Of Gods and Chicago Democrats

7:57 pm, 8/27/07

Of Gods and Chicago Democrats

As national Democrats struggle to keep state parties in line, Governor Rod Blagojevich, a Chicago Democrat, begins suing other Chicago Democrats.

The arguments over a state budget are escalating again, with Governor Rod Blagojevich suing the speaker of the Illinois House.

Blagojevich is angry that Speaker Michael Madigan has defied his proclamations requiring the Legislature to meet in special session.

In some cases, Madigan has told lawmakers not to bother showing up. He has also convened sessions at different times of day than Blagojevich had ordered.

He wants Madigan to hold sessions at specific times and require members to attend. A state budget has passed, but Blagojevich says other related issues still require attention.

Legislators argue the special sessions are just for show. They note the governor usually doesn't submit proposals for lawmakers to consider.

One issue that still requires attention? The utility rate relief package, which the legislature sent to Rod's desk last month. That, like hundreds of other bills, has not been signed.

Obviously, it's the legislature that needs to spend more time in session, so Blagojevich can terrorize them with heavy-handed political maneuvers that are so targeted and spiteful they're increasingly causing onlookers to question his well-being. Rich Miller details what can only be described as the wrath of Rod:

He drastically slashed funding for the Illinois Arts Council, chaired by Shirley Madigan, the House Speaker's wife. At least $9 million was cut out of grants distributed by the Arts council, including a million dollars for the Illinois Channel and $1.5 million for Public Radio and TV grants.

The auditor general's office, which has produced some brutally honest audits of the Blagojevich administration, saw its funding proposal cut way back, as did the comptroller and attorney general offices, both of whom are headed by frequent Blagojevich critics. Blagojevich did not cut the spending request for his own office.

The governor also zero-funded "Operation Ceasefire," which works with former gang members. The Senate Democrats had sought to eliminate funding for the program, but it was insisted upon by the House Democrats and Senate Republicans. Blagojevich sided with the Senate Dems yet again on that one.

At least $700,000 in budgetary add-ons sought by House Democrats for AIDS testing and prevention programs were slashed from the budget and $500,000 for a program to track birth defects, backed strongly by some House Dems, also was removed.

The House Democrats had pushed for an extra $50 million for nursing homes in the budget, but that was eliminated, as was money for cost of living increases and "safety net" money for providers in areas such as alcoholism and substance abuse ($6.6 million), developmental disabilities ($11 million), mental health ($8 million) and hospitals ($40 million).

A newborn hearing program was eliminated, for instance, as was a $1.2 million pandemic flu preparedness plan. Two hundred fifty thousand dollars for a capital punishment reform study committee was zeroed out, as well as a $240,000 grant to the Downstate Innocence Project, which works to release wrongly convicted prisoners.

This, from the guy who engineered and insisted on funding for a program called "AllKids", so that his supporters could accuse his opponents of "voting against all kids".

The ultimate irony? As Blagojevich declares Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, and DeKalb counties state disaster areas in response to the upper midwest's tragic outbreak of flooding, leaders are wondering why he vetoed hundreds of thousands of dollars in flood protection funds, another unresolved problem that the legislature had been addressing until Blagojevich got involved:

[Prospect Heights Mayor Rodney] Pace, sweating through his black shirt and pants next to dozens of people piling up sandbags, criticized the Democratic governor for cutting $100,000 for a berm along the west side of River Road and channeling money to health care instead.

"His health-care initiative is more important than these people's homes and livelihoods," Pace said.

Yes, it is. In fact, pretty much any insanely politicized program the Governor cooks up, no matter how low it may be on the tree for Illinoisans, is the top priority, whatever harm it may do to the state. Rod Blagojevich's daily floor show of shocking malfeasance has, quite literally, led to ruin, distracting the state for years from urgent problems that should've been dealt with years ago.

Sen. Christine Radogno (R-Lemont) said it was "clearly an outrage" that Blagojevich vetoed two $350,000 projects to help Lemont and Homer Glen, where people watched from their windows as an overflowing detention pool sent water toward their homes.

Sen. John Millner (R-Carol Stream) said his district was the victim of another Blagojevich split decision. Blagojevich vetoed Millner's half of $400,000 to replace a bridge that leads to Benjamin Middle School next to Carol Stream and West Chicago, but approved the half sponsored by Rep. Randy Ramey (R-Carol Stream), Millner said.

"Now the day after the veto, the bridge is actually closed, and there's water flowing over the top of it," Millner said.Rod doesn't want to hear about it:

"Like in a lot of disaster areas, what is most mindful to me is the resilience of the people," he said. "We want to help."

But when asked about his veto of anti-flooding funds, Blagojevich angrily turned away.

"I am not here to talk about the budget," he said.

The resilience of the people is going to be pretty much the only thing keeping Illinois going, at this rate.

At Fox Lake, Blagojevich walked through a flooded neighborhood, calling it "an act of God," asking residents to help one another and suggesting they "maybe say a prayer."

Sure, and the Utica tornado was "God's will", a veritable smiting. Blagojevich seems to claim to have a wire to God on this stuff, though this wouldn't be the first time Blagojevich has confused his personal authority with that of the Almighty. He's not alone:

In Wheeling, for example, Sen. Matt Murphy (R-Palatine) had secured $80,000 and Rep. Sydney Mathias (R-Buffalo Grove) $120,000 to build up and stabilize a bank along Buffalo Creek when the budget passed.

Murphy suggested that the rising floodwaters may signal a higher power at work.

"It's a classic example of Mother Nature overriding the governor's veto," he said.

But Mathias had a different take: "As they say, the governor acts in mysterious ways."

It's an Act of Rod.

Yes, this whole thing is every bit as completely mad as it looks. With Blagojevich in open war with Madigan, can Ragnarok be far behind?