* Former Gov. Jim Thompson was in Rockford yesterday and discussed the obvious…
“The current situation in Springfield is one of the most distressing I’ve ever seen. Certainly what I hear on the streets from Democrats and Republicans alike is that there’s plenty of blame to go around,” Thompson said. “There’s an inability to agree on most challenging problems. We haven’t had a construction program since Gov. George Ryan,” he added.
“There’s failure to agree on how to finance a program, failure of Democratic legislators to trust the governor to fairly appropriate money for programs; that’s something I’ve not seen before,” he said.
By way of contrast, Thompson, a moderate Republican and Chicagoan who worked with mostly Democratic majorities in one or both houses of the General Assembly, said he got everything he wanted from lawmakers “except a World’s Fair. I wanted to have a 1992 World’s Fair in Chicago, and they said no.”
* But, of course, Thompson shares some of this blame. He co-chaired Blagojevich’s transition team in 2002-2003, his law firm has made hundreds of thousands of dollars off the governor during the ongoing federal investigations, he helped create even more controversy this year when he agreed to negotiate on the governor’s behalf for a state buyout of Wrigley Field, and he recently defended Blagojevich’s radical amendatory vetoes…
Former Republican Gov. Jim Thompson said he used the amendatory veto to try to improve bills. Lawmakers are the check on that executive power because they can reject changes they don’t like.
“He’s not out of bounds,” Thompson said of Blagojevich.
That’s right. Throw even more gasoline on the fire.
Amazing.
* Covering politics has been fun until this year. No more. Our miserable political situation is producing miserable “real world” results…
The unemployment rate in the Chicago metropolitan area jumped to 7.5 percent in July from 5.4 percent a year earlier, and the area lost 2,700 jobs, the Illinois Department of Employment Security reported Thursday.
The higher rate followed a report last week that the state’s unemployment rate in July rose to 7.3 percent from 5.1 percent.
All 12 metropolitan areas in the state reported unemployment rate increases. The highest rate of joblessness was reported in Rockford, where the rate hit 9 percent, up from 6.1 percent. That was followed by Kankakee-Bradley, where the rate jumped to 8.6 percent from 6.2 percent; and Danville, where the rate was 8.6 percent, up from 6.8 percent.
Notice that Rockford number? Nine percent. Wow.
A capital bill would help, of course. But, as Thompson noted above, there’s a “failure of Democratic legislators to trust the governor to fairly appropriate money for programs.” He isn’t making things better with his enabling schtick.
I agree that Thompson was a very successful governor. I’ve always admired the man. But perhaps Big Jim could offer some advice to his client beyond the legal stuff. At the very least, he should stop encouraging RRB to pick fights with the General Assembly over this “Rewrite to Do Right” campaign.
Stop making things worse, dude.
Please?
…Adding… This David Ormsby post sums up just about everything…
On August 19, Governor Rod Blagojevich signed into law Senate Bill 2857 the 2009 Hospital Assessment which, once approved by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, will bring $777 million in federal matching funds to Illinois.
“Healthcare is a top priority in Illinois. This bill facilitates that process, secures the matching federal dollars and gets the money where it needs to go to ensure everyone gets the quality healthcare they deserve,” said Governor Blagojevich.
On July 9, Governor Blagojevich vetoed $55 million from the state substance abuse treatment budget, and – guess what – that veto will send $55 million of federal matching funds–health care money back to the federal government.
Yep. Health care is a top priority. Except when it is not.
- You Go Boy - Friday, Aug 22, 08 @ 9:59 am:
Early on I liked Thompson, but as time went on, he showed his true colors, which is that of a Fat Cat. Antiquing and bringing in huge bucks for dubious enterprises has become his brand. Big Jim is for the Big Guys, and screw the little people. I hope his subordinates (which I’m sure he considers The Universe) at his law firm nail him somehow for his expensive defense of Ryan…of course, and as typical, it was other peoples money. He’s earned the downgrading of his reputation through the years.
- Ghost - Friday, Aug 22, 08 @ 10:04 am:
Of note, the unemployment rates have been increasing sinc the Gov began a process of eliminating State Jobs. All the proponents of the capital plan keep discussing the induced job benefits. Apparently this may refelct the reverse, we are sseing the effects of not only those former State employees losing jobs, but the loss of the induced jobs they were supporting with their income.
A Capital plan provides a few temp jobs and some temp boosts to the economy, which then go away. Instead of trying to create temp construction jobs to get a temp increase in employement the government should perhaps consider restoring the jhobs that have disappeared. DOC is short of correctional officers; DNR is short of everything; ISP is short of troopers; DFPR is donw on auditors and inspectors; DCFS is way down on investigators; The AG is apparently about to layoff staff in proportion to her 25% cut, and the other consitutional officers are looking to lay off workers as well.
It seems backwards to eliminate long term employment positions from the State while cheering on a surge of temp jobs that cover up the problem. Instead of dumping money into a capital program to fix unemployment lets put real solutions in place, keep exisiting positions and restore the empty ones back to the State. These provide long term ecnomic employment and real indicuded jobs that do not evaporate when the construction project is done.
We need a plan to provide real long terms jobs not just an aritifical boost for a couple of years.
- Cassandra - Friday, Aug 22, 08 @ 10:05 am:
I am not an admirer of Thompson, but his take on the lack of trust issue certainly reflects what I have been thinking for a long time. As a middle class taxpayer trying to live reasonably well in a tough economic period, I pay a lot of attention to how my tax money is being spent. And while I doubt that the guv is personally corrupt , I do believe that under the current Democratic leadership, Illinois is for sale, meaning that campaign contributions and political influence buy lucrative state contracts and lifetime sinecures in state bureaucracies. This means that I am paying more for state services than I would need to be paying if such (legal) corruption did not exist. So every time Blago and the Dems propose awarding themselves a huge chunk of money (like the capital bill) I believe I will be paying an unacceptably high corruption tax. In this economic environment, that is an unacceptable price.
- Ghost - Friday, Aug 22, 08 @ 10:07 am:
I should add, they actual authority to block the closing of the prison makes Blago decision to ignore the advice about traffic safety more of a bad move since he needs to have their support to close the prison. And deciding to just ignore a decision is not going to win him friends on the prison deicsion.
- Ghost - Friday, Aug 22, 08 @ 10:08 am:
andd I posted that in the wrong thread /sigh
- Plutocrat03 - Friday, Aug 22, 08 @ 10:10 am:
Big Jim has always been addicted to the ‘deal’.
Stopping the clock during the debate about building a new stadium for the White Sox was just one example of pushing the limits while his deal got done.
The bigger issue is that those leading this state have been burdening the taxpayers with more and more layers of inefficiency and costs related to feeding their campaign ambitions.
There has been an increase in revenue available to the state each and every year for as long as I can remember , but that is never enough for the politicians. The game has been to raise some sort of innocuous tax and turn that revenue into cash by issuing bonds. That money is then spent on the special interests who leave a few crumbs for the taxpayer. Unfortunately there are no more easy taxes to raise.
The right thing to do is to streamline government and run it like a business, but the special interests will never let that happen.
- Six Degrees of Separation - Friday, Aug 22, 08 @ 10:10 am:
High unemployment is not uncommon in the Rockford metro area. Checking BLS’s site, it hit 12.1 in Feb 1992, hit in the 8’s and 9’s dozens of times from 1990 til now, and has been bouncing between 5.8 and 8.6 during the last year.
- Six Degrees of Separation - Friday, Aug 22, 08 @ 10:15 am:
A Capital plan provides a few temp jobs and some temp boosts to the economy, which then go away.
The right kind of Capital plan invests in infrastructure to keep it a valuable asset to the people, and upgrades infrastructure to attract new business and promote a more skilled and intelligent workforce. Done right, it would be more than a temporary boost that “goes away”, but part of a long-term investment in the state.
- Six Degrees of Separation - Friday, Aug 22, 08 @ 10:17 am:
Stopping the clock during the debate about building a new stadium for the White Sox was just one example of pushing the limits while his deal got done.
But then Rich would have been faced with the dilemma of either rooting for the Cubs, or becoming a Tampa Bay Devil Rays fan:-)
- Anonymous45 - Friday, Aug 22, 08 @ 10:18 am:
Big Jim complaining about the situation in Springfield really irks me…he endorsed Blago big time the first time around and his firm gave Ryan pro bono representation and then groused when he was convicted and had to serve the time he was sentenced to…crying in his lobster bisque I’d say…
- Heartless Libertarian - Friday, Aug 22, 08 @ 10:18 am:
The governor isn’t concerned about unemployment. It used to be, whether republican or democrat, you wanted people working. Now it seems that Blagojevich would rather have people in HIS welfare programs, like Allkids, than working. So he cuts jobs at the DNR, cuts the SOS, cuts prisons, cuts drug programs. But you know what never gets cut? His big government welfare programs. Oh the children, give it a freakin’ rest.
- wordslinger - Friday, Aug 22, 08 @ 10:20 am:
Big Jim misses the limelight. It seems to me that he’s sought out more opportunities to appear before the cameras and microphones since the 9/11 Commission.
Winston and Strawn did clip his wings over the Ryan thing. Crain’s had a report at the time that many of the partners did not know the Ryan defense was pro bono.
- Captain America - Friday, Aug 22, 08 @ 10:21 am:
The sug=btance abuse veto and associated forfeiture of $55 million in federal matching funds is another calssic example of politically schizophrenic behavior by our chief executive. As Casey Stengel inquired about the Mets:Can’t anybody play this game”/govern???
- Captain America - Friday, Aug 22, 08 @ 10:23 am:
Make that “substance abuse” and “classic example”
- Jimmy87 - Friday, Aug 22, 08 @ 10:26 am:
I’ve always found it a bit ironic that the Illinois Constitution contains a “separation of powers clause,” yet the Governor seems to have great latitude to change legislation.
At the federal level, where the theory of separation of powers is nothing more than a doctrine (it is absent in the U.S. Constitution), the federal courts have been reluctant to allow the President to alter substantive legislation. In fact, the President does not even have the authority to line-item veto.
The federal courts reasoning is very clear cut - Congress makes the laws, and the President enforces the laws. Altering of the law by the executive branch is seen as meddling in the affairs of the legislative branch and is usually ruled unconstitutional.
I think that if Illinois does decide to have a CON-CON that this issue should be up for debate. Either we do away the expressly written separation of powers clause currently found in the Illinois Constitution or we keep it and do away with the Governor’s seemingly broad AV authority. Having it both ways will only continue the confusion and headaches for the judicial branch.
- Northside Bunker - Friday, Aug 22, 08 @ 10:31 am:
Big Jim just threw Old Rod under the bus!
- Rich Miller - Friday, Aug 22, 08 @ 10:32 am:
Rough morning, Ghost?
LOL.
I can relate. I did the same exact thing yesterday, I think. Or maybe it was two days ago.
- Anon - Friday, Aug 22, 08 @ 10:42 am:
Big Jim oughtta know all about how far you can stretch the gov’s amendatory veto authority. Back in 1981, the IL supreme court ruled that corporations could use the so-called “unitary” method of computing their taxable income. In 1982, the legislature passed a bill by huge majorities in both houses that said, “No, they can’t.” Thompson amendatorily vetoed the bill to not only say, “Yes, they can,” but to add a couple hundred words of language saying exactly when unitary reporting was appropriate. Dawn Clark Netsch threw a fit in the floor debates on the veto acceptance motion, calling Thompson’s actions a “usurpation” of the legislative power, but it didn’t do any good. The veto was accepted by huge majorities, and the transcript of her rant says the governor’s actions were a “user patient”.
- DuPage Dave - Friday, Aug 22, 08 @ 10:52 am:
Six Degrees - The Tampa threat was always a hustle. Reinsdorf has admitted that he never intended to move the team. He hasn’t admitted, but I suspect, that Thompson new it was a hustle and went along for the ride.
- Capitol View - Friday, Aug 22, 08 @ 11:02 am:
don’t count those Medicaid Assessment dollars just yet — it takes a federal waiver, and last time it took House Speaker Hastert working with Dick Durbin and others to get it approved by the Bush Administration. Its approval may have to be delayed until the Obama Administration gets in - no more Hastert on the federal scene. Impact on Illinois govt., if and when approved: FY 10 at the earliest.
- wordslinger - Friday, Aug 22, 08 @ 11:09 am:
I saw Hastert on CNBC yesterday and he looked like he had lost a hundred pounds. When did that happen? He was still huge when he was doing the Capital Bill tour, wasn’t he?
- VanillaMan - Friday, Aug 22, 08 @ 11:19 am:
Times have changed, but Illinois government hasn’t. Thompson was governor back when Carter was president. Illinois was beginning to shed industrial age jobs and a millions folks drove an Oldsmobile Cultass. Bill Gates worked out of his garage and usually forgot to bathe.
Democrats ran Chicago like a corrupted Politburo and Illinois Republicans thought Thompson should run for president in 1980 continuing a line of national Republican leaders similar to Rockefeller, Nixon, Ford and John Anderson; progressive moderates finetuning socialist government programs.
So listening to Thompson tell us how to run Illinois is like listening to a Studebaker mechanic tell us how to fix our Prius. Sure there are some remaining similarities between Illinois in 1978 and 2008, but times have changed.
But Illinois government has not. If you wish to take a partisan route and hoist the flag for your particular group of crooks and liars, our current circumstances will give you plenty of opportunities to point out how your guys could save our scalps. But if you want to take a breather from these kinds of endless arguments, you might want to consider addressing our governmental problems at a higher level: We need a Constitutional Convention.
Illinois has had new constitutions created when they discover that the previous one no longer reflected Illinois modern life. Today we have progressed from our constitution and need to reevaluate take appropriate action. This is a normal procedure and should not be considered any riskier than before. As citizens of Illinois, it is our civic duty to do so. We may not get another golden opportunity like this in our lifetime.
Two of the last three Democratic governors have ended up in jail, and Blagojevich look like another candidate for pin-stripes. The GOP ran Illinois until they died in 2002. Today the Democrats run Illinois and we are worse off than before.
Time to scrap politics and do our constitutional duty. Time to stop playing games every two years, hoping for a miracle. 2008 is upon us at last, and we finally have our chance to lead. We can enhance our state constitution to reflect 21st Century life in Illinois. Our Illinois ancestors will be proud.
- Ghost - Friday, Aug 22, 08 @ 11:22 am:
I need to stop trying to multi-task before I drink my coffee.
- Levois - Friday, Aug 22, 08 @ 3:37 pm:
Is there a fraternal atmosphere amongst former governors where they may not criticize the actions of a sitting governor? Could that be what Thompson is doing?
- David - Friday, Aug 22, 08 @ 6:13 pm:
Rich - You continue to say that you admire Thompson. I cannot imagine why you would. He didn’t accomplish much, and his constant defense of Illinois government sleazeballs is extremely distressing.
- Frank Booth - Friday, Aug 22, 08 @ 9:30 pm:
Wordslinger, he’s been thin for quite some time now.
Whenever he appears, people whisper — he’s lost so much weight, is he sick?
but when he was a fat tub o’ lard no one ever said: Gee, Denny’s huge, that can’t be good for him, he should lose some weight.
Fat hides wrinkles. The coach is an old man. Now it shows.
- Anonymous - Saturday, Aug 23, 08 @ 9:39 am:
Using the state employee’s pension fund (which comes out of our paychecks) to fund the state’s most expensive programs: education, healthcare and public safety instead of raising the income tax and sales tax started with Governor Thompson. Ryan and Blagoyevich added the cost of the early retirement buyouts to the pension fund. I don’t think we need a new constitution. We need a governor who follows the rule of law.
- Anonymous - Saturday, Aug 23, 08 @ 12:56 pm:
Blaming former Gov. Thompson for today’s political and financial problems are absord! How many year have past since Thompson has been governor? How many terms has there been since Thompson was in the Governor’s Mansion. This is Rod’s watch.