Governor confident lawmakers will 'do the right thing'

SPRINGFIELD - Calling last year's deficit-riddled state spending plan an "aberration," Gov. Rod Blagojevich told the Daily Herald he expects to get a balanced budget from lawmakers in the coming days.

"I have confidence they'll do the right thing and send me a budget that's balanced. I understand last year … I choose to believe that was an aberration when they sent me a budget that was more than a billion dollars in deficit," Blagojevich said on his way in to the Capitol. "I have to think … that they would never do that again. So I'm confident they'll send me a balanced budget."

Last year, Blagojevich used his budget pen to zero out millions worth of lawmakers projects to try to balance the budget, a move critics said targeted his political rivals.

Go to the Animal Farm blog to see more of Blagojevich's comments to the Daily Herald.