Local leaders disappointed with governor's no-show at meeting

(Originally posted Tuesday)

[October 26, 2011]  SPRINGFIELD -- Members of the Logan County community traveled to Springfield this morning to have a sit-down with Gov. Pat Quinn over the proposed closure of Logan Correctional Center. The governor, however, was a no-show, with top aide Jerry Stermer and three other aides sitting in on the discussion instead.

Logan leaders had received a forewarning the night before that perhaps with the fall veto session on, the governor would not make the meeting. But there was still disappointment with the governor not being available to listen to the pleas of the delegation.

According to Shannon Kelly, AFSCME union president for Logan Correctional, the governor not being on hand was "another slap in the face to Logan Correctional employees."

Andi Hake, executive director of the chamber, and Mike Maniscalco, director of the development partnership, also expressed disappointment with not being able to express their concerns directly to Quinn, with Maniscalco saying he hopes to have another chance to meet face to face with the governor in the future.

Maniscalco said that aides went over the state budget and said that if funding was put back into the budget, the chance of Logan and other proposed facility closings could be reconsidered, but nothing was promised.

In all, the discussion lasted approximately 45 minutes with no assurances or positive dialogue that Logan would be saved.

There are seven facilities under Quinn's axe that are looking for help from the fall veto session now under way. Besides Logan Correctional, three mental health centers, two developmental centers and the youth prison in Murphysboro, totaling 1,900 state jobs, are being faced with closing at the end of the calendar year.

Lincoln Mayor Keith Snyder said the group tried to explain that the economic impact on Lincoln would be eight times greater than what Quinn would save by shuttering the facility.

State Sen. Bill Brady gave some hope for a possible postponement of the closure of the local prison, saying that the ongoing debate over the budget between the governor and the General Assembly during the fall veto session could delay the proposed closure from Jan. 1 to March 2012. That would give proponents of keeping the prison open a little more breathing space to press their case.

On Wednesday at 5 p.m. the public hearing with members of the General Assembly's Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability on the proposed closure of the prison will be held at the Earl C Hargrove Chapel, and Maniscalco, Hake and Kelly all asked for the community to come out in numbers to press the case for keeping Logan open.

[LDN]