Inane Editorial of the Day
And it’s not even by Dold. The Sun-Times blasts Madigan for not sitting down with the Governor:
We know Blagojevich isn’t the best partner. His penchant for demonizing, his bad habit of circumventing the legislative process, his unyielding thirst for a splashy headline have endeared few.
But Blagojevich is reaching out to Madigan and has been doing so for at least the last two months.
Yeah, reaching out like
* If you want to know how the rest of the year is going to go, just check out this Gov. Blagojevich quote that John Patterson pulled from yesterday’s press conference…
“I think there’s great cause to be concerned. If Speaker Madigan and the House leadership pick up a veto-proof majority … then they’ll be in a position to easily override a veto.”
As Patterson notes, “That sounds an awful lot like the Democratic governor is urging voters to shun Democrats this fall so his intraparty rival – Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan — doesn’t get any stronger.”
The governor’s obvious intent was to shift the blame for these and other impending cuts to Madigan, which Madigan doesn’t appear too concerned about. It’s unlikely they’ll be coming back to Springfield to take any action, Madigan’s lieutenants told the media.
* The Governor is continuing to gear up his PR blitz on the disastrous impact of budget cuts:
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration is escalating its public-relations blitz for more state budget money, pressing legislators directly and through the media to approve $1.5 billion in new revenue sources –- and warning that everything from Amtrak riders to AIDS patients will suffer debilitating budget cuts if they don’t.
“The House . . . (should) come back and finish what they started,’’ Deputy Gov. Bob Greenlee said today in a conference call with the Post-Dispatch editorial page. It was one of several such meetings administration officials are conducting this week around the state with newspapers, social agency heads and lawmakers themselves, in an attempt to pressure the Legislature into providing more money to the budget.
In newspaper meetings, and in an unusual mass conference call with lawmakers yesterday, Greenlee pressed House Dems to rethink their opposition to those revenue sources.
* Nobody wants to talk to the press, but they’re still ginning up the hatred. Check out a couple of photos from yesterday’s protest rally. Gee, I wonder who might’ve sponsored these guys?…
* Somebody finally notices, but he buries it way down so nobody else will likely notice…
With all of the budget folderol from last week, it’s worth remembering that back in May, the House passed another budget that didn’t increase spending nearly as much as the one that landed on Blagojevich’s desk. However, it was never called for a vote in the Senate, so that was that.
Basically, this budget mess didn’t have to be this way.
Blagojevich has demonstrated time and time again he cannot be trusted. He has tried to dismantle JCAR, he tried to implement health care expansion without legislative approval, and he specific to the capital bill, he has routinely targeted House member initiatives as pork while leaving Republican House and Senate Democratic initiatives in place.
Madigan allowing Curry to represent him is probably the best thing he can do. It keeps the personalities at bay in the room and allows them get down to business. I have plenty of complaints about Mike Madigan, but blaming him for Rod Blagojevich isn’t one of those complaints.
And via Rich:
Hynes in the Galesburg Register Mail
While Gov. Rod Blagojevich has come under fire for seemingly not wanting to work with the Legislature, Hynes admitted that the budget passed by the House, which was $2 billion out of balance, put the governor on the hot seat. He maintained, however, that Blagojevich has brought on many of the problems through his own actions.
“I do think the governor wasn’t given very many attractive options,” Hynes said during a visit with a reporter and three members of the editorial board of The Register-Mail. “But, this whole environment was created by him. They’re trying to make him look bad, he’s trying to make them look bad. Unfortunately, the victims are innocent.
“The cuts that he made, they are deep and they are harmful. I think he was making a point” that these weren’t going to be minor changes, Hynes said. As a result, he said, many people depending on social services are left without the help they need.
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“To just basically say, ‘We’re going to have this massive gambling expansion in the city of Chicago’ without discussing it with the mayor … I think he (Blagojevich) has made missteps,” Hynes said.
He said the problems run deep. Of the Legislature, he said, “They just do not trust this governor. I think they have reason not to trust him. I don’t trust him, but you have to get past that.”
He said the General Assembly could build in safeguards, as well as checks and balances, if that mistrust is the reason for the failure to approve a capital spending bill.
“Distrust can’t be used as an excuse,” he said.
The problem with this is that the Governor has refused to accept those institutions we have to overcome distrust. JCAR is a perfect example. It’s designed to allow the Executive to make rules while giving the Legislature some power if he goes too far. What happened to that institution? The Governor insists it’s unconstitutional after expanding it. The Governor has systematically undermined the institutions of state government and now people are trying to blame Madigan for that. That’s rich. The funny thing is that many of Madigan’s members are more angry than Madigan himself.