G-Rod

Fine Moments in Illinois Governance

 Apparently the Governor is coming up with a transit funding plan

As Fritchey previously said:

Take the mass transit funding issue for example. A number of legislators (myself included), unions, transportation advocates and interest groups have supported SB572 as a prudent means of not only avoiding a transit funding crisis, but of providing reform and accountability for years to come. In fact, it’s safe to say that it is the only substantive proposal with any tangible support on the table.

The Governor’s response? “I’ll veto it.” His alternative that he wanted to have a special session about? Um, none.

Let me sum up this fairly simply

IT’S FUCKING SEPTEMBER, WHERE THE FUCK WAS THE PLAN IN MAY? 

More on Hanania

Hanania at it again:

The point is Blagojevich HAS THE RIGHT to everything he has done, calling special sessions, introducting legislation. ANYONE can introduce legislation through a specific process, not just legislators.

Except appropriating money without the General Assembly approving the appropriation which is what he says he’s doing right now.

 From the Illinois Constitution

SECTION 2. STATE FINANCE
(a)  The Governor shall prepare and submit to the General
Assembly, at a time prescribed by law, a State budget for the
ensuing fiscal year. The budget shall set forth the estimated
balance of funds available for appropriation at the beginning
of the fiscal year, the estimated receipts, and a plan for
expenditures and obligations during the fiscal year of every
department, authority, public corporation and quasi-public
corporation of the State, every State college and university,
and every other public agency created by the State, but not
of units of local government or school districts. The budget
shall also set forth the indebtedness and contingent
liabilities of the State and such other information as may be
required by law. Proposed expenditures shall not exceed funds
estimated to be available for the fiscal year as shown in the
budget.
(b)  The General Assembly by law shall make
appropriations for all expenditures of public funds by the
State. Appropriations for a fiscal year shall not exceed
funds estimated by the General Assembly to be available
during that year.

In fact, only legislators can introduce legislation.  The Governor can propose a budget, but that isn’t given an up or down vote if the General Assembly does not want to–and in fact, he is one of the few Governor’s to get an up or down vote without many amendments. 107-0 Against.  Much of the rank and file hated the plan more than the Leaders.  Emil didn’t have the votes even if he wanted to pass the GRT.

The legislative power is vested in a General Assembly
consisting of a Senate and a House of Representatives,
elected by the electors from 59 Legislative Districts and 118
Representative Districts.

We do not have initiatives in this state except for advisory initiatives and Constitutional Amendments to change the structure of the government. The Illinois Constitution is one of the most limited Constitutions in terms of direct democracy. Seeing other states and how the initiative process has become a tool of moneyed interests often, that isn’t a bad thing.
What the Governor also claims the ability to do is change administrative rules without JCAR approval.  He has some latitude with that, but it’s limited and certainly not to appropriate money that was not appropriated by the General Assembly.   With JCAR approval, Blagojevich could increase eligibility, but that does not increase the amount of money appropriated and the state would run out of money to fund the program for the full year if JCAR approved. If JCAR doesn’t approve, he has very limited ability to make any changes to rules.  Furthermore, he is not going to get JCAR approval and without that, he may not change the administrative rules related to eligibility as he is trying to do. The Illinois Administrative Procedures Act is far more restrictive on rulemaking than most states and certainly the federal government.
Appropriations can only be made by the General Assembly.  Vetoing an appropriation does not mean the spending authority still exists for the Governor–the appropriation cannot be spent by anyone barring a veto override and then, and only then, can it be spent on what it was appropriated for.  Moving money from a Member Initiative to a health care program is unconstitutional and an impeachable offense.  This is no joke–it’s exactly why we created impeachment in the first place.

===As for Madigan taking at shot at Blagojevich, he didn’t really support Blagojevich’s re-election as enthusiastically as he has supported other candidates and we all know that. He gave Blagojevich a rough time, so you know exactly what I was referring too. But you can ignore the facts of Madigan’s laying back.

Laying back is a lot different than trying to take him out. Madigan didn’t. Unfortunately.  You said he failed–he didn’t try. He just didn’t work that hard and frankly, he didn’t need to. Emil spent all of his time on getting a supermajority and did very, very little for the Governor.

===And even if Blagojevich did not articulate a program during an election, he articulated his mission and agenda in specific and broad strokes and people voted for him because they trust his judgment and instincts and his commitment to doing what’s right. So when he does unveil a new program after an election, at least he’s not like most other politicians who promise not to increase major taxes before an electiona nd then turns around and does it with ghusto.

The man has a  22 percent approval rating. He makes Shrub look popular in Illinois.  He won because he killed Judy Baar Topinka in May and she was such a bad candidate, she couldn’t exploit his weaknesses.

A key platform of his was that he wasn’t going to raise the income or the sales tax. Technically true, but the GRT has many of the features of a sales tax.  And it is more unpopular than a sales tax–probably wrongly, but it is as of now.  I’ve seen the polling data on trust, and he doesn’t have it with the people of Illinois.  Worse, he is falling back on that promise to not raise taxes to stop a deal on CTA which would include a regional sales tax–but he won’t offer any alternative funding mechanisms.  CTA is on the brink and everyone can agree, but one guy.
===By the way, I didn’t compare Blagojevich to Washington. I compared the battle led by Madigan against Blagojevich to the battle led by super sleaze dcarksider Ed Vrdolyak against Washington. Don’t change comments.

First, the entire point of Vrdolyak’s fight was to destroy a Black Mayor and had little to do with programs. Second, if the Governor had proposed the current health care deal in May, the Speaker was willing to agree to it.  The Governor went for all or nothing with the GRT until it was clear he wasn’t getting it and then he came up with a plan to change administrative rules that will effectively bankrupt the state health care programs before the end of next fiscal year.
Again, I liked the Governor’s plan, I just think he ought to follow the Constitution to get there. It was a mistake to go for all or nothing in one year.  It’s a typical mistake of this Governor though and his arrogance and intransigence stops real progress on these issues. If he were to have made a grand deal for property tax relief for suburbanites, dealt with CTA, and then traded that for universal health care the next year with at least a GRT on services, I bet a deal would have been made.  He couldn’t wait and the introduction of the GRT was not adequate–the interest groups swarmed it stopping it from becoming viable this year with virtually no plan to defend it.  If he had gone and worked with the Leaders before he introduced the plan, he could have created a working relationship, but he didn’t. He decided to attack, attack, attack.

Daily Dolt: Ray Haninia: Rod Blagojevich is No Harold Washington

Ray Hanania might want to read the Illinois Constitution:


They pushed Blagojevich into a corner. He was elected by Illinois voters to lead this state, twice, and yet Daley, Madigan and even Quinn think that they, not the voters, should decide what’s good for the state.

Blagojevich has certainly made his mistakes. His relationship with the humiliated sweetheart deal contractor Tony Rezko, remains. But outside of that, Blagojevich has shown that he can make the right decisions that are in the best interests of the state. And sometimes that means cutting pork barrel spending driven by clout rather than need.

For too long, Madigan has run the state, not for the benefit of the state’s residents but for his own benefit. Political. Personal.

Madigan is the Speaker of the House. He is not the governor. Madigan has limits on his power but wants to extend those limits and make the office of governor irrelevant. But the reality is that he is NOT the governor and he should let the governor do his job.

Madigan had a shot at ousting Blagojevich in the last election. He took it and he lost. He may have risen in the ranks fo the Democratic party over the past 25 years, but the reality is Madigan often elevates himself above not just the interests of the state but above the interests of the Democratic Party.

What Madigan is doing is no different than what disgraced and now indicted sleazy former Chicago Alderman Edward R. Vyrdolyak did when Harold Washington was elected mayor of Chicago back in 1983.

Now, many of Blagojevich’s critics are not terribly sympathetic themselves, but they do have the Constitution behind their positions.  The people are sovereign in the United States and that sovereignty is represented by the General Assembly that passes laws and appropriates money. The  Governor’s job is to execute the law and spend the appropriations according to law.  Suggesting that the Governor has more moral authority to be the representative of the people is an incredibly silly argument.  The Governor’s job when it comes to legislation is implementing or vetoing the legislation, but he doesn’t get to pass it.  In fact, he is very limited in his veto power because he can be overridden by the General Assembly.

The Governor cannot remove the General Assembly nor any individual members.  The Governor cannot set rules for the General Assembly.  The General Assembly can legislate control over the Executive Branch.

Madigan is elected by the voters.  As are the other members of the Legislature, few of whom are happy with Blagojevich and not because of some desire to give Mike Madigan more power.  The Governor is not elected to legislate, he’s elected to run the executive branch according to the law of the state–the law the legislature passes.

Reallocating Money Vetos?

Blagojevich keeps saying he’ll do it, but it’s clearly unconstitutional.

Blagojevich said he would use some of the nearly $500 million in initiatives he called pork that he cut from the state budget to pay for the program. Teresa Kurtenbach, spokeswoman for the Department of Heatlhcare and Family Services, said the state would use “available revenues” to pay for the plan.

Now, Kurtenbach might be talking about something else, but if the Governor is accurate, he cannot do it. Period.  Appropriation of money has to come from the General Assembly.

The most likely scenario appears to be expanding eligibility and then letting the spending bankrupt the program, or perhaps just pile up IOUs to take care of next budget cycle. Neither is acceptable.  At best it’s a game of legislative chicken. The most bizarre thing is that if the Governor had asked for this in his budget, he could have gotten it in May.

Additionally, we don’t know if this has to go through JCAR–if it does, it’s dead.

Less Popular than George Bush

From Rasmussen for Fox Chicago 

1* How do you rate the way that George W. Bush is performing his roll as President?  Excellent, good, fair, or poor?

            15% Excellent

            17% Good

            14% Fair

            53% Poor

            1% Not Sure

2* How do you rate the way that Rod Blagojevich is performing his roll as Governor?  Excellent, good, fair, or poor?

            5% Excellent

            17% Good

            25% Fair

            53% Poor

            1% Not Sure

Rod Blagojevich has a lower popularity than the folks who formed the core of Alan Keyes support–the same who like Bush.  Think about that for a moment.

A note to Mark Kirk from the poll:

5* When it comes to the War in Iraq, should the United States withdraw all combat troops immediately, bring the combat troops home within a year, or stay until the mission is completed?

            26% Withdraw Immediately

            38% Bring Troops Home Within a Year

            29% Stay Until Mission Complete

            7% Not Sure

The war is only supported by a small group of Bush dead enders. You are about to be a former Member of Congress.

To the Hillary contingent at the State Fair–give it up:

6* Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton both claim to come from Illinois. Which candidate better represents the state of Illinois?

            61% Obama

            14% Clinton

            25% Not Sure

And finally, what I’d really like to see is a poll that measures whether Blagojevich is seen as a Democrat or his own brand. From the following statistic, it appears he has successfully flamed out on his own without dragging the party down despite the bleating of the ICFST.

11* Who is most to blame for the government’s budget stalemate—Governor Rod Blagojevich, the state legislature, special interest groups, or voters?

            53% Blagojevich

            19% State Legislature

            20% Special Interest Groups

            2% Voters

            7% Not Sure

Spinning Out of Control

Governor sues Madigan 

SPRINGFIELD – Gov. Rod Blagojevich has sued House Speaker Michael Madigan for allegedly concocting a scheme to let lawmakers ignore the governor’s frequent calls for special legislative sessions. In the lawsuit, Blagojevich accused Madigan of acts “aimed at eradicating the governor’s constitutional and statutory powers.”

He is asking a judge to order Madigan to hold special sessions at times and dates of the governor’s choosing.

Blagojevich did not sue Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago), his chief legislative ally, even though few senators have shown up for the same weekend sessions. 

The Governor has pulled off something impressive; making Mike Madigan look sympathetic.

From the Illinois Constitution:

(b)  The Governor may convene the General Assembly or the
Senate alone in special session by a proclamation stating the
purpose of the session; and only business encompassed by such
purpose, together with any impeachments or confirmation of
appointments shall be transacted. Special sessions of the
General Assembly may also be convened by joint proclamation
of the presiding officers of both houses, issued as provided
by law.

So, when the Governor didn’t offer up any actual legislation to consider, the Lege Members has literally nothing to do unless they wanted to sit around and shoot the shit about the subject.

There is no indication that the Governor gets to set the session time nor any redress if they session is gaveled in/gaveled out.  The Governor is a part of the Executive Branch and while he can order a session, he cannot control the session.  That is the purview of the Legislative branch. There is no language to indicate he can set the time nor compel attendance.

While it’s very unclear to me, the Legislative Immunity clause may apply here:

SECTION 12. LEGISLATIVE IMMUNITY
Except in cases of treason, felony or breach of peace, a
member shall be privileged from arrest going to, during, and
returning from sessions of the General Assembly. A member
shall not be held to answer before any other tribunal for any
speech or debate, written or oral, in either house. These
immunities shall apply to committee and legislative
commission proceedings.

Regardless, the Governor can call a session, but he cannot run the session as he sees fit.

It Only Takes 2 on JCAR

The Blagojevich folks think they can get a few of the proposals around JCAR–I don’t buy that, but that’s for the courts to decide. However, on a couple issues everyone is in agreement that JCAR must sign off on the rule changes. For Blagojevich to get the rules changes he needs 5 votes in his favor–meaning out of six Democrats, 2 defecting Democrats can stop the rules. Unless there is a Republican vote to pick up, and that seems highly unlikely.
I’ll go out on a limb and say Fritchey is going to say no–and good for him.

House Republicans

Hassert Romeoville–strong Cross ally
Leitch–Peoria

Mulligan–Des Plaines

The only way Hassert switches is if Cross got behind some sort of deal, but that deal would have been made previously.  Not now.  Mulligan is slightly vulnerable as she is in the Northwest suburbs and in theory it could be an issue against her assuming she’s challenged by a Democrat this cycle.  The problem–running with Blagojevich in the Northwest suburbs would be an act of political suicide for any challenger. The one advantage good Democratic Lege candidates have is that they can run against the Governor since he’s essentially his own brand separate from the Democrats.

Senate Republicans
Burzynski–Sycamore

Hultgren–Wheaton

Rutherford–Pontiac

Uhhh…no.  Rutherford will vote against the rules with a smile. He might even break into talking about himself in the third person again as he did when Blagojevich campaigned against him on an early budget vote in Pontiac.  The others would have no rational electoral reason to defect from Watson.

Senate Democrats

Crotty–Oak Forest

Clayborne–East Saint Louis

Silverstein–Chicago

I’d imagine Crotty and Silverstein go with Emil on this.  Clayborne may pull out the institutionalist card and vote against the rules if he’s offended by the method.

House Democrats

Fritchey–Chicago  Uh…no.
Holbrook–Belleville
Miller–Dolton

Miller expresses reservations in the Post-Dispatch.  He doesn’t have any real threats so backing Madigan with a no would not be a problem for him.

Holbrook made his play blocking a budget bill at the end of May with other downstate Members to argue for electric rate relief first.  The only other thing I know about him is he has a decent environmental record.  Unless he is especially close with Jay Hoffman I wouldn’t see him backing the new rules.

Meaning the Governor has to sweep the Democratic Senators and take two House members or Mulligan.  The Governor will have no electoral power over those he’s trying to persuade.  Fritchey and him already don’t get along.  Clayborne, Miller, and Holbrook are all relatively safe seats.  Mulligan is a House Republican and only Madigan has anything to do with any decision to target her or not.

I don’t see how he gets five votes in his favor.  Six are guaranteed against him.  Of the other six, only two have to be against the rules and one is already signaling that is his attention and another is a Republican.

Stupid or Insane

Krol has a very good update on what the Governor’s people are saying:

I just spoke to a Blagojevich aide who told me the plan is to take the $500 million vetoed out of the budget and spend it on health care. I questioned the constitutionality of that — it would seem once the line items are vetoed out, the spending authority goes away — but was told that the administration says that’s the plan. The spending authority is still there and the money is in the general revenue fund, the administration argues. Time to crack open the Illinois Blue Book and read the Illinois Constitution for the fourth time today.

I’m online and I can do the searches a bit easier in this case and let me say, bullshit.  They either are stupid or insane to believe such a thing.  This isn’t even a question a court would consider seriously.  I have no idea what the Administration is thinking, but at least the JCAR line was plausible, though I still think, but losing strategy as well. This is just making up crap and hoping it sticks to something.  Imagine the fun Jim Thompson could have had with this kind of authority.
Rich is, of course, tracking most of the reactions–forgot to link as I started to fire off missives.

Agency Reorganization Will Not Produce the Money

Fritchey jumps in with some ways that the Governor might try and pull this off:

First, while the Governor clearly has the authority to line item veto spending measures, I do not believe that he has the authority to reappropriate those funds elsewhere..

And I’m not picking on the Representative here, but this is a common problem with people’s understanding of the State and the National Constitution. The Legislature is given the power to appropriate money no ifs, ands, or buts. Sometimes the Lege will give the executive some room in how to appropriate money, but the money is always appropriated from a legislative source. Delegating that authority for very practical reasons does not change that fact.

One way that I think that he might try to do this (and I’m simply thinking out loud here, sort of) is via an agency reorganization. This would be an extraordinarily convoluted means of attempting to reach his goal, and I’m not sure that it would work in any event, but I just can’t think of another means by which he could do it. (Another reason that this wouldn’t make sense is that, if I am interpreting this section correctly, the House could nullify the Executive Order with a simple majority.)

And here, Fritchey is right. Except he’s not confident enough to say, it just ain’t gonna work.

SECTION 11. GOVERNOR – AGENCY REORGANIZATION
The Governor, by Executive Order, may reassign functions
among or reorganize executive agencies which are directly
responsible to him. If such a reassignment or reorganization
would contravene a statute, the Executive Order shall be
delivered to the General Assembly. If the General Assembly is
in annual session and if the Executive Order is delivered on
or before April 1, the General Assembly shall consider the
Executive Order at that annual session. If the General
Assembly is not in annual session or if the Executive Order
is delivered after April 1, the General Assembly shall
consider the Executive Order at its next annual session, in
which case the Executive Order shall be deemed to have been
delivered on the first day of that annual session. Such an
Executive Order shall not become effective if, within 60
calendar days after its delivery to the General Assembly,
either house disapproves the Executive Order by the record
vote of a majority of the members elected. An Executive Order
not so disapproved shall become effective by its terms but
not less than 60 calendar days after its delivery to the
General Assembly.
(Source: Illinois Constitution.)

Blagojevich can move money around the same agency and such, but any move he makes is restricted by the Illinois Constitution and the Illinois Administrative Procedures Act.

This is a bluff and it should be called. It’s an incredibly bad precedent and cannot stand.