Back in 1966, with the Vietnam War
escalating by the day, Vermont Senator George Aiken famously said that the
United States should just "declare victory and go home."
History may have repeated itself last
week when the two men assigned by Gov. Rod Blagojevich to forge a compromise on
a multibillion dollar capital construction plan unveiled a $31 billion proposal
for roads, bridges, schools and mass transit and then quickly left town. Their
war was unwinnable.
Word spread earlier in the month that
former US House Speaker Denny Hastert and SIU President Glenn Poshard had
finally realized that bringing the legislative leaders and the governor
together on a massive capital projects plan would be a lot more difficult that
either had expected.
Their moment of clarity reportedly
came after a meeting with House Speaker Michael Madigan. The speaker has been dragging his feet
on a capital plan for the past year while his aides point to the Republicans as
the real problem. The House Democrats say the Republicans are only claiming to
support it, but most likely won't vote for the proposed funding mechanisms of
expanded gambling and a sale of the state Lottery.
On the other hand, many Republicans,
and a whole lot of others, believe Madigan doesn't want to give his mortal
enemy the governor any big victories, perhaps in order to help his daughter
Lisa's eventual gubernatorial campaign.
Whatever the case, it's no secret
that the Statehouse is a complete mess. The endless bickering shows little sign
of ever receding. Apparently, Hastert and Poshard finally realized how poisoned
the atmosphere truly was, decided to hang up a "Mission Accomplished"
banner behind them and then beat a hasty retreat.
The plan they unveiled would put some
restrictions on how the capital money is spent by the Blagojevich
administration. Both Poshard and Hastert acknowledged the reality that the
governor has a serious "trust" problem with the General Assembly. His word is simply not believed.
The revenues raised from selling the
Lottery, building a new Chicago casino and from other sources would be placed
in a "lock box" which couldn't be easily raided by the governor for
unrelated purposes. As you may already know, the governor has made a habit of
raiding special state funds to keep his budget balanced.
The governor would also have to agree
to sign "Memoranda of Understanding" pledging to distribute the cash
on an equitable basis. Blagojevich has been forced to do this on several
previous budgets. But MoU's are just pieces of paper, and quite a few
legislators believe those MoU's wouldn't be worth the paper they'd be written
on.
Quite a few legislators have had
experiences with this governor putting pressure on them to vote a certain way.
Relatives have been fired or demoted, projects have been canceled, budget items
have not been funded. They understandably don't want to constantly put
themselves in a position of political weakness in order to get much-needed projects
approved for their districts.
The House Democrats weren't the only
legislators who were not completely impressed with the Hastert/Poshard plan.
Last Tuesday, a group of House
Republicans held a Statehouse news conference to insist that Illinois motorists
receive a summertime reprieve from the state's gasoline sales tax. The
Republican press conference was followed by a long "debate" on the
House floor as Republicans sought to pressure the Democrats to allow their bill
out of committee to suspend part of the tax through the summer driving season.
Trouble is, the Hastert-Poshard
compromise, unveiled later that very day, would use some of those very same
"excess" gasoline sales tax revenues to fund the construction
program. Oops.
Just about everybody who drives, has
a kid in school or takes mass transit understands our state's dire need for
infrastructure repair. We're supposed to be a top-tiered state, yet we've
allowed everything to fall apart. It's truly disgraceful. And then there's the
deteriorating economy. The Hastert/Poshard capital plan would supposedly create
about a half million desperately needed jobs and sustain close to 200,000
current jobs.
I wish I could tell you that the
governor will somehow magically change his ways. Barring that, I wish I could
tell you that the members will decide that even if they don't trust the
governor to equitably distribute the projects they'll vote for a new capital
plan anyway.
But I'd be lying if I did that.
Rich Miller also publishes Capitol
Fax, a daily political newsletter, and thecapitolfaxblog.com.