* Add yet another item to the very long list of things that bother me about Gov. Blagojevich. He is so dogmatic and doctrinaire about his aversion to any tax hikes on “people” that he would even veto a bill like this…
Gov. Rod Blagojevich vetoed Senate Bill 831, legislation that would have allowed Will County to hold a referendum on a proposed countywide tax on gasoline.
If the bill had been approved, the county board then would have voted on the idea of staging a referendum. If the board members approved it, the issue would have been placed on a ballot. And if voters backed the proposal, a tax of no more than 4 cents per gallon would be levied on gas sold in Will County. […]
Will County Executive Larry Walsh was disappointed by the veto. “It is grass-roots government at its best — you bring an issue before the voters and let them tell you if they want it or not,” he said.
Look, maybe you disagree with raising taxes. I might even agree with you. But why veto a bill that puts county board members on record and then let’s voters themselves have the final say?
For years, this has been a state that prided itself on (usually) putting partisanship and rigid ideology aside and getting things done. Ideology just wasn’t our thing.
But now we are saddled with a governor who worships at the altar of “no tax hikes on people” to the extreme point where he doesn’t want to even allow those very same “people” to impose the taxes on themselves via a direct, front-door referendum.
* Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson had this insight…
Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson, D-Crete, said the stalemate that has kept lawmakers in town for a record-setting overtime session this year could be broken with a woman’s touch.
“If I was in on those meetings, things would not be going that way. Too much testosterone in there, if you know what I mean,” said Halvorson. “Men don’t want to compromise because they feel then that they lose something, where women want to compromise because that’s a win-win for everybody.”
Um, hmmm. How do I put this as delicately as possible? I’ve, uh, had occasion to argue with women who absolutely didn’t want to compromise, so I’m not so sure of the Leader’s blanket statement.
It’s not a gender thing, necessarily. But I do think that Halvorson, for one, would be a much different governor than Rod Blagojevich… in a good way.
* By the way, Attorney General Lisa Madigan was at Knox College yesterday and held a press conference after delivering the convocation address…
Given the disputes in Springfield, we asked Madigan her opinion on the bill that would give Illinois voters the power to recall statewide elected officials. She says, “I think it’s a fine idea.”
* More testosterone-related (or not) stories, compiled by Paul…
* Speaker Madigan takes his case against the governor’s veto on the road
* Madigan calls for hearings on budget cuts
* Madigan sets budget roadshow
* Hearings set on “savage cuts” in the state budget
* Editorial: Casinos a last resort for capital plan
* Blago to School District: ‘Drop Dead’
* CTA to commuters: Misery is coming