March at Cap Fax

Here is March:

March 21-27: The big political story that was buzzing about the capitol this week was the selection of a Democratic lieutenant governor candidate. Friday was a very interesting day for me. I interviewed/filmed Rep. Jay Hoffman, who is a member of the Democratic State Central Committee, Reps. Karen Yarbrough and Will Davis, who are members/leaders in the Congressional Black Caucus, and Rep. Art Turner, the runner-up in the primary. I also caught on tape part of Rep. Bill Black giving a speech in support of Art Turner, which received a standing ovation. The most intense story this week though was the General Assembly passing sweeping pension reform to three parts of the state pension system in just one day. From the first amendment introducing it to the House Executive Committee in the morning until its final passage at night in the State Senate, I covered and watched one of the quickest and largest legislative actions the General Assembly has ever done.

March 14-20: I covered a Senate committee hearing on Monday that really was entertaining. Sen. Dan Duffy had for quite a while ranted about red-light cameras, a means of enforcing traffic violations by using cameras to catch people who blow red lights. Duffy said he had been given two tickets when all he did was roll some right-hand turns by “a few inches.” Well, Senate President John Cullerton was able to FOIA video of Sen. Duffy’s red-light violations and showed them in committee, and Duffy barely slowed down on those turns. It was extremely embarrassing for a guy that has been campaigning against the cameras. After the hearing I joined the press pool asking Cullerton questions, and when asked at the end about the Thomson prison issue, he just ran away. The next big thing that happened in the week was Quinn, Madigan and Cullerton speaking to the IBEW, Illinois’ union of electrical workers, on St. Patrick’s Day. Madigan rarely gives speeches, so it was quite a treat. Afterwards I covered Quinn answering questions. Perhaps one of the more intriguing parts of the week though is when a bill came up in the Senate to require children under 18 to wear helmets while riding on motorcycles. It normally would seem like a non-controversial safety measure. Yet it was voted down 19-32. I learned the power of lobbies that day. The lobby of motorcycle riders crosses all demographics—age, race, class, everything. They are literally the most powerful lobby in the state, and even though Sen. Trotter has been introducing this bill year after year, it continually fails because of the power of that lobby.

March 7-13: Governor Quinn’s budget address was this week. His plan revolved mostly around cuts to state police, human services, local government, and education, but that cut to education would be filled if the General Assembly passed a “1% surcharge for education.” The plan is to put the cuts on classrooms and teachers so as to get families and school districts mad enough at their legislators to pass a tax increase. I learned that the power does not lie with Quinn, but with Madigan. As soon as the presser was over and Speaker Madigan was in an interview, we learned that the tax increase would not be happening. Rich actually introduced me to Madigan just before his interview, which was exciting. Later on in the day I covered Brady’s response to the budget address, where he railed on the Governor’s proposed cuts. Later in the week, the General Assembly passed the bill to move the primary date back to March. The February 2 primary date is at least part of the reason why our nominees for Governor ended up being Pat Quinn and Bill Brady. Other than that, there was some speculation about the Lieutenant Governor decision that was yet to be made. Sheila Simon’s name was floated, though Mayor Daley came out in support of Art Turner saying that the second place winner should get to replace Scott Lee Cohen.

February 28-March 6: Because of Bill Brady’s plan to do 10% across-the-board budget cuts, the Senate Democrats decided to ask state agencies this week what would happen if their budget was cut 10%. Interim University of Illinois President Stanley Ikenberry and SIU President Glenn Poshard testified in front of the Senate Appropriations II Committee about the effects it would have on both schools. Perhaps what was more shocking to me was the fact that the University of Illinois had only received 18% of its fiscal year appropriation to date, despite being months away from the end of the year. Afterwards, I interviewed Appropriations II Chairman John Sullivan and asked what the Senate was planning to do to give the Universities its money, and he gave vague generalities at first. I followed up on the question asking for specifics, and he said borrowing was an option. It was pretty shocking to me how all these legislators talk about how much they care about higher education yet they just allow the universities to languish without the required state funding.