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 The Illinois Chamber will host a second debate
amongst the leading candidates for the Republican nomination
in Springfield, March 7.
As with the Naperville debate on January
25, the event will be broadcast live on network television,
ABC's Springfield affiliate Channel 20.
The
debate will be the closing event for the Chamber's
annual Business Summit lobby day. To attend the
Business Summit and the debate, visit the Chamber's website
for information and registration materials visit the Chamber
Events heading on our website: www.ilchamber.org. |
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The State's
Auditor General last week reported that Governor Blagojevich's
administration has been grossly inflating Illinois job numbers during
his entire administration. Auditor General
William Holland's office released an audit of the Illinois
Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity that found "math
mistakes, missing information, figures that were contradicted
by documents and questionable definitions of what to count as
a job." For
example, DCEO counts jobs expected to be created by grants as
actual jobs created as well as individuals in training slots
as new jobs created and retained even if those individuals
were already employed.
The audit found
that during a 90 day period, actual jobs that were created
totaled 8,562 but DCEO and Blagojevich announced the state had
created 59,845 jobs for the same period. Legislators on both
sides of the aisle are beginning to question if taxpayers are
getting their money's worth. DCEO handed out $850
million in grants last year for economic development across
Illinois. |
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In its January
State Economic Outlook, Moody's says that while the Illinois economy has finally begun to
recover from the recession that ended in early 2005,
Illinois job growth has
slowed in recent months and lags well behind the
U.S. average. Also noted is the fact
that Illinois remains 188,000
jobs short of its employment peak.
Moody's goes on to
say, "Given the weak pace of Illinois' labor market
recovery, the outlook has been revised downward. Employment will reach
its pre-recession peak slightly later than was anticipated
earlier. Over the
long term, Illinois will remain a
below-average performing economy due primarily to its sub-par
demographic trends and concentration of slow growing and
secularly declining businesses." |
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 Last week, IDOT Secretary Tim Martin unveiled the
state's road plan for the coming budget year. Included in the plan
are the major road projects the state would like to undertake
in the coming years.
This year's plan was released a month earlier than
usual so that legislators would understand that it is tied
closely to the passage of the Governor's proposed $2.3 million
capital plan.
Martin said during
the announcement, that if lawmakers fail to pass the capital
budget, $80 million in cuts to the road plan will take place
largely in the collar county region. GOP lawmakers will be
needed to pass the Governor's capital plan and these proposed
cuts are seen as a direct threat to GOP areas. "This
is not a threat," Martin said. "But I am not going to be
accused of playing a shell game. If the bond program does not
pass, we have to find $80
million." |
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 "Toddlers would get free preschool.
College students with a B-average would get $1,000 tax
credits. And if things work out the way he plans, satisfied
voters would re-elect Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich in
November.
A recovering economy and a burning desire to
get re-elected propelled Mr. Blagojevich into the role of Lord
Bountiful during his annual budget message last week. But
legislative Republican realists hooted and jeered as Mr.
Blagojevich baldly claimed to have balanced the budget and
eased the state's monstrous pension debt. Wishful
thinking." Read
the whole thing...
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