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CCSD66 Notes

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

More Governor Blagojevich News

Our illustrious Governor made the news several times over the weekend. I got a chuckle out of Eric Zorn, Chicago Tribune columnist, in his criticism of the Governor's haste to build a new lecture hall at NIU to replace Cole Hall the site of the recent tragedy. Zorn said, “It had all of the hallmarks of a Blagojevich feel-good stunt: Haste, Dubious necessity. Lack of consensus. And the whiff of moral vanity”. The start of the Tony Rezko trial and the news today that the $1 million the Governor gave to rebuild a Chicago church destroyed by fire had gone to the wrong people will provide new opportunities for news.

In other matters, the Governor's plan to expand his health care initiative throughout the state ran into another road block last week when JCAR again ruled in a 8-2 vote that the Governor can not expand health care coverage without legislative approval. Naturally, the Governor claims that “executive authority” allows him to continue to expand this plan. Comptroller, Dan Hynes projects that Illinois will have in excess of $ 1 billion in unpaid Medicaid bills by the end of the fiscal year in June 2008. Blagojevich's plan is estimated to cost $14 million for 2008 and could grow to over $ 225 million if unchecked. All of this on top of a budget that is $750 million short of revenues for this year. Where does this foolishness stop?

posted by Jay Tiede @ 9:28 AM