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House rejects bailout for Chicago-area mass transit

Posted November 28, 2007 10:00 pm

Doug Finke

This year's 17th special session of the Illinois General Assembly ended the way it began Wednesday, with no agreement on mass transit funding or a public works construction program and no immediate prospects for one.

The House Wednesday night rejected a plan to give Chicago-area mass transit systems an infusion of cash to avert threatened service cuts and fare increases. The bill got only 57 of the 71 votes it needed to pass.

But even if the House had OK'd the legislation, it was going nowhere in the Senate without an accompanying capital construction program and a massive expansion of gambling to pay for it.

"If it passes the House and comes to a vote in the Senate, it will fail," Senate President Emil Jones, D-Chicago, said hours before the House vote.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who called lawmakers into special session Wednesday to deal with mass transit funding, issued a statement calling them into yet another special session today (Thursday). He said today's session should be devoted to both mass transit funding and a capital bill.

"The message from the legislature is clear: Members will not pass a solution for the mass transit without a capital infrastructure plan," Blagojevich said in the statement.

However, House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, said he thinks mass transit and public works should be dealt with separately.

"I want to reiterate what I have said all along, that I for one will not hold transit riders hostage for casinos," Madigan said. "I'm here to work on both problems, but I'm not going to be holding transit riders hostage for casinos."

Madigan is the only legislative leader who feels that way.

"The big elephant (a capital bill) is still there, and we must deal with that," Jones said. "Downstaters are willing to vote to help pass mass transit, providing there's a capital bill."

Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson, R-Greenville, a major proponent of a public works spending initiative, agreed.

"You can't do one without the other," he said. "Our leverage, as people who are advocates of a capital bill, is mass transit."

The Republican leader in the House, Rep. Tom Cross of Oswego, sent a letter to lawmakers saying that mass transit funding "must be integrated with a sustainable capital bond program."

The capital bill would pay for road and bridge projects, school construction, university buildings and other public works projects statewide. Downstate lawmakers from both parties in the House and Senate are demanding that a capital bill be passed as a condition for them to support the mass transit funding bill to benefit the Chicago area. Their votes are needed for the transit bill to pass.

Madigan has vowed to work on a capital bill and the gambling expansion to pay for it. However, given the atmosphere of distrust that's permeated the Statehouse all year, many rank-and-file lawmakers are skeptical that a capital bill will get passed if mass transit is taken care of first. Nine downstate Senate Democrats issued a letter Wednesday insisting that a capital bill be done in conjunction with a mass transit bill.

"There's a lack of trust on many fronts," said Sen. John Sullivan of Rushville, leader of the downstate Senate Democratic caucus. "We need assurances that both of these issues will be addressed, and the only way we see to do that is that they are done at the same time."

The mass transit bailout bill that fell 14 votes short of approval in the House Wednesday night would have diverted $385 million in sales tax money from gasoline purchases to Chicago-area mass transit systems. The idea was crafted by Cross and supported by Blagojevich.

Madigan initially supported an alternative plan calling for a small sales tax increase solely in the area served by the mass transit systems, but on Monday, abruptly changed his position and said he supported the statewide tax diversion.

But that proposal drew opposition from lawmakers in both parties. Cross voted "present," saying Madigan was simply playing games by calling the bill for a vote.

Others complained there were no firm plans to replace the sales tax revenue being diverted.

"The bill creates a $400 million hole in the budget with no money coming back in to fill it up," Watson said. "That's not responsible."

Rep. Frank Mautino, D-Spring Valley, said he would be hard-pressed to explain to his constituents that he voted to send money to Chicago transit systems while needed projects in his own area aren't being funded.

"It's not the dumbest bill I've ever seen, but I haven't read them all. It's close," Mautino said.

Doug Finke can be reached at (217) 788-1527 or doug.finke@sj-r.com.

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