Quinn holds jobs plan hostage for ethics and tax hike

SPRINGFIELD - In his March budget speech, Gov. Pat Quinn prodded lawmakers to quickly send him a massive construction plan so he could sign it and get Illinoisans back to work, telling the General Assembly "our recovery depends on you."

But the Democratic governor reversed course Friday, the day after lawmakers approved that plan, and announced he'd not sign it until the House and Senate also support the sweeping ethics plan he wants, find more money for high-speed rail and deliver a balanced state budget to his desk.

"I'd like to see everything done together and I'll sign them together," Quinn told the Daily Herald on his way into the Capitol Friday morning.

Many suburban lawmakers who had supported the video slot machine-financed construction deal were furious at Quinn's political hostage taking.

"I am not really comfortable about his throwing down the gauntlet," said state Rep. Linda Chapa-LaVia, an Aurora Democrat, who had voted for the video gambling proposal. "Which means he is forcing us to try to take an income tax or something like that."

Quinn wants to raise the income tax to help wipe out a $12 billion deficit in the state's operating budget.

In response, state Rep. Lou Lang, a Skokie Democrat who had sponsored the construction plan, filed paperwork Friday to keep it from actually going to Quinn's desk, saying the governor needed to keep his commitment to lawmakers and construction workers.

"When he wants to sign it, he can have it," said Lang. "I just went through six years of a governor who used the General Assembly as a play toy and I'm not going to go through that again."

Those waiting for state construction money weren't pleased with the political gamesmanship at the Capitol. Winfield Elementary District 34 is one of nearly two dozen districts whose taxpayers long ago agreed to pay more and were promised the state would help pay for their projects. But the state fund ran dry and they've waited ever since.

"The community of Winfield has waited since 2002 for money promised to them from the State of Illinois. Over the years, our hopes have been raised over and over again, only to be dashed one time after another due to the political games played in Springfield," said superintendent Diane Cody. "How much longer do we have to wait?"

But elsewhere, ethical reform leaders applauded Quinn's hardball political approach.

"We're just delighted to hear the governor say what he said," said Grayslake resident George Ranney Jr., president and CEO of Chicago Metropolis 2020 and co-chair of the CHANGE Illinois coalition. "We want results. We've got to change the system."

But the reformer's vision of change is, in some cases, running counter to what lawmakers have in mind.

An Illinois Senate committee rejected a series of proposals designed to give local prosecutors the same power as federal authorities to wiretap and eavesdrop. Touted as giving state's attorneys newfound corruption-busting abilities, the proposal given to lawmakers went far beyond corruption to include such minor offenses as music piracy.

Critics said state's attorneys, who hold a political office, should not have such sweeping authority.

"The state's attorney comes out of the same political environment that created George Ryan and Rod Blagojevich, the same money-oriented political campaigning that created the culture of corruption that we have," said state Sen. Bill Haine, an Alton Democrat and former state's attorney.

Haine said the proposals Collins and the governor's reform commission put forth lacked a much-needed check on the expanded powers. The Illinois Constitution specifically prohibits "unreasonable" invasion of privacy and eavesdropping.

One after another, a Senate panel rejected the eight provisions.

But Collins defended the plan as needed to change Illinois.

"In the right case, having the ability to do a wiretap will be the difference between ensnaring a corrupt official versus not charging that official," Collins said. "These are game-changing tools that can bring to justice those that violate the public trust."

Lawmakers were not convinced and rejected the wiretapping provisions. They also refused to approve a rewrite of the state fraud law and blocked increases in the penalties for extortion, theft and lying to a police officer. State Sen. Kirk Dillard, a Hinsdale Republican, supported each measure, while Haine and state Sen. Kwame Raoul, a Chicago Democrat, were against them.

Instead, the panel, and then the full Senate, approved letting the state go after corrupt officials' assets and property.

Haine and Raoul told Collins his proposals came too late into the legislative session to fully evaluate. The session is scheduled to end May 31. Proposed laws must typically meet various deadlines during the course of the legislative session though lawmakers routinely work around them.

But Collins, who called himself a political neophyte, seemed perplexed by the legislative process he'd need to go through to turn his commission's report into law. "I've read more legislation in the last two weeks than I've read my whole life," Collins said.

Similarly, he said he and lawmakers are at odds over how to limit campaign finances, in particular involving legislative leaders' ability to transfer huge sums of money to targeted candidates.

Collins said unless that area is restricted, any action on caps will be meaningless, because it would only further entrench those leaders' political power.

He said Senate leaders had promised him there would be up or down votes next week on the reform commission's proposals if no deal could be struck.

Collins and other reform commissioners continued to call for the approval of the entire six-pronged approach they'd put forward in a report late last month.

"This is the year, this is the time," said Peter Bensigner, also a co-chair of the CHANGE Illinois coalition. He urged the public to "let legislators know that reform matters."

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=295632">Quinn wants more for rail <span class="date">[05/22/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="http://blogs.dailyherald.com/node/2029">Blog: Quinn wants three-way bill signing <span class="date">[05/22/09]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>