One Month And Counting

When lawmakers go home this afternoon, they'll have exactly one month left to wrap up the state budget, a new capital plan and any campaign finance, ethics or other government reforms without needing an overtime session to get things done. As I've said before, right now negotiations on all those matters are going on behind closed doors. We probably won't see any significant floor action on any of those issues until the end of May. Though it seems pretty clear Gov. Pat Quinn won't be getting everything he wants, even if there hasn't been much offered in the way of alternatives to his budget plan. Senate President John Cullerton has said there aren't enough votes in the Senate at this point for Quinn's income tax hike. He's suggested before that there might be more support if the tax increase is made temporary. Also, it seems there's some resistance out there to the increased exemptions in Quinn's plan, since they would reduce the revenue brought in from an income tax hike.

Of course, Republicans are still saying they won't support a tax hike without more cuts. But at this point -- at least on the budget and a capital plan -- Republicans are being left out of negotiations. That's pretty typical since Democrats control both chambers. Although I doubt Cullerton or Madigan would let any kind of tax hike pass either chamber without some Republican votes, they don't technically need the GOP to pass a budget. I've got to wonder if them leaving Republicans out of talks so far means they think they can come up with a tax plan they feel voters would be willing to accept. We'll find out in a few weeks.

New cola war on the horizon?

A few years ago, the state awarded an exclusive contract to Pepsi to supply soft drinks for all state facilities. But lawmakers were suspicious of the deal and demanded an audit. Last month, Illinois Auditor General William Holland said that the bidding process for that contract was flawed. The audit found the so many details were lacking about how the state reviewed the competing bids from Pepsi and Coke that it's not clear whether the state got the best deal. Auditors also said that revenue officials failed to follow proper evaluation guidelines for the bids and failed to notify Coke it had been disqualified until Pepsi was officially awarded the contract several months later.

Yesterday, Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock), who chairs the House State Government Administration Committee, called in Revenue officials to question them about the audit. The Revenue Department says it's been reviewing the Pepsi contract ever since the audit came out and plans to decide in a couple weeks whether to continue the deal. But they did defend the decision not to notify Coke it had been disqualified. They said they didn't want to give Pepsi too much leverage in contract negotiations since they were the only bidder left. They didn't tell Pepsi that Coke was no longer in the running, so as far as Pepsi knew, they had to worry about losing the contract to Coke. Seems like a reasonable argument to me.

Franks says the state should start the bidding process over. But at least one other lawmaker made a good point on that demand: the state already has a 10-year contract with Pepsi. I doubt they can just cancel the deal because they made some mistakes in the bid process, especially since I haven't heard any indication that Pepsi did anything wrong.

Endangered Historic Places

Landmarks Illinois is out with its annual list of 10 Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois. This year's list includes an auditorium in Shelbyville, a hotel in Marshall where Abraham Lincoln used to stay, a century-old train depot in Moline and -- perhaps most prominently -- the Michael Reese Hospital campus in Chicago, which is the proposed site of an Olympic Village if Chicago gets the 2016 Summer Games. Mainly, they want the city to save the main hospital building, which was built in 1907. It's been included a zone marked for demolition to make way for the Olympic Village. But the city insists it plans to save the building and that that the document showing the demolition zone—a request for qualifications, or RFQ—was merely a guide for contractors on the scope of the project. Still, preservationists are not totally convinced that the building will be saved. They also want the city to spare several buildings on the Michael Reese campus that were designed by famed architect Walter Gropius. They think the buildings could be incorporated into an Olympic Village, but the city is planning to demolish them. Whether Landmarks Illinois will be able to drum up enough public support to save the buildings by including the entire Michael Reese campus on its top 10 endangered sites list remains to be seen.

Here's the entire list of sites on their list:

Arcade Building, Riverside Road and Quincy Street, Riverside
Archer House, 717 Archer Ave., Marshall
Aurora Masonic Temple, 104 S. Lincoln Av., Aurora
Chautauqua (shuh TAW kwuh) Auditorium, Shelbyville
Davenport, Rock Island and Northwestern Depot, 2021 River Drive, Moline
Lewis Pharmacy interior, 8 S. Main St., Canton
Michael Reese Hospital Campus, 29th and Ellis, Chicago
Porthole Barns of Greene County
Prentice Women's Hospital, 251 E. Huron St., Chicago
Shawneetown Bank, 280 Washington St., Old Shawneetown