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Governor, three top leaders meet; little progress announced

Posted December 03, 2007 10:00 pm

Mike Ramsey

The legislature's top Republicans shuttled Monday between Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his political nemesis, Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, in hopes of finalizing details of a capital-construction plan that would be fueled by new Illinois casinos.

Blagojevich - like Madigan, a Chicago Democrat - invited all of the leaders to his Loop office to resume talks about the capital plan. Madigan did not attend because he had a prior engagement, his spokesman, Steve Brown, said.

"They forgot to check people's schedules before they made their grand pronouncements," Brown said. "It doesn't sound like anything was accomplished."

House Minority Leader Tom Cross, R-Oswego, and Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson, R-Greenville, disagreed. They told reporters they were encouraged by the day's discussions, as they left to update Madigan personally.

"Progress was made," Watson said.

The sole topic of Blagojevich's meeting with the two Republicans and Senate President Emil Jones, D-Chicago, was the capital plan, participants said. Left untouched was the intertwining issue of new funding for Chicago-area mass transit - a priority for Madigan that has been the source of disagreement among leaders.

Jones and Blagojevich spokeswoman Abby Ottenhoff said lawmakers could be voting on separate measures for the capital plan and mass transit as soon as next week. They said everyone who showed up at the governor's office Monday was in "99 percent" agreement on the capital side.

"Now the question is the fourth leader - Speaker Madigan - if he's going to be on board as well," Ottenhoff said.

Brown said Madigan and the Republican leaders reviewed 30 to 40 "unresolved" questions about the capital plan in their own meeting. The Senate earlier this year approved a bill that would create a Chicago land-based casino and two additional riverboat casinos to help pay for new schools, roads and bridges.

Jones called Madigan's absence Monday "counterproductive."

The governor invited legislative leaders to resume talks this morning in his Chicago office, Ottenhoff said. Brown, Madigan's spokesman, said he wasn't aware of the meeting.

Republicans have demanded a capital-construction program before they'll support a financial bailout of the Chicago Transit Authority, Metra and Pace. The cash-strapped agencies so far have gotten by with stopgap funds from Blagojevich, but the CTA is preparing to impose service cuts and fare hikes next month if state lawmakers do not come through with long-term assistance.

Mike Ramsey can be reached at (312) 857-2323 or ghns-ramsey@sbcglobal.net.

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