Tries to blame Madigan for the budget cuts to DNR:
In one respect we can’t fault Blagojevich for doing what the Legislature didn’t, which was to craft a solvent spending plan. Illinois is bound by its constitution to pass a balanced budget. The one that landed on the governor’s desk was an indefensible $2 billion in the red. House Speaker Michael Madigan pretty much punted, then practically dared the guv, his political rival, to do the hard work for him. That Blagojevich did.
This is simply bogus. How I ended up defending Mike Madigan on a consistent basis demonstrates how screwed up Springfield has become, but Madigan was willing to talk about tax increases instead of one time revenue fixes that this Governor has consistently used to pretend the budget was balanced.
Some of the funds sweeps are probably reasonable if they are truly overfunded, but that isn’t the debate we are having on that issue. Blagojevich wants to go to one-half billion dollars from those funds, Madigan wants to only allow $300 million. Without lengthy audits, prudent fiscal policy means you don’t take more than you know is excess. The lottery lease would require a lease floor of $10 billion, but might not even bring in that, while Blagojevich is suggesting it could take in $12 to $14 billion for an 80% lease instead of a 100% lease he suggested in previous years.
As others have pointed out, Madigan argues for hiring a management team instead of selling the lottery thus keeping control of the asset. If the lottery is that underperforming, than why shouldn’t the state benefit from those improvements.
Blagojevich wants another round of restructuring the State’s pension funds…something at the center of the corruption investigations.
Blagojevich is trying to mortgage the future of the state to claim it’s balanced now with bogus revenue projections. Madigan, for all of his faults, is the guy stopping that.