* Yesterday, I told you that the comptroller’s office was claiming that the governor had not followed through on his September pledge to provide a temporary bailout to the RTA/CTA. An initial $37 million was paid, but the rest was not distributed, according to the comptroller. RTA Chairman Jim Reilly also said that all the promised cash hadn’t been received.
The revelation was important because the governor is planning to announce the details of yet another temporary transit bailout today. The CTA’s “doomsday” is Sunday, and the RTA/CTA say they don’t want another temporary fix, which the governor derided yesterday as ridiculous.
The governor’s PR staff worked overtime yesterday to convince other reporters not to write about the alleged failure to disburse the original temporary bailout money. I also received this e-mail last night from one of the governor’s spokespersons…
The funding is being disbursed according to the agreement the Dept. of Transportation signed with the RTA: $37 million was immediately released in September when the agreement was reached. We agreed to release an additional $18 million a month in October, November and December. Last week we forwarded the Comptroller’s office the paperwork they need to get the October payment process started. The $18 million November payment will be vouchered to the Comptroller tomorrow.
The comptroller’s office’s specific response to the Blagojevich administration statement that the paperwork was sent last week is unprintable, but it started with a “Bull” and ended with a “t.” And it wasn’t “bullet.” Please, no guesses in comments.
Take a gander at this link. It’s IDOT’s contract obligation document to fund the temporary bailout announced in September. Scroll down and look at two things…
1) It wasn’t signed by IDOT’s bureau of accounting and auditing until Monday, October 29th. That’s this week.
2) It was received by the comptroller’s office yesterday. I’m told it was hand-delivered after I wrote about the snafu on the blog yesterday.
So, the paperwork wasn’t sent to the Comptroller “last week.” It was sent yesterday. And not all the paperwork has been sent. As of yet, no payment voucher has been submitted by the governor’s office, according to the comptroller. No voucher equals no payment.
As long as there’s no voucher, I stand by the story.
*** UPDATE *** The payment vouchers for the October and November temporary bailout payments were hand delivered to the comptroller’s office shortly after this post was put online. So, apparently, the only way that the RTA is gonna keep getting its money is if I bug the governor’s office every month. (Just kidding… kinda)
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* Meanwhile, as I told you yesterday, Downstate Senate Democrats said they couldn’t support a transit bailout until a capital projects bill is approved…
Long-standing rifts between Chicago lawmakers and their downstate brethren were on full display in the Illinois Statehouse Thursday.
As Chicago officials scrambled to put together a plan to bail out their financially strapped mass transit systems before a Sunday deadline, lawmakers from the midsection of the state complained that they also need money for road, bridge and school construction projects in their districts.
Some of the rhetoric was way overheated…
“Why should I help out Chicago when they haven’t helped out my area for the last umpteen years?” added Republican state Rep. Bill Mitchell of Forsyth.
Rep. Mitchell, who has received thousands of dollars from Ameren and its affiliated companies over the years, was bailed out of a big mess by Chicago legislators this year when they helped Downstaters roll back the company’s exhorbitant rate increases. Rep. Mitchell’s rhetoric is not exactly helpful, or true.
* More transit stories….
* Editorial: Day of reckoning in legislature for politicians, state
* Lawmakers debate another short term CTA bailout
* Blagojevich floats new temporary fix
* Transit funds eyed warily
* Last minute save for public transportation?
* Commuters brace for possible Pace cuts
* Blagojevich: Money is there to avoid transit meltdown