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One lawmaker saw long, unproductive summer coming

Posted July 09, 2007 11:00 pm

Adriana Colindres

By ADRIANA COLINDRES

and DANA HEUPEL

STATE CAPITOL BUREAU

SPRINGFIELD -- When state budget negotiations hit a roadblock in May, veteran lawmaker Frank Mautino made what has proven to be a smart investment: buying a family season pass at Knight's Action Park in Springfield.

"Early on, I figured that we may be here over the summer," said Mautino, a Spring Valley Democrat who has served in the Illinois House since 1991. His late father, Richard, also was a longtime state representative.

"Whenever we have overtime sessions, my kids come with me one week, they stay with my wife one week. It gives her a break, and so while we're here and not in session, it gives the kids something to do.

"Turns out that was a pretty wise choice - and it's good through September."

Mautino and his wife, Lena, are parents of three: 11-year-old Peter, 9-year-old Luciana and 6-year-old James. The trio joined him on the House floor Monday.

They've visited Knight's about a half-dozen times this year, and that has "more than paid for the pass," which cost roughly $300, he said. He said his children especially enjoy the water park, go-karts and batting cages.

While the Mautinos didn't go to the park Monday, they apparently will have plenty of other chances. Participants in a budget-negotiating session Monday afternoon generally reported little movement in the quest to agree on a spending plan for state government's new fiscal year, which started July 1.

"I'm not sure the acceptance or realization is there from everybody that we don't have a lot of money to spend," said House Republican Leader Tom Cross of Oswego. "We're at least starting to talk about numbers, but somewhere along the line (there has to be) acceptance that there's only so much money to spend."

Even though the GOP is in the political minority, some House Republican votes will be needed to pass a state budget now because the legislature blew a May 31 deadline.

Cross' Senate counterpart, Republican Leader Frank Watson of Greenville, said of Monday's budget session at the Executive Mansion: "It was not a very productive day - one step forward, two steps back."

House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, had a similarly grim view of the meeting, which some rank-and-file lawmakers attended.

"There was a bipartisan disagreement with the governor's alleged spending gap or revenue gap which was put on the table (Sunday) night," said Madigan.

On Sunday, lawmakers who regularly negotiate budgets prepared a report that an $874 million hole must be closed in the fiscal 2008 budget before the state considers expanding existing programs or adding new ones. Madigan said then the report was "inconclusive," and he repeated the remark Monday.

When asked what it would take to make real progress in the budget talks, Madigan answered: "Good leadership. And it's not here."

Madigan said "a bipartisan request to the governor to engage in a line-by-line examination of all the agency budgets with a view toward spending reductions in non-essential areas" was rebuffed. But Deputy Gov. Sheila Nix said Gov. Rod Blagojevich "welcomed" the idea.

"A lot of the focus was on the budget and the budget numbers," Nix said. "The governor asked Speaker Madigan and his Republican allies to identify, if they don't support new revenue for education and health care, what kind of cuts are they supporting."

Earlier Monday, House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie said she thinks the disagreement over a new state budget is mostly "about how you run the ship of state," rather than a personality-driven conflict between the governor and some legislative leaders.

She added: "Somehow I think (the governor) thinks that if he's standing up to us, if he's picking fights with us, that that wins him points with the public. And maybe he really believes that sooner or later, if he throws enough temper tantrums and engages in even more name-calling, that the legislature will cave and do what? Vote for huge tax increases? I don't think so."

Blagojevich called Monday's special session for the purpose of discussing funding for the State Universities Retirement System and funding for grants administered by the Department of Healthcare and Family Services for rape victims and rape-prevention programs.

The governor's stated purpose for today's (Tuesday's) special session is to consider the budget for the supportive-living program that the Department of Health Care and Family Services runs.

Adriana Colindres can be reached at (217) 782-6292 or adriana.colindres@sj-r.com. Dana Heupel can be reached at (217) 788-1518 or dana.heupel@sj-r.com.

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