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From Sen. Bill Brady

[August 20, 2007] 

No rate relief, no state budget

Now in an unprecedented third month of overtime, a continuing lack of leadership by the governor and Democratic legislative leaders has left the state of Illinois -- and the citizens it serves -- with no rate relief for utility consumers and no state budget.

The General Assembly missed its scheduled May 31 adjournment deadline. On July 25, the legislature set a record for the longest overtime session.

A utility rate relief settlement was approved July 26. A budget was approved Aug. 9. The governor has signed neither.

The people of Illinois and the employees of the state of Illinois deserve better.

Blagojevich is exceeding constitutional authority

Gov. Rod Blagojevich is exceeding his constitutional authority by trying to spend money the General Assembly has not authorized.

He reminds me of the Steven Seagal movie "Above the Law." Not only does he think he is above the law, he thinks he is above the constitution. He is trying to circumvent the fiscal 2008 budget approved by the legislature Aug. 9 in a manner that is both unconstitutional and illegal.

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I do not question the governor's amendatory veto of funding appropriated for "pork" projects, just his attempt to use the money for a completely different purpose not authorized by lawmakers.

I was the first to stand up and say the governor should amendatorily veto the pork. Any reasonable person would question if we currently have enough revenue for these projects, which may be worthwhile but not affordable right now. This action is fully within the purview of the governor's authority.

What is above the law and above the Illinois Constitution is that Blagojevich is trying to circumvent the legislative process through executive order and use those funds for other programs. He took an oath of office to uphold the Illinois Constitution, which says he can only spend money authorized by the legislature.

Other ways to circumvent budget process?

There is speculation that even when the governor accepts the fact that he cannot spend money without General Assembly authorization, he might still find a way to get around the rules. One political pundit suggested that the governor might simply go on a spending spree, using up the annual appropriation for health programs in a few months, and then portray lawmakers as heartless if they refused to approve more money for those programs.

[Text from file received from Sen. Bill Brady]

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