* Gov. Blagojevich was in southern Illinois yesterday for a highway renaming ceremony and was asked about the controversy about moving almost 150 IDOT jobs from Springfield to Benton…
“All I know is there will be 150 new jobs and I’m really excited about it.”
“New” as in “new” for Sen. Gary Forby’s district, but those aren’t “new” jobs. He’s just moving them around.
* Sen. Forby has the quote of the week…
Forby said he doesn’t know why the administration would announce a move without a site in mind.
“That’s the governor’s office,” he said. “I don’t have a clue.”
Neither do we, Gary. Neither do we.
* Meanwhile, on another topic - the governor’s absence from the annual Holocaust memorial service - but on the same frame of reference, the State Journal-Register admits…
We have given up trying to figure out this governor’s motivations.
* Pretty funny, but then they try again anyway…
We have a fairly good idea why he couldn’t be bothered with Wednesday’s Holocaust ceremony. The Hall of Representatives in the Old State Capitol does not provide a secret exit through which the governor could make a hasty retreat and avoid questions from pesky reporters. The governor these days rarely appears in venues where he can’t conveniently avoid any unscripted public contact.
* Meanwhile, the governor has said a capital bill is his top priority, but Sen. Dale Risinger claims the guv has been shafting the state’s Road Fund, which means less cash now for roads and bridges…
About $370 million typically used to be diverted out of the road fund each year and into the budgets of agencies that deal with roads, such as the Illinois State Police or the Secretary of State’s Office, Risinger said.
But he said the Blagojevich administration has made $4.2 billion worth of road fund diversions between fiscal years 2004 and 2009. If road fund diversions had remained at their typical level, the combined amount in that period would have been about $2.2 billion, he said.
* And then there’s this…
The AFSCME report claimed [state] employees are overworked to maintain minimal operational integrity at 24-hour facilities. The report also disclosed that the Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Human Services and Department of Corrections collectively spent $62 million in overtime in a year. “When our members came to work in the state of Illinois, they signed up for public service, not for servitude,” said Henry Bayer, executive director of AFSCME Council 31. “All too many of them are forced to work two and even three 16-hour shifts in one week’s time.”
* The administration’s response?
Kelley Quinn, budget spokeswoman for Gov. Rod Blagojevich, said the governor’s office is trying to recruit for positions such as nurses at veterans’ homes.
“We aggressively try to fill those positions, but they are difficult to fill,” Quinn said.
She forgot to add “they are difficult to fill because we don’t have any political friends with those qualifications,” or something like that.
Quinn does have a point that the state can operate more efficiently with less workers. I’d like to see a study, however, of how many contractors were hired - and at what cost - to fill the gaps created by that 2002 early retirement deal which emptied out so many state offices.
* Somewhat related…
* Union for state workers wants mandatory overtime eliminated - Members of AFSCME throw support behind contract clause, legislation…
* Republicans propose moratorium on closing Illinois prisons
* Tribune editorial: Prison blues