Springfield Update

The indictment last week of Christopher Kelly has apparently shut down any hope for the expansion of gambling to support a capital construction plan. If you recall the Illinois General Assembly is deadlocked on passing a state budget (they passed a budget but the governor has not signed it), deadlocked on a solution for the mass transit crisis and deadlocked on a capital construction bill to avoid losing millions of federal funds. The House was to meet today to consider HB 4194 which would have expanded gambling but also brought additional oversight to school finance and accountability.
The indictment of Kelly for allegedly concealing income and using funds from companies he operates to pay large gambling debts brings further shame on the Blagojevich administration. Speaker Madigan and Minority Leader Cross decided on Friday that with no support for reforms in gambling oversight from the governor or Senate President Jones that there was no need to meet and the scheduled session was canceled. Therefore, any hope for school construction funds and mass transit remain in limbo along with the signing of the BIMP. Merry Christmas to all!