Bear With Me

Okay, so I just found out today that the podcast service I use to host all the audio files I link to on this blog is shutting down soon. They're transferring their paid users' files to a new server and will transfer files for free users (like me), but only if the free users sign up for a paid subscription with the new server. Being that I don't have a job at the moment, that means I need to find a new free podcasting service and manually switch over my files, so that might mean some delays in updating the blog the next couple weeks.

Anyway, on to the latest news the past couple days:

The four legislative leaders have been meeting pretty regularly in recent days to hammer out details of the capital plan so they can get it done soon. They say they expect to take a vote in the Senate on Wednesday, but it's still not clear if that means they've got an agreement on how the capital plan will work. Meantime, progress is still lacking on a budget for next year. Gov. Pat Quinn took the odd move this week to unveil a "doomsday budget" that reveals deep cuts he claims would be needed to balance the budget without new taxes. Among the cuts Quinn claims would be needed: 14,300 teachers and half the state police force would be laid off; 6,000 prisoners would have to be released early; 400,000 college students would lose financial aid grants; and 650,000 people would lose state-funded programs for prescription drugs and health care; four veterans' homes would close. But lawmakers essentially shrugged off Quinn's claims as a scare tactic to convince them to support a tax hike. Rikeesha Phelon, spokeswoman for Senate President, said if Quinn really believes lawmakers would have to consider a doomsday budget scenario, he should introduce his claims in bill form so they can see real numbers. Regardless, it doesn't sound like many lawmakers are buying that Quinn is serious. It does seem a little late in the game to be using this kind of tactic. If Quinn really wants to sell a tax hike to balance the budget, why didn't he start laying out specifics of what would happen without one in his budget address?

The other big question the next couple weeks is what ethics reforms lawmakers will enact. The biggest proposal out there is campaign contribution caps for the state. The governor's hand-picked Illinois Reform Commission says it will have a bill to limit contributions at $2,400 per person ready this week. It's already pretty clear lawmakers won't agree to those limits and will likely approve limits of anywhere from $7,000 to $10,000 per person; perhaps more for contributions from political committees. If so, that likely won't satisfy Reform Commission Chairman Patrick Collins. Of course, he doesn't have any real say in what will happen, but he's got a good point: a $10,000 limit on contributions isn't much of a limit when most lawmakers rarely see any individual contributions of more than $1,000.