Reaction to CTA /RTA Bailout Analysis

Besides posting my little analysis of the Tom Cross-Mike Madigan-Richard Daley-Rod Blagojevich CTA/RTA bailout plan on McHenry County Blog, I put it up on Illinoize.

Hosted by Rich Miller, Illinoize is a blog on which he allows various folks with political thoughts to share their work.

Miller took note of my discovery that passing the $385 million subsidy for the Chicago Transit Authority and the RTA would amount to $30 for every man, woman and child and could be used politically against any supporter living outside of the six-county Chicago metropolitan area. (And, maybe within, now that I think about it.)

Here’s what he said on his superblog Capitol Fax Blog:

* To get a small idea of how politically volatile the new bailout proposal is, read this commentary by former state Rep. Cal Skinner…

Say you are from Downstate, also known as anything outside of the six-county Chicago metropolitan area served by the Regional Transportation Authority.

$385 million [GRF transit bailout] divided by the state’s population of 12,831,970 (Commerce Department figure) is what?

$30.

So, an opponent could send a mailing to a Downstate legislator’s district saying anyone who voted for this deal voted to force a family of four to send $120 to Chicago.

Or robo calls could be made. Even cheaper.

Whatever you may think of Cal, he’s right.

In his Capitol Fax, Miller wrote:

As former Republican state Rep. Cal Skinner points out, the state bailout of the Chicago area’s transit systems represents about $30 for every man, woman and child in Illinois. That’ll go over well with Downstaters, I’m sure. Not. I’ll have a link to Skinner’s analysis at the blog.


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