After weeks of dropping hints to the contrary, Gov. Rod Blagojevich Tuesday said he would not agree to any expansion of gambling in Illinois and slammed lawmakers for pushing more gaming to finance a “spending spree.”
Blagojevich’s declaration promptly threw the spring legislative session into an uproar, with majority Democrats furious at the governor from their own party. They complained of being led by the governor to believe he would support their efforts to raise revenue for the cash-starved state with proposals to increase sharply the scope of legal gambling.
“There’s no doubt, in my estimation, that the governor is trying to come out of this whole thing wearing the white hat and we’re wearing the black hats,” said Sen. Denny Jacobs (D-East Moline), the architect of one gambling proposal. “He’s creating a real tiff between the legislature and himself.”
Helping fuel the belief among many lawmakers that they had been double-crossed was the involvement of Blagojevich’s casino point person, south suburban roofing executive Christopher Kelly, in leading some negotiations on gambling-expansion legislation, said several sources close to the talks. Kelly was Blagojevich’s chief campaign fundraiser.
A Blagojevich spokesman said any involvement by the administration in gambling legislation would have been “in good faith” as the governor reviewed the proposals’ merits.
In a speech in Chicago to the Civic Federation, Blagojevich said he had anguished over new gaming for weeks and finally determined that it would be bad for the state and unnecessary as long as legislators passed his $52 billion budget intact. That is an unlikely prospect, because many lawmakers question the credibility of Blagojevich’s revenue estimates.
Rather than work with his budget, Blagojevich accused lawmakers of going “on a spending spree that added, in one form or another, nearly $550 million to our fiscal crisis.” The extra spending, he said, was a result of a legislative fixation on the potential new revenues from added gambling.
`Gambling not a magic wand’
But the governor vowed to veto any budget sent to him that would authorize new gambling initiatives, including a mega-gambling palace that Mayor Richard Daley is studying for Chicago. An aide to Blagojevich said he also would reject proposals to increase gaming positions at casinos, allow slot machines at horse-racing tracks and legalize video poker.
“Gambling is not a magic wand,” Blagojevich said. “Every day we allow gambling to sit out there as justification for every new spending proposal, every restoration of bureaucracy, every rejection of new revenue proposals, is another day we miss the opportunity to implement real reform and get this state back on its feet.”
He warned lawmakers that if they wanted to increase spending, they had to get the money from sources other than more gambling or increased general taxes.
“If it means we’re in session all summer long, so be it,” Blagojevich said.
Blagojevich began his campaign for governor claiming opposition to expanded gambling, but he backtracked often.
Less than a month before the election, he said he was intrigued when Daley first floated the idea of giving Chicago a special license for a city-owned casino. The next day, his campaign reiterated its opposition to expanded gambling, and a week later Blagojevich said he would oppose a new city license.
But on the day he delivered his budget address to the legislature last month, Blagojevich again opened the door to expanded gambling. He said he had an “open mind” on the issue, adding it would be hypocritical to reject out of hand proposals to raise revenues during a deepening fiscal crisis.
Though his budget does not anticipate gambling expansion, it relies heavily on increased gaming receipts. Blagojevich wants to raise casino taxes and also counts on the state to resolve a long legal battle over the fate of an unused riverboat license held by Emerald Casino Inc., a bankrupt investor group stopped by regulators from opening in Rosemont.
Blagojevich said the state should reap at least $350 million as its share of the proceeds if the Emerald license is sold.
With less than two weeks left until the legislature’s scheduled adjournment, Blagojevich’s speech inflamed complaints about the new administration from rank-and-file lawmakers.
Those concerns range from Blagojevich’s refusal to engage top lawmakers in substantive talks on the budget to his decision to maintain a highly visible schedule of appearances in Chicago while the legislature is in Springfield trying to finish its work without him.
Though the legislature has advanced more spending than Blagojevich called for in his budget, the amount represents an increase of about 1 percent and primarily adds dollars to education and human services. Lawmakers viewed Blagojevich’s “spending spree” comment as another attempt by the governor to demonize them.
“We are not working in a vacuum. If he is supposed to be the leader, he has not led us anywhere at this point in time,” said state Sen. Donne Trotter of Chicago, the chief budget negotiator for Senate Democrats.
Trotter’s Republican counterpart, state Sen. Steve Rauschenberger of Elgin, called Blagojevich “Gov. Erratic.”
“A lot of us were trying to work constructively to help him finance this [budget] package and now, without talking to any of us or explaining his reasons, he’s got an itch, he scratches it, and he blows the whole place up again,” Rauschenberger said.
Blagojevich plans doubted
Lawmakers are skeptical of a variety of revenue-raising proposals that Blagojevich has called for in his budget, including the potential sale of the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago, the diversion of highway construction funds to pay other state bills, and the elimination of tax breaks that even many Democrats say are important to keep business and jobs.
Among those angriest with Blagojevich’s speech were lawmakers who believed they had his blessing to seek gambling expansion to raise revenue for schools and social services.
Jacobs, who was prepared to unveil a gambling-expansion proposal that he estimated would raise at least $1 billion annually, said it will be hard for lawmakers to buck Blagojevich’s latest stand on gambling given the governor’s aggressive use of the televised bully pulpit.
“If he chooses not to take advantage of a revenue enhancement that we can give him, then he’s the one who’s going to have to answer for the further cuts in education. He’s the one who’s going to have to answer why companies are leaving the state,” Jacobs said.
But Bradley Tusk, Blagojevich’s deputy governor, said the negative reaction of lawmakers was “not shocking.”
“If the legislature wants to change things, that is their prerogative,” Tusk said. “But we set some clear parameters. We won’t sign anything that expands gambling.”
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Expanding Illinois gambling: Blagojevich on the record
Feb. 17, 2002
Rod Blagojevich signs candidate survey from anti-gambling group in which he declares opposition to an array of gambling expansion proposals, including adding new casinos.
Oct. 8, 2002
After Mayor Richard Daley floats the idea of a new city-owned casino: “I would take a serious look at it, particularly in these times of shrinking revenues.”
April 23, 2002
Saying the fiscal crisis has forced him to be open to gambling expansion plans: “I’m going to look at these from the perspective of (increased gambling) versus more money for schools.”
Tuesday
“Gambling cannot be part of the solution until Springfield reforms its habits and learns to keep spending in check. I will not sign this budget if it relies on any expansion of gambling.”
