Political Rewind: Casinos, Capital Bill and Useless Government

Editor's Note: This article was created by aggregating news articles from Illinois Statehouse News that were written by various Illinois Statehouse News reporters.

Lawmakers: Jaffee needs to regulate, not preach

One man is stopping all gaming expansion in Illinois, despite two laws approved by the General Assembly, say a growing number of lawmakers.

And that man is Aaron Jaffee, chairman of the Illinois Gaming Board.

State Sen. Terry Link, D-Waukegan, points to Jaffee's criticism of legislation that would allow for five new casinos in the state and the slow roll-out of video gambling that was passed back in 2009.

"We have a gaming board that is clearly anti-gaming," Link said.

Link added that Jaffee has used his position as the state's top gambling regulator to take a personal stand.

"It's his job to regulate Illinois gaming industry," said Link. "It's not his job to preach."

But Jaffee said he is doing exactly what he's supposed to be doing.

"I'm not pushing for anybody or anything. I'm trying to protect the public interest," Jaffee said. "If lawmakers think they're representing the public interest, I don't think they know what they are talking about."

Jaffee said the casino expansion plan does not include enough oversight of the new casinos, nor has the General Assembly included enough money to regulate 15 casinos and a slew of new slot machines at Illinois' racetracks. Jaffe calls the plan "garbage."

Illinois high court OKs road plan

The Illinois Supreme Court’s decision is paving the way for billions of dollars in statewide road construction projects and the thousands of jobs they will produce.

“This means our job recovery program can go forward, full speed ahead,” said Gov. Pat Quinn at a Monday news conference.

Local lawmakers pleased with construction ruling

The Illinois Supreme Court’s ruling that upholds the state’s $31-billion construction plan could mean stable employment and stable projects for local communities.

“It brings some sense of normalcy and overall ease to the projects that we have going on. Whether it’s the (Southern Illinois University) science building, the Belleville forensic lab, or Illinois Route 255,” said state Rep. Dan Beiser, D-Alton, who added that road work throughout the Metro East and construction of a new Mississippi River bridge will continue.

The justices unanimously agreed Monday that the 2009 legislation authorizing the construction work is constitutional. W. Rockwell Wirtz, president of Wirtz Beverage of Illinois LLC, the state’s largest liquor distributor, said in the lawsuit against the state that because lawmakers paid for these capital projects through various revenue sources, the legislation was not focuses on a single subject.

Beiser echoed the optimism of several lawmakers, including state Sen. Mike Jacobs, D-East Moline. Jacobs said that in his Quad Cities, the $560 million in projects under way can continue, including the final stages of construction of the Western Illinois University campus in Moline.

“We’ve built the first phase of the university, it’s almost completed,” said Jacobs. “There’s been some apprehension locally that they wouldn’t finish it…This is the kind of announcement that lets people realize that the university is going to be built.”

Topinka: Small paper checks are ‘government being stupid’

Judy Topinka is tired of signing paper checks for a $1.50 or less.The Illinois comptroller said she is sick of paying 40 cents for postage to send a check for $1.50, and described the idea of sending paper checks for small amounts as “stupid.”

“In this day and age, why are we getting all of these checks for often times less than a dollar?” Topinka asked Monday at a statehouse news conference. “This is just stupid. This is government being stupid and wasting money.”

And Topinka is determined to stop this practice.

On Monday, she zipped across the state to tout legislation that would allow her to incentive direct deposit for state vendors. Under the plan, any individual or business receiving more than 30 checks a year will be required to enroll in direct deposit. If not, Topinka said, the state will charge a $2.50 per-check fee.

“I’m sure there are some that are quite wedded to paper checks, but it’s going to cost them,” Topinka said.

The Comptroller’s Office also would stop sending checks for amounts less than $5, unless a business requests a paper check. The business would not be charged the $2.50 fee for checks smaller than $5, but they would on any amount over the limit.

Topinka estimated that the changes will save $1 million a year in paper and postage costs.

Lawmakers not backing Quinn’s halt on pay hikes

Illinois lawmakers are not backing Gov. Pat Quinn’s bid to cancel pay hikes for 30,000 unionized state employees — at least not yet.

The legislature's Joint Committee on Administrative Rules postponed a decision until at least August on whether to pay the promised 2-percent raises to thousands of workers, many of whom are members of the state’s largest public employee union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME.

However, lawmakers, many of whom support Quinn’s efforts, said they want a judge to decide the next move.

State Rep. Don Moffitt, R-Galesburg, said legislative action is not needed at this point.

"The fact that the courts are going to be involved and an arbitrator is involved, those are normal avenues when there is a dispute," said Moffitt.

On Friday, AFSCME filed a lawsuit in U.S. Central District Court here, to force Quinn to fulfill the 2008 contract the union signed with then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich. That deal guaranteed a 15-percent pay increase for many AFSCME members over a four-year period. This is the last year of that contract; the pay hikes were supposed to take effect July 1.

Lawmakers punt, workers picket on pay raises

Lawmakers balked and union workers walked on Monday as the fall-out from Governor Pat Quinn's order not to pay 30,000 state of Illinois workers their promised raises reverberated across Illinois.

The governor had hoped lawmakers would join his decision not to pay the workers, most of them AFSCME workers, their promised 2-percent raises this year. But the legislature's Joint Committee on Administrative Rules did not even talk about Quinn's request at a Monday meeting in Chicago.

But that doesn't mean lawmakers want to pay the raises that some say the state can't afford. Republican Senator Dale Righter says the new state budget did not include the $75 million dollars for the employee raises.