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The Illinois Senate passed its version of a capital bill back on Sept. 18, 2007. The $25.4 billion capital plan was approved
unanimously by Senate members and includes $15.6 billion in road and bridge improvement funding statewide.
Luechtefeld says there's no question that the Chicago Transit Authority budget crisis was going to be resolved anyway,
and that all downstate legislators should have stuck to their guns and held back their votes until a capital bill deal was
sealed.
"Right now I don't know what would make him (Madigan) decide to make this a priority, when the pressure is off," said
Luechtefeld.
Steve Brown, Madigan's press secretary, says the reason there has been no House version of a capital bill set forth after
four months' time is that the speaker remains unsatisfied with the lack of safeguards present in two portions of the bill.
"There's no argument from Speaker Madigan on the need," Brown said. "And I think the speaker's perspective is that the
gamblers have persuaded Gov. (Rod) Blagojevich and his allies that the only way to fund the construction program is through
more gambling. The next phase of it, though, should you get this plan in place with about $5 billion a year to fund it, is
how do you safeguard it to make sure the money actually gets to the location and projects that it's intended to? As we well
know, the level of trust in this administration has sunk to about zero. Until Speaker Madigan is convinced that there's a
way to safeguard the ethics component to the gaming board as well as the allocation of the project dollars, he's not going
to support the bill."
Brown says he frequently hears Madigan reminded by constituents about Opportunity Returns IOUs dating back to 2003.
"There are people running around Illinois with memorandums of understanding from the state," said Brown, "people who
heard multiple announcements about projects of theirs that had been funded with state money but that still haven't even been
started years later. To make sure that never, ever happens again, you've got to have safeguards in capital construction
programs."
But Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson, a Republican from Greenville, says the real reason there's still no progress on
the capital bill is because it's ego-driven politicking at work.
"It's personal infighting among the Democrats, and it's got to stop," Watson said. "It's a Democrat problem, and it's
hurting the entire state of Illinois. Getting everyone together in the same room, putting their egos aside and putting
together a package that's good for the state as a whole - that's just what's got to happen. With the capital bill that
passed in the Senate last fall, all of us, in both parties, saw the importance of it and passed it. We recognized the need
and put aside our differences. That's not happening in the House. Personal agendas are not allowing that to happen," he
added.
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With interest rates low - and with $1.7 billion in federal matching dollars available to Illinois - now is the time to be
setting aside those egos and differing agendas, Watson said. "That federal transportation funding won't be there forever,
and labor and raw materials costs aren't going to decrease. We've got to stop wasting time and move on a capital bill now if
we are accountable to the citizens of the state of Illinois," he said.
State Rep. Tom Cross, a Republican from Northern Illinois, agrees with Watson that economically speaking, now is the time
to embark on some of the state's badly needed capital construction efforts.
"The speaker (Madigan) has all but said he's not going to pass the bill because the Senate didn't first consult with the
House on it," said Cross. "I know he's got some concerns with the ethics portions and I understand that, but having said
that, we can't just sit around and let that federal matching money slip away. If we don't access that, it's irresponsible
and a true loss to our state and our taxpayers."
State Rep. Jay Hoffman, a Democrat from Collinsville, says he reminds his colleagues in Springfield that the proposed
capital bill "is not about gaming. It's about economic development. You may not like gaming, but it's the only realistic
option."
Hoffman says organized labor has not been nearly vocal enough in lobbying Springfield as to how vital a new capital
construction package is. "There has to be that cry from the organized labor community," he said. "This is my number-one
economic priority right now, but we legislators get hit with a lot of bills in Springfield. It's easy to say 'no' and not
move forward with something if there isn't a feeling that there's a lot of support for it. Labor really needs to be out
front with this one," he added. "Now this thing is really focused...it (the capital program) would create over 70,000 new
jobs."
State Sen. Bill Haine, a Democrat from Alton, and State Rep. Dan Beiser, also a Democrat from Alton, agree that it's
going to take an act of true compromise from the four political leaders in Springfield: Blagojevich, Senate Pres. Emil
Jones, Madigan and Watson.
"They have to sit down and do it (capital bill), and they have to do it quickly," Haine said. "The longer it takes, the
less of a chance it's going to happen in an election year."
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