[il-talk] today's rallies and events in Springfield regarding threatened budget cuts

[Bill Reif]

This article appeared in today's State Journal-Register, which can be 
accessed at www.sj-r.com.  There is no specific mention of the threatened 
closings of the schools.

Bill Reif

Social service agencies hope for big rally turnout

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



By ANDREW THOMASON and ERIC NAING
THE STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER
Posted Jun 22, 2009 @ 11:30 PM

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They've hit the phones, sent e-mails and even had face-to-face meetings. 
Today, Illinois social service agencies, en masse, take their message to the 
state Capitol.

This morning, 5,000 black-clad protestors are expected to welcome the 
legislature back to Springfield for a special session meant to hash out some 
of the state's problems - including the plight of social service groups 
whose funding could be cut in half starting next month.

They promise this won't be another ordinary legislative rally.

"Every day, you can find another rally, you can find another group that is 
interested in their issue. What is different is this time ... everyone is 
coming together as a whole," said Sara Moscato Howe, chief executive officer 
of the Illinois Alcohol and Drug Dependence Association.

Protestors range from human service supports to clients and workers. 
Different groups will be given an opportunity at the 11:30 a.m. Capitol 
Rotunda rally to speak to about the situation, and those who participate are 
encouraged to then try to meet fact-to-face with their legislators.

Lawmakers say they welcome that opportunity.

"When you have people willing to go to this effort, that certainly 
influences how you think," said Rep. Rich Brauer, R-Petersburg.

The new budget year starts July 1, and Gov. Pat Quinn has called legislators 
back to fix a budget that contains huge shortfalls in some areas. If those 
holes aren't filled via an income tax increase, Quinn has said, he'll have 
no choice but to move ahead with thousands of layoffs and billions of 
dollars in program reductions.

The state's estimated budget hole of more than $9 billion could mean the 
layoffs of 10,000 state workers and as many as 100,000 employees of agencies 
that provide services like child care, mental health and drug addiction 
treatment, and programs for the developmentally disabled. Up to 140,000 
children could lose child care.

The governor, at an appearance in Springfield Monday, dodged questions about 
whether he would approve a short-term spending plan to avoid immediate cuts 
if lawmakers don't provide more money by next week.

"I want to make it crystal clear to legislators: We're not doing any 
half-baked proposal. We're going to go and work and work and work until we 
get a fair budget," Quinn said.

Quinn's schedule has him attending the rally.

Before the rally at the Capitol, social service providers from the 
Springfield area will sponsor a forum where local lawmakers are invited to 
discuss the cuts. It runs from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. at the President 
Abraham Lincoln Hotel, Seventh and Adams streets.

"I hope what it will do is demonstrate to (legislators) the intensity that 
we all feel and help them see that they must do something," said Ann Ford, 
executive director of the Illinois Network of Centers for Independent 
Living, one of the forum's organizers.

According to Anders Lindall, spokesman for the American Federation of State, 
County and Municipal Employees, hundreds of union members will be at the 
rally today in a continuation of weeks of lobbying.

AFSCME members have "picketed, marched and met one-on-one with dozens of 
lawmakers," Lindall said. "For the last several weeks, we have sustained an 
intensive e-mail and phone campaign by our members that has generated many 
thousands of calls and messages to lawmakers, and those calls and messages 
are continuing."

The AARP set up a hotline to connect members with their legislators. So far 
more than 5,000 people have used the service, according to David Irwin, 
spokesman for the group, which advocates for senior citizens.

"If the legislators are listening to their constituents and the individuals 
that are going to be affected, they are going to send this budget back," 
Irwin said.

People involved with the Ounce of Prevention Fund, an early childhood 
education advocacy group, have sent almost 6,000 e-mails and made hundreds 
of calls to their lawmakers, spokeswoman Jelene Britten said.

Dan Schwick, spokesman for Lutheran Social Services of Illinois, said his 
group has called on about 1,000 members of a grassroots network to bombard 
lawmakers with calls and e-mails.

Both Sen. Larry Bomke, R-Springfield, and Sen. Dave Syverson, R-Rockford, 
said they have been on the receiving end of those e-mails, phone calls and 
meetings with people frightened by funding cuts.

Syverson said that in talking with his constituents he tells them the 
massive cuts to human services won't happen because Quinn's doomsday 
scenario is simply a scare tactic and nothing more.

Regardless, Schwick says, "everybody is holding their breath."



Andrew Thomason can be reached at 782-6882. Eric Naing can be reached at 
782-3095.



Brauer willing to return part of his pay if cuts happen

At least one central Illinois lawmaker is willing to return half of his 
paycheck to the state if state services are cut in half under what some are 
calling the legislature's doomsday budget.

Lawmakers are back in town today for a special session on the budget. They 
sent Gov. Pat Quinn a spending plan in late May with shortfalls that could 
force state worker layoffs and major program cuts.

Rep. Rich Brauer, R-Petersburg, said he's willing to also take a pay cut if 
the doomsday scenario happens, but he doesn't think it will be necessary.

"This thing is going to get resolved," Brauer said. "What you see here is 
the fact that the Democrats got us in this mess, and now they're asking us 
to help them get out of it."

Sen. Larry Bomke, R-Springfield, wouldn't commit either way, but noted that 
he has never accepted a pay raise. Bomke said he annually gives 10 percent 
of his paycheck back to the state anyway.

Rep. Raymond Poe, R-Springfield, did not return telephone calls on the 
question Monday.



Events today at the Capitol

*8:30 to 10:30 a.m. - Social service providers schedule a forum at the 
President Abraham Lincoln Hotel to talk with local legislators about 
devastation that would result from possible state budget cuts.

*10:30 a.m. - Advocacy groups fighting domestic violence and sexual assault 
and others gather in tents at the Abraham Lincoln statue on the east side of 
the Capitol to show the impact of budget cuts on their services.

*11 a.m. - Service providers meet at the Lincoln statue for a march to 
Attorney General Lisa Madigan's nearby office and then to the state 
Republican Party office.

*11:30 a.m. - An expected 5,000 providers, workers and clients, along with 
Gov. Pat Quinn, rally in the Capitol Rotunda.

*2 p.m. - Lawmakers are scheduled to open the first day of their special 
session on the state budget.



-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: ad_disclaimer_300x250.gif
Type: image/gif
Size: 328 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/il-talk_nfbnet.org/attachments/20090623/6f1fbb06/attachment.gif>