Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes said Thursday that he has frozen payments for legislative pork-barrel projects and called on lawmakers to consider using the more than $100 million left in a special fund for so-called member initiatives to help plug the state’s budget gap instead.
“This money should be on the table along with all other state resources as the governor and General Assembly grapple with the problem of putting together a balanced budget,” Hynes said. “In my view, very few of these projects will meet the test of critical need and urgency that we should apply to all expenditures during this massive budget crisis.”
Although some lawmakers questioned whether Hynes has the authority to halt the payments, Hynes said he believed state law grants him discretion as the state’s chief fiscal officer. He acknowledged he will have to eventually issue the checks if the legislature does not agree to redirect pork funds to help fill a $1.3 billion budget gap.
He said delaying payments would preserve as much money as possible in case lawmakers decided to tap into the fund.
Hynes initiated the freeze on April 23 after a Tribune article highlighted a $25,000 pork grant sent to Waukegan to help pay for a statue of native son Jack Benny.
Since that day, he has held up nearly $1 million in checks to underwrite lawmakers’ pet projects, including up to $50,000 sponsored by Sen. John Cullerton (D-Chicago) to compensate Friends of Lincoln Park for a recently completed rehab of a lily pool next to the Lincoln Park Zoo.
The pool, built during the Great Depression and recently renamed the Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool after its designer, was granted preliminary landmark status Thursday by the Chicago Commission on Landmarks.
“What made me do it is I felt we were being inconsistent and we were confusing taxpayers,” Hynes said. “What kind of message are we sending to taxpayers when one day they hear about proposed cuts in education, health care and social services and the next day they read in the local paper that the state has just spent $50,000 on a Lincoln Park lily pool?”
Cullerton said he is not offended by Hynes’ move–as long as it is legal–because it is a higher priority, for example, to reimburse hospitals for Medicaid expenses than to pay for the lily pool.
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“Hopefully we can do both after this session,” Cullerton said.
Gov. George Ryan called Hynes’ maneuver a “good move,” but also said it “doesn’t mean anything” because the money cannot be spent unless lawmakers appropriate it differently.
Hynes said about $116 million in unspent money is available in the fund, including a small portion for the governor to distribute. Though a part of that money is committed to projects, Hynes and the governor’s office disagree on how big that total is. The governor’s office has maintained the only portion that is not earmarked is worth about $50 million. Hynes has said the figure is about twice that.
Hynes’ move drew opposition from Senate Minority Leader Emil Jones, a Chicago Democrat who sponsored a $400,000 technology grant for Jobs for Youth/Chicago that is now on hold. Cindy Huebner, Jones’ spokeswoman, said he doesn’t believe Hynes has the authority to halt the payments, and the Democratic legislative leader “would strongly suggest” that Hynes release the funds where the money has already been committed.
She said Jones would consider using uncommitted funds in the special legislative account to help solve the budget crisis. But she said the $400,000 grant is a worthwhile program that would help low-income youths kids learn computer skills.
“We are going to have a $400,000 hole in a $2 million budget if this money doesn’t come through,” said Therese McMahon, an official with the group who maintained Hynes’ freeze unfairly lumped worthy projects with those of lesser merit.
Steve Brown, spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago), said the speaker did not “venture an opinion” on Hynes’ freeze. In April, Madigan said he would consider dipping into the unspent member-initiative money as part of an overall budget solution.
In January, Ryan suggested freezing the legislative pork-barrel money during a closed-door budget summit with legislative leaders and aides.
Several witnesses inside the meeting said a furious Madigan snapped, “That’s my money. You can’t touch it.”
On Thursday, Madigan flatly denied he made the comment. It was the first time since the Tribune reported the statement three months ago that Madigan publicly stated he hadn’t said it.
Meanwhile, Democratic governor nominee Rod Blagojevich and the state Republican chairman, House GOP leader Lee Daniels of Elmhurst, reached some common ground Thursday by voicing opposition to tax hikes to bail out the state budget.
“I do not believe we should raise taxes now,” Blagojevich, a Northwest Side congressman, said in Washington. “I think before you ask taxpayers again to make a sacrifice, you’ve got to get their confidence back. When the state legislature refuses to get rid of member initiatives, refuses to do something serious about [ending] subsidizing the horse-racing industry, it’s unfair to ask taxpayers to bail out the failed policies of the past.”
But Madigan appeared to dismiss Blagojevich’s comments, saying, “We’re interested in the views of all Illinoisans. Mr. Blagojevich is an Illinoisan and, therefore, we’re interested in his views.”
Still, Madigan said, “as far as I’m concerned, everything’s on the table” to balance the budget, including tax increases.