March 10, 2010

Despite Illinois’ overwhelming deficit, on March 10 Gov. Pat Quinn presented a “borrow and spend” budget that the Senate Republican Caucus says may be the most irresponsible budget ever submitted to the General Assembly.

“We saw a speech today that was short in many ways,” said Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno. “It was short time-wise, short on specifics, short on ideas and, in general, short on leadership at a time when we desperately need some.”

Sen. Radogno said that the governor’s budget proposal is the same song and dance as last year, noting, “Who would have thought that after Blagojevich was gone for a year we could be worse off—and we are worse off. We are not making any progress.”

Not only is the budget proposal out of balance by almost $5 billion—violating the governor’s constitutional duty to propose a balanced budget—under the plan presented by Quinn nearly a fifth of General Funds spending doesn’t have a single penny to back it up.

The Governor also advanced a 33 percent increase on the state income tax, proposing a surcharge from 3 percent to 4 percent for education funding. However, Senate Republicans stressed that this $3 billion increase was obviously a tactical maneuver to pressure lawmakers into increasing taxes.

March 5, 2010

Legislative committees met continuously during the week as Senate lawmakers attempted to move all Senate bills out of committee by the scheduled March 5 deadline.

The Senate Executive Committee considered legislation that would require a photo of any prisoner who received early release to be posted online, while additional measures would increase the speed limit for cars and trucks to 70 mph on rural interstates and allow $300 million in short-term borrowing for health care providers.

Following reported problems and abuses related to Gov. Pat Quinn’s “MGT Push” inmate early release program, Senate Bill 3411 was introduced to make public identifying information and a photograph of any inmate who is released earlier than was delineated in their initial sentence. The information would not only include the inmate’s name and age, but also his or her physical attributes, address, the offense that was committed and the county where the conviction took place.

March 4, 2010

On March 3, Sen. Radogno met with former professional hockey player Stan Mikita. The hockey legend and Hall of Famer played for the Chicago Blackhawks throughout his entire career. In 1961 he and his fellow Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup.

Mikita traveled to Springfield to meet with lawmakers and attend a cable industry reception.

March 2, 2010

Sen. Radogno was happy to stop by and participate as a guest speaker during Telemundo Hispanic Day at the 2010 Chicago Auto Show.

Hispanic Day featured live music and dancing, as well as appearances by dignitaries, celebrities and television personalities. The Chicago Auto Show is the nation’s largest auto show, boasting just fewer than 1000 cars with an estimated crowd of 1 million estimated in attendance.