Bumps In The Road Ahead For Quinn

It was inevitable that Gov. Pat Quinn would hit a few roadblocks after taking over for Rod Blagojevich. It's safe to say the honeymoon is officially over. It's not just that Republicans oppose his tax plan; that was to be expected and it's yet to be seen how much that will mean in the long run. After all, Democrats control the House and Senate. However, they're not going to let Quinn's tax plan sail through with only Democrats voting yes, which means they need to convince some GOP members to vote for higher taxes too. Even so, Republicans simply aren't going to get the kinds of deep cuts they've been demanding. Too much of the state's budget goes to Medicaid and education. Quinn and Democratic leaders aren't going to let those programs see dramatic cuts. Even so, it will be weeks, if not months, until we know exactly what they'll have to do to placate the GOP. I'm sure at this point everything is on the table; more casinos, privatizing state services, maybe even selling some state assets outright. Now that Quinn's budget plan is official, the wheeling and dealing will begin in earnest behind closed doors.

As I said before, much of the focus will be on the proposal to raise incomes and the measures that state workers will fight tooth and nail to stop -- pension reforms and unpaid furlough days -- there are plenty of nickel-and-dime taxes and fee increases that will upset the voters. I've already mentioned the proposals to raise admission fees for visitors to the Illinois State Fair in Springfield. Then there would be the tax code changes that would mean you'd pay more for "medicated" hygiene products, as well as bottled cappuccinos and iced teas.

Well, if you've got a sweet tooth, you've got more to worry about than paying more for bottled frappuccino at the grocery store. A state lawmaker who is also a longtime dentist wants to charge a new tax on soft drinks. Of course, that's not sitting well with the companies who sell them. Since the money from the tax would go to state-funded dental care programs, the basic argument being made is that soft drinks rot teeth, so use the tax from that to pay dentists and convince people to drink fewer soft drinks. But, taking a closer look at the proposal, "soft drink" doesn't just mean things like Coke or Pepsi. It means: "any complete, finished, ready-to-use, non-alcoholic drink, whether carbonated or not, including but not limited to soda water, cola, fruit juice, vegetable juice, carbonated water, and all other preparations commonly known as soft drinks of whatever kind or description that are contained in any closed or sealed bottle, can, carton or container, regardless of size." Of course, lawmakers and taxpayers likely have very different ideas of what things are "commonly known as soft drinks." The only specific exceptions spelled out in the bill are "coffee, tea, non-carbonated water, infant formula, milk or milk products ... or drinks containing 50% or more natural fruit or vegetable juice." To me, that means things like Gatorade or fruit juice cocktails that don't have nearly as much sugar as what I believe most people think of when they hear the words "soft drink."

Then there are the new fees being proposed at the Agriculture Department. The head of the Agriculture Department says it's better for the agency to rely on fees charged to the farmers and businesses that the agency regulates, instead of the General Revenue Fund, which takes quite a hit in a recession. That may sound fine and dandy from an accounting perspective, but I have a feeling farmers and other businesses that pay fees to the Agriculture Department see things a bit differently. People in this state are plenty angry with state government already. These nickel-and-dime taxes and fees won't help in a recession.

Oh, and let's not forget about this decision at the Department of Human Services. Again, this makes good financial sense for the state, I'm sure. Keeping more than a dozen offices open where only a few people work at any given time -- especially if a lot of what they offer you can get online or over the phone -- but there will be plenty of people ticked off at having to drive to the next county to get services they need just to get by.

All the budget stuff aside, though, Quinn has some other big problems on his plate right now. He's kept a few Blagojevich people on board that I'm sure lawmakers thought would get the boot -- for example, former Blagojevich budget chief John Filan and former Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity director Jack Lavin, both now top Quinn advisors. But he's drawing a lot more heat for his choice of a new Illinois State Police boss. Granted, Quinn is right about John Monken being a hero. His service record speaks for itself. He was an Army captain who who finished near the top of his class, served two stints in Iraq and was awarded the Bronze Star. But even so, he's only 29 and he's never been a police officer or worked in law enforcement. It's one thing to put a guy who is only 29 in charge of a department where there are probably quite a few officers who've been on the force since before he was born. It's another to ask them to take orders from a guy who's never been on the job. It's not easy to earn a cop's trust when you haven't worn the badge. Chicago Police Superintendent Jody Weis was an FBI agent and Chicago cops just had a vote of "no confidence" in the guy. I think Monken might be in for a tough ride. I hope he's up to the task.

He certainly had a trial by fire already. Illinois Auditor General William Holland came out with a pretty scathing report about the state police during Monken's first week on the job. The report reveals that the backlog of untested evidence at state police crime labs has skyrocketed in recent years -- tripling between 2002 and 2007. The report also said state police provided misleading or inaccurate information about the backlog. As a result, police have sometimes been unable to make arrests and prosecutors have been forced to drop charges or cases have otherwise been blocked because they can't get the evidence they need. Monken says the department began fixing problems before he got there. As a result, Monken says the backlog has been cut down by a third since last year. Lt. Scott Giles, deputy director for the forensics division, said one key has been advancements in technology.

But Monken and Giles also claim parts of the audit are inaccurate. For example, the department outsources some evidence testing. The report claims that most tests conducted by the state's contractors aren't returned on time, but that even when that happens, the state doesn't enforce penalty clauses in the contract. In fact, the report says state police claimed they didn't know who put the penalty clauses in the contract or how they could enforce them. Giles says that's inaccurate, but he didn't elaborate on how and when contractors were penalized for failing to complete tests on time.

The report also claimed the crime lab in Rockford used an outright illegal procedure for testing evidence for about six months in 2007. It goes so far as to say top brass knew what was going on at the lab and didn't order it stopped right away. Again, Giles says that's inaccurate. He claims top brass ordered the procedure stopped as soon as they decided it was improper.

It's not clear if anyone will lose their job because of the problems with the evidence backlog, but it's a heck of a problem for Monken to have to tackle so soon. And he hasn't even faced a confirmation hearing before the State Senate yet, which is bound to be interesting since some senators have already said they don't like Quinn's pick.