The following was written by Cary’s Chris Jenner after he attended meeting of what I would call the “Veto Override” tour. This was held in Crystal Lake last Thursday and sponsored by State Senator Pam Althoff and State Rep. Jack Franks.

Wednesday September 19th, I attended one of the first of Speaker Madigan’s “Hearings on the Budget Cuts” in the Chicago area. There was one the night before in Hoffman Estates, and one scheduled for the same night in Aurora. The five previous “hearings” were all south of I-80. The hearings continue through September 27th, with most of the remaining ones in and around Chicago.

My read is that Madigan is using these “hearings” to build an arsenal of nuclear proportions to force Blago off his no-income-tax-hike pledge. There were over 200 people there. At least 50 spoke. As far as I could tell, there was only one person in the entire conference center that was thinking about Joe Taxpayer.

Here is the agenda provided, and actual times the agenda items ran. More details and commentary after the agenda. The audience seemed to be about 50% heart tuggers (Pioneer Center brought at least 20 people with what seemed to me to be significant disabilities, and there were a number of other disabled people and their aides), and another 48% officials and leaders of either public organizations (municipal government, police, fire) or private organizations supported by state tax dollars. Comcast taped the whole thing, and supposedly will broadcast it at some point. The remaining 2% were a couple reporters, photographers, and me.

6:00pm – Welcome from Rep. Franks and Sen. Althoff.

They got rolling at 6:10. Franks spoke for 9 minutes, Althoff for 2.

6:10pm – Overview of Budget Cuts Made by Gov. Blago

6:21pm – 6:43pm. This was a presentation made by one of Franks’ or Althoff’s staffers. I couldn’t find the presentation online anywhere, but I procured a hard copy. If anyone would like a copy, let me know.

6:40pm – Statewide Organizations Affected by Gov’s Budget Cuts

From 6:43 – 7:00, Althoff and Franks let people who had to leave early speak, from both local and statewide organizations. Representatives from statewide organizations spoke from 7:00 – 7:12. Eight organizations were listed to speak, including the Illinois Network of Charter Schools and AFSCME, both of which had no representatives present.

7:00pm – Local Organizations Affected by Gov’s Budget Cuts

7:12pm – 9:04pm. 38 organizations were listed to speak. A smaller number were represented, but a number of organizations had more than one speaker.

9:00pm – Public Comment

9:04 – 9:26. Around 8 – 10 more people spoke, all telling what wouldn’t happen if Blago’s veto that cut the budget isn’t overridden. No one spoke on behalf of taxpayers.

9:15pm – Conclusion. They came close, ending at 9:26pm.

Exemplifying the objectiveness and nonpartisanship of this issue, the other major handout was an Issue Brief from the Center for Tax (and Budget Accountability – not!). “Analysis of Gov Blago’s Vetoes and What They Mean Across Illinois”. It’s currently the centerpiece of Ralph’s web site, go to http://www.ctbaonline.org/ and look under SPECIAL REPORT.

In Franks’ opening comments, he said these hearings had four purposes:

• Provide info on Blago’s budget cuts
• Permit those affected by the cuts to explain how the cuts will impair their ability to provide services
• Provide the public an opportunity to give their opinions
• Convince the Senate to join the House in overriding Blago’s vetoes

In the short time Franks, Althoff, and the staffer spoke, it was clear the whole GA really hates Blago and wants to make sure their constituents hate him too.

I’ve been observing Althoff for four or so years now, and I’ve never seen her so angry!

Franks said that the House “approved a budget with a lot of good and necessary things really important to people.” My initial reaction to that statement was why not let the people keep their money and spend it on what they think is really important? As a compromise, instead of forcing people to give 100% of their state tax burden to Springpile, let them give 50% of their tax burden to the charity of their choice.

After almost 3 hours of speakers, there were some organizations that (in this day and age) I actually wouldn’t have a problem receiving my tax dollars.

Other organizations that spoke, I’m not so sure.

Should the Town Square Players, the Illinois Youth Dance Theatre, the McHenry County Music Center, the Illinois Council of Orchestras, and the IL Chapter of the American Choral Directors be supported by money forced out of taxpayers?

To tug hearts, the rep from the American Choral Directors (one of the last speakers) sang Kum-Bah-Yah, cut by 37%. I’m not making that up, he stopped 63% of the way through the song. 37% was the amount Blago cut from the Illinois Arts Council, which funds many arts groups with grants — coincidentally chaired by Speaker Madigan’s wife.

Most groups were asking for a relatively small amount of dollars. The question people need to ask and press for answers to is why $58 billion isn’t enough to help the groups that really need it. No one suggested phasing out the grossly underfunded state pension systems to provide funding for these groups.

A couple interesting comments. The lady from Little Angels in Elgin talked about the various components of their increasing costs. Far and away, Little Angels’ largest cost increase (by more than 2x over the next largest cost increase) was real estate taxes.

One lady said some McHenry County seniors were proud to receive money from a recent tax hike. Who would be proud to be on the government dole?

The three biggest components of Blago’s $470 million budget vetoes are $130M in health care, $103M in human services, and $102M in education. Other than cutting in the wrong places, and not cutting enough, the third problem with Blago’s cuts is he wants the money to be spent on more government programs. God forbid we should consider giving it back to the taxpayers, or at least not further plundering them.

A lot of people want more state money, and they really don’t care where it comes from. They’re being fed that the only way for them to get more money is for another program to lose money and/or a tax hike – and we can’t cut any programs. Illinois provides more programs and state employee benefits than it can afford, and is breaking the backs of its (non-government employee) citizens, their children and their grandchildren.