitution. (more…)

Senate GOP: Stop Berating Business

Add comment April 8th, 2008 03:57pm Aaron Chambers

Rockford Sen. Dave Syverson, Clare Sen. Brad Burzynski and other Senate Republicans last week unveiled a seven-point economic stimulus plan.

Let’s look at those points, one at a time. First up: The Senate Republicans say Gov. Rod Blagojevich must not “demonize” businesses. From their report:

Businesses not only provide jobs for our
citizens, they also pay the tax revenues
that fund our state budget and allow us to
implement our priorities. Since taking office,
the Governor and his administration have
repeatedly portrayed the business community
as a group of “fat cats” to be taxed and
demeaned, rather than entrepreneurs who
provide our economy with needed jobs, taxes
and investment. (more…)

Fear and Loathing in Alabama Politics?

Add comment April 7th, 2008 01:33pm Andrea Zimmermann

For all the complaining about the Illinois Legislature, a New York Times piece published over the weekend proved that we aren’t as bad off as some.

There is fear in the halls of the Alabama State House. Your colleague may be wired. Somebody may be watching you. An indictment looms.

After a dozen legislators received subpoenas one day last month in a criminal investigation, an atmosphere of paranoia and anxiety has descended on the gleaming white building that houses the State Legislature, many of its occupants say.

Legislators are sweeping their offices for bugs. Routine horse-trading for votes is stymied, for fear it could be misinterpreted. A wary lawmaker agrees to meet a reporter only in a wide-open parking lot. After-hours get-togethers are off.

The concern is a result of a long-running federal investigation into corruption within the state’s system of two-year colleges that has led to guilty pleas on bribery and corruption charges by one state lawmaker and the system’s former chancellor. The Birmingham News reported in 2006 that a quarter of the 140 members of the Legislature had financial ties to the college system, with most of the jobs or contracts going to lawmakers or their relatives. Recent reports indicate the number has grown to nearly a third of the Legislature.

Illinois has had its share of corrupt politicians. Just take a look at this book on our governors. And we can’t forget the late Secretary of State Paul Powell, whose corruption was not fully uncovered until after his death in 1970. And how could I fail to mention the sharks that seem to be circling around the current administration? There are more, but I’m trying to be brief here.

Sometimes living in a state with the infamous Chicago political machine and never-ending political antics makes us forget that we aren’t alone in this.