Who's Really Pulling Harry's Strings?
“I did not get one phone call in support of the governor’s action,” said Rep. Harry Osterman, D-Chicago. “I would assume most of the people in the state saw right through his action.”
Blognotes: So this is how it works. Harry's constituents call saying they're totally against this bill. Not one person calls in favor. Yet what does good ole' Hot Air Harry do? Harry votes for the bill. Seriously, Harry, if you're not listening to what your constituents have to say, who are you really listening to?
I would assume most of the people in your district saw right through your action?
8 comments:
Of course we saw right through it, but we the constituents were stuck between a rock and a hard place. Either we put up with the governor's ignorance and still be able to get to work on Monday, or rally against it and be screwed even more.
The whole thing can be chalked up to Blago being a grade A jerk rather than Ostermann voting for something that we didn't want. He always voted for the more sensible plans that were put out for the bulk of a year, and his office continually kept in contact with me about it, even asking me to call Blago to sign the ORIGINAL bill. But in the end we got stuck with Blago trying to act as the hero when what he really pulled was a dictator-like move.
and what would you have done, Craig? would you have voted nay to this bill. do you even take mass transit or do you have the luxury of a car and can easily boo hoo CTA and RTA, and screw everyone who relies on it.
Harry didn't listen to those who voiced their disapproval before me. Why would he listen to me after the fact, DP 007 or Toto, or what-ever name you cowardly want to voice your opinion here.
But, here's what Joe Denise had to say:
The entire state legislature needs to be flushed clean. Until we do, these types of things will continue to go on and on and on.
Nobody in Springfield has the guts to stand up and just say no. When is enough, enough? Remember what founded this great country of ours.....the Boston Tea Party, over what...taxes.
Although we cannot have another revolution, its about time people are held accountable and the citizens have a say on what goes on. What about term limits? Recall elections?
We have far too many state and federal politicians making a career out of this. It is astounding to me that the people of IL and this country put up with this nonsense. The system is broke, wake up people. We NEED a say. "
--Joe Denise
Rich Miller writes....> With all the legitimate anger over the months-long mass transit funding crisis, Chicagoans are naturally looking for someone to blame, even if the state’s leaders took a big step toward solving the crisis Thursday.
Here’s a list of those who have caused your pain.
* Mayor Daley: Loves to blame Springfield for the CTA’s budget shortfall and service problems, but appointed a political hack to run the agency (Frank Kruesi) who made a complete mess of things and alienated just about everyone at the state capital. He claims to be a top-notch big-city manager but allowed the transit system to decay almost beyond repair. If he worked as hard on fixing the CTA as he has bringing the Olympics to Chicago, there might not be a crisis.
* Gov. Blagojevich: Held the CTA bailout (and CTA riders) hostage for months so he could win passage of a long list of other priorities. Desperately tried to shift every bit of blame from himself to the General Assembly for failing to come up with a solution. Hasn’t proposed a real solution himself.
* Senate President Emil Jones: Until this week, refused to even call a CTA funding bill for a vote. Is allied with Gov. Blagojevich and has eagerly cooperated with the governor’s scheme to hold the transit money hostage for new casinos, a capital plan and expanded health coverage.
* House Speaker Michael Madigan: Battled Jones and Blagojevich every step of the way. Insisted that the CTA and RTA bailouts not be tied to anything else, which has held up progress on everything because he has not yet agreed to any resolutions of those aforementioned issues. Madigan ignored pleas from former CTA boss Kruesi a few years ago to find a way to inject more money into the transit system mainly because he personally despised Kruesi.
* Many Downstate legislators: After Chicago legislators agreed to force Chicago-based ComEd’s parent company Exelon to subsidize lower rates for Downstate Ameren’s customers, many Downstate legislators showed their gratitude by refusing to support a mass transit proposal that is funded solely by the Chicago region yet funnels millions to Downstate mass transit districts. Some are professional Chicago haters, others wanted to force Speaker Madigan to agree to a statewide capital plan. Many simply can’t understand the importance of public transit because they’ve never used public transit and don’t know anyone who has.
* Most legislative Republicans: May have tried to create even more political and governmental chaos for Democrats by refusing to support a transit bailout. Some openly welcomed a CTA “doomsday” scenario, claiming the CTA and RTA were bluffing. Reflexively believed a sales tax increase of a penny on a $4 purchase to fund an absolutely vital service is excessive taxation.
* Rank and file Chicago legislators: Perhaps the least to blame, but who are most in danger of voter retaliation during next month’s Democratic primaries. Have been slammed by millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded advertising urging them to vote for the transit bailout even though they all supported it to begin with. Have subsequently been inundated with calls, letters and e-mails from angry constituents who don’t understand that they are on the same side. They succeeded in forcing Senate President Jones and Gov. Blagojevich to drop their gamesmanship and run the bailout bill without an agreement on more casinos or anything else.
I hope this helps.
Session starts on nonproductive note
The Associated Press
July 5, 2007 - 1:32PM
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The Illinois House spent hours repeating familiar budget arguments. The Senate convened then immediately adjourned. Gov. Rod Blagojevich holed up in his office.
Taxpayers had to pay about $40,000 in expenses and travel costs for officials each day.
Say, Harry, seeing you didn't listen to your constituents, the least you could do is add this up for us.
How much did the specials sessions cost the tax payers?
I personally hold blago and jones responsible for this mess, though the historical record of kreusi (and by extension Daley) is clearly part of the problem.
Rich Miller, who you quote at length, is absolutely on target in his comments, Craig.
He is so correct on all points that I can add nothing, since most people in this area, in Chicago, and in Illinois don't want to hear that the money we spend on highway infrastructure, that dwarfs transit funding, is a massive and tragic mis-allocation of resources that we will bitterly rue in another ten years, as gasoline touches $8 a gallon and most of the non-rich are forced to give up driving altogether, or at least drastically curtail their driving.
We will also greatly regret the billion dollar ethanol program Blago promulgated, and it's a matter of amazement to me that not one lawmaker has questioned this destructive program, which is only enabling us in the fantasy that we can keep on running hundreds of millions of cars as we have for the past 50 years, and is causing our food prices to ratchet northward rapidly. Fuel is competing with food, and at some point we are going to have to choose not only whether we will eat or drive, but also whether we will subsidize biofuel for a minority of the population still able to afford cars, or whether we will provide decent transportation for the majority who will greatly need it.
I view the last minute bailout of the CTA as a sour, and very temporary, victory. Our lawmakers agreed to a very bad plan because they know the city will be crippled and decimated without its transit.
We need now to work on another plan that will not tap overburdened homeowners but instead reallocate money at the local and state level from wasteful and destructive boondoggles like Da Mare's criminally wasteful Superstation and other monument-building projects and TIF boondoggles, and from Blago's billion dollar farm subsidy bill, to the services that Chicago, the biggest taxpayer in the state and one of the largest in the country, needs to remain a great city and a good place to live for all of its citizens.
Post a Comment