Pressure’s now on Quinn to sign capital plan

May 21st, 2009 at 11:46pm Chuck Sweeny

So, just when everybody thought House Speaker Mike Madigan would be the hold-up to the capital bill, turns out that it’s Gov. Pat Quinn who may be th hold up man. And Madigan’s willingness to essentially run the same bill Senate passed could mean he’s either getting a lot of heat from the construction trades, or that daughter and AG Lisa Madigan is not running for governor, or both. (The latest scenarios have Ms. Madigan running for Senate. I don’t think she will.)

Quinn, in the tried and true tradition of Illinois’ gotcha politics, says lawmakers should pass a budget before he signs the $29 billion capital bill that’s now on his desk.

Quinn wants the legislature to pass a budget that includes a 50 percent increase in the state income tax, from 3 precent to 4.5 percent. This, combined with modest budget cuts and skipping a pension payment, is supposed to fill in the state’s $11.6 billion budget hole.

But senators and representatives don’t want to raise taxes an then go home this summer to confront angry voters at the county fairs, ethnic fests and air shows.

The best of both short term worlds for them would be to meet their constituents at those fairs and tell them, “We passed a capital plan to bring back our economy, and we didn’t raise taxes.”

Quinn wants to force the issue by holding up that capital bill. He warns of a doomsday budget that the General Assembly may pass, which would reduce funding 25 percent for state departments and contracted services.

Probably it would make sense for Quinn to sign the capital plan, let the clock run out on the budget and call a special session very soon. This would require some Republican votes in the House, which is what Democrats want because they don’t want to be the only ones responsible for raising taxes.

Quinn doesn’t like legalized video poker in corner bars and veterans’ clubs, which is supposed to generate from $200 million to $400 million in state taxes  a year, money that would go to capital projects. But there’s already video poker, and everyone who goes to bars knows that those poker machines are played all day long — I don’t think it’s just for the fun of it. Might as well legalize the machines and tax ‘em.

Gambling machines in local bars was something the late Rep. Zeke Giorgi wanted, saying it would help the little guys who owned neighborhood bars.

The pressure’s on Quinn to sign this capital bill, because the longer the state goes without addressing major needs, the worse off we’ll be, because these repair projects don’t get cheaper as the years go by.

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