Central Illinois Gazette

Winkel says:

Posted by: Tom Kacich

Friday, May 30, 2008 8:18 AM

Former state Sen. Rick Winkel, an Urbana Republican, knows a thing or two about Blagojevich administration pension bond sales.

He was one of a small minority of Senate Republicans to go along with a $10 billion bond sale proposed by the governor in 2003.

But he says today that he would not do it again. The Blagojevich gang has proposed a $16 billion pension bond sale this year, in part to shore up the state's pension funds but also to siphon about $500 million for general state operations for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

(I had hoped to talk to Winkel for my N-G column yesterday but that didn't work out).

"Don't do it," a wiser Winkel says today of the pension deal.

In exchange for his vote in 2003 - and for which he got a lot of heat from other Senate Republicans - Winkel was supposed to get a commitment from Blagojevich to undertake the long-awaited renovation of Lincoln Hall on the University of Illinois campus.

It still hasn't happened.

"I found out who I was working with," Winkel said. "From my experience I wouldn't do it again."

First, he said he wouldn't trust Blagojevich. He isn't alone, of course, the General Assembly is full of members who believe they've been burned by the governor and his administration.

Second, Winkel said he didn't like the way political insiders, including GOP heavyweight Robert Kjellander, profited from the bond deal.

"I wouldn't do it again," Winkel said. "Besides, who's vote to give him a ton of money that he could use as a discretionary fund?"

It may be a moot point anyway. After saying earlier this week that they hoped to call the pension bill for a vote Tuesday or Wednesday, Senate sponsors haven't done so yet. They're said to be three or four votes short among the 37 Senate Democrats.

The House will be an even tougher nut to crack. Speaker Michael Madigan is against the idea so it's a very good bet that this pension bond sale isn't going anywhere.

That also means, of course, that the budget passed by the Senate will be far out of balance since it is missing at least $500 million in revenue.

It looks like lawmakers may leave it to Blagojevich to do the budget-cutting - if that's what he opts to do.

It's irresponsible, of course, but most lawmakers are happy to let Blago be the bad guy.


UPDATE: Well, the Senate voted for the bond deal Thursday afternoon. All 37 Democrats, including Champaign's Mike Frerichs who earlier this week said he was leaning against voting for the deal, signed on.

So the bond deal goes to the House where at one time it seemed to have no chance. All of a sudden, it has new life.

It's all about what Madigan wants to do and, even more important, who he wants to blame for what does or doesn't get done after this weekend.

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