Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Democrats who control the legislature pushed through a roughly $55 billion state budget just hours ahead of their midnight Tuesday deadline, but Republicans complained the deal was loaded with Chicago pork-barrel projects to win crucial votes.
Exasperated Republicans were left largely on the sidelines as Democrats used their majority to avoid a repeat of last year’s record 54-day overtime session. GOP leaders charged that backroom deals between Democratic leaders and their members added more than $200 million to the final cost of the new spending blueprint.
The foundation for the budget is the controversial diversion of $2.2 billion that was to go toward pensions for teachers and state workers. Instead, the proceeds would boost school funding by more than $300 million, stave off service cuts and fare hikes at the Chicago Transit Authority and help fund general state operations.
Already angered by what they viewed as a pension raid and a budget that shorted their districts on education and mass transit, Republicans railed that Chicago Democrats steered costly pet projects to the city.
Republicans said the rewards to loyal Democrats included $920,000 for the Chicago Aerospace Education Initiative, a $400,000 grant to the Little Black Pearl arts center in Chicago, $94,000 for the Joffrey Ballet’s Sinfonietta orchestra and $1 million for the Beverly Arts Center.
Even some Downstate Democrats said they were angered when Chicago’s agriculture extension service got a boost while 4-H clubs in their areas took a hit.
Blagojevich, however, said that he thinks the budget negotiations with Democrats benefited all the state’s residents.
“I think the winners in this budget and in this session are parents and children, senior citizens, working people and taxpayers, business, doctors and their patients,” said the Chicago Democrat, who is expected to sign the budget.
The pork projects are just part of the deal, he said.
“There’s a process here that’s an imperfect process,” Blagojevich said. “It’s called democracy.”
Able to do little more than shout as Democrats passed the budget, Republicans blamed Blagojevich, Senate President Emil Jones, House Speaker Michael Madigan, all Chicago Democrats, and the governor’s budget chief, John Filan, for treating the rest of the state like an extension of the Chicago City Council.
“He is not a governor for the suburbs. He is not a governor for Downstate,” said Sen. Dan Cronin (R-Elmhurst). “Follow the money and the dollars and you’ll see where his priorities are.”
For education, the proposal would send about $315 million more to elementary and secondary schools, with $200 million of it dedicated to general state aid, which largely benefits Chicago and Downstate schools. The infusion would be enough to increase the minimum per-pupil spending for public schools by $200, to $5,164 from $4,964.
But one of the most contentious changes was the elimination of $10 million from this current budget that goes to schools in fast-growing districts, a provision that was added last year.
In recent days, Blagojevich, Madigan and Jones have put together their budget proposal with the main goal of crafting a plan the three Democrats could agree on. Their alliance this spring came in marked contrast to last year’s overtime budget battle, when Madigan sided instead with Republican leaders.
The spending plan for the budget year that begins July 1 allows Blagojevich to keep his campaign pledge to avoid any increase in income or sales taxes. It also adhered to his efforts to put more money into schools and health care.
But he was forced to give up the far-reaching reforms of the state’s pension system that he wanted. Ultimately he got only a few modest reforms, including one that will cap the fat end-of-career pay raises that boost teacher pensions.
In wrapping up their work for the spring, Democratic leaders managed the dual feat of laying contentious political issues to rest while also passing plenty of voter-friendly measures for members to carry into next year’s campaigns.
Malpractice caps
Democratic leaders neutralized the most caustic political issue by passing a hard-fought bill for Illinois doctors, limiting the amount of money that patients can collect from them in court for medical malpractice. Now, instead of fighting influential physicians in every district and every campaign of the coming election cycle, Democrats may even be able to ask for support from some of them.
Lawmakers agreed to cap the damages doctors have to pay for pain and suffering at $500,000, and hospitals won’t have to pay a single defendant more than $1 million. Blagojevich said he will sign it, to the relief of Downstate Democrats who desperately want the issue behind them as they campaign next year.
Other noteworthy accomplishments will let lawmakers brag back home in their districts.
At Blagojevich’s request, the legislature approved a proposal to raise high school graduation requirements for Illinois public school students. Beginning with incoming freshmen starting high school in 2008, students would have to take at least two years of science classes, three years of math, four years of English and two writing courses before they graduate. At present, 83 percent of Illinois’ public schools do not meet those requirements.
Lawmakers also voted to ban the sale and rental of violent and sexually graphic video games to anyone under the age of 18, and to require background checks for every person who buys a gun at a gun show.
The budget was the toughest vote. The spending plan is based largely on the scheme to shortchange the state pension systems by deferring scheduled multibillion-dollar payments over the next two budget years. Government operations also will be supplemented by taking money out of nearly 200 specially dedicated bank accounts ranging from funds for local tourism, charter schools and mammograms.
Many details of the budget were still coming out late Tuesday, including the actual size of the budget. Lawmakers and the governor’s office offered varying totals, ranging from $54 billion to nearly $58 billion.
Republicans contend the scheme is fiscally irresponsible, relying too much on borrowing, one-time revenues and raids of state funds. But lawmakers tweaked the proposals only a little, though they rejected outright an 11th-hour plan by the Blagojevich administration to sell the state’s student loan portfolio to save money in management fees.
`More pork! More pork!’
Despite its momentum, the Democratic juggernaut threatened to run off track Tuesday afternoon, when African-American lawmakers in the House surprised colleagues by refusing to vote for a key budget bill. More than a dozen black lawmakers walked off the House floor, as Republican members mocked them with yells of, “More pork! More pork!”
Several black lawmakers said they sought written commitments that they would get money for particular projects in their districts.
Rep. Marlow Colvin (D-Chicago), who heads the legislature’s caucus of African-American lawmakers, said members pulled back their votes to send Madigan a message that they wanted better communications with his office during the secretive budget process.
The tactic achieved the desired effect, as the powerful Madigan was forced to talk to members on the House floor and in his private office. The budget bill then passed.
As happy as lawmakers were about touting their votes, they are likely happier to be bringing home the bacon.
A perennial favorite of Jones, Chicago State University on the city’s South Side, will receive more than $4 million for its programs. Its Chicagoland Regional College Program will get $3.5 million, and the remainder will go to the university’s HIV-AIDS Police and Research Institute and its Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership Program.
For some of those recipients, the pork money will come as a surprise.
At Beverly Arts Center in Chicago, Kate Coughlin, a freelance grant writer, said the center was completely unaware it was set to receive $1 million from the state.
“Pork or no pork, we’re happy to keep our doors open,” she said. “We’re open to all political groups, Democrats and Republicans.”
Powerless House Republicans at one point in the day took heart when pizza was delivered to the chamber.
When Rep. Robert Molaro (D-Chicago) rose to voice his concerns that the Republicans were adequately fed, Rep. James Meyer (R-Naperville) summed up the GOP blues.
“Well, Representative, we have no pork over here,” he said. “We’ve got to eat something.”
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