Week of January 4, 2010
Before I provide you with a quick review of the upcoming three day session, I want to take a moment to wish everyone a Happy New Year!
The General Assembly returns to Springfield January 12th for three days to start the new Legislative session. On January 13th, Governor Pat Quinn will deliver the annual State of the State Address to the General Assembly and the people of the State of Illinois. I hope everyone has a strong stomach. If Governor Quinn is anywhere close to being forthright, the speech will reveal a State that is on the brink of fiscal collapse. Some non-partisan fiscal entities estimate that Illinois structural deficit is over $10 billion. That deficit threatens funding for programs that the state has supported for many years.
Another issue that will likely get attention during the three day session is the possible sale of the Thompson Correctional Facility. As most of you know by now, Governor Quinn is exploring the possibility of making the vacant Thompson Correctional Center available for sale to the federal government in order to house federal inmates as well as terrorists currently housed at Guantanamo Bay. The proposal has garnered a lot of comments, both positive and negative. There is no question that the proposal has come at a time when many of the comments are political in nature. A proposal like this in an election year will yield political fallout. I want to pint out some of the concerns and get your feedback.
The figure being quoted as a purchase price for Thompson is around $130 million. The facility was built for a cost of around $128 million via bonds that are still being paid off. There are many that believe the facility is worth much more than the $130 million being offered at the present time. If it is eventually sold, certainly $128 million of the proceeds should go to pay off the bonds floated to build the facility. The facility was originally built in order to transfer prisoners to more modern facilities and handle the increasing number of inmates in Illinois.
There are many people that believe that Illinois should not sell the facility at any price because it would bring a very dangerous brand of people to our State. In addition to the relocated terrorists, the facility would house up to two thousand federal inmates. The facility would be operated as a maximum security prison with the most restrictive security conditions. In fact, tens of millions of dollars would be spent to upgrade security at the site prior to any prisoners being housed. At the end of the renovations, the facility would be run as a joint operation by the federal Bureau of Prisons and Department of Defense. The briefings that I have read reveal that about seventy-five percent of the facility will house federal prisoners and around twenty five percent would house terror suspects and be run by the DOD.
Governor Quinn is quick to point out that there are currently thirty five inmates with a “nexus to or history of international or domestic terrorism” housed at the federal Prison in Marion, Illinois. Plus, detainees will not be allowed to have visitors and none of the detainees transferred from Gitmo will be released domestically and none of these individuals would be tried in Illinois federal courts. As a proponent of the sale, the governor obviously attempts to minimize the risk factor.
There is no doubt that Illinois could use the money and the thousands of jobs that would be created by the proposal. The estimate that was presented to members of the General Assembly stated that in the first year, the modification, opening and running of the facility will generate between twenty three hundred and possibly up to three thousand jobs. With economic spin-off, the total economic impact would increase local earnings by around $1 billion. These are impressive statistics, especially to a very depressed area of Illinois. Not surprisingly, local cities and Representatives are very supportive of the proposal.
I have received some correspondence regarding the proposal, but not much. The comments that I have heard are mixed. Since it is possible that we will be facing legislation related to the issue, I would appreciate hearing your thoughts about the proposal.
After this short three day session in January, the General Assembly does not meet again until February 3rd, which is a day after the Primary Election. So, there will be a lot more known regarding the politics that will dominate the rest of the spring session. Governor Quinn faces a primary challenge from Comptroller Dan Hynes and the result of that election on February 3rd will certainly have some bearing on the direction of the remainder of the spring session. In addition, several House and Senate members chose to run for statewide offices and several of them have competition in the primary and not all can be elected. That means that a few will return to the General Assembly as “lame ducks” after losing in the primary and a few will return after winning the primary and will then be at least somewhat affected by the fact that they are still running for election “statewide” in the fall.
Finally, I have heard some very positive comments about the Fair Map Amendment that I wrote about recently. I fully support the concept of taking the mapping process out of the hands of politicians and putting the job into the hands of an independent commission. I intend to do all I can to help collect signatures and get the initiative on the ballot so that we can finally have a redistricting process that is transparent, fair and benefits the voters and not the politicians. You can go to www.ILFairmap.com to read about the initiative. If you are willing to help, please let me know. We need an army of people who are ready to take their government back! You can write me at: P.O. Box 125, Hutsonville, IL 62433, call me at 618-563-4128 or 217-558-1040 or e-mail me at reddyunit1@aol.com. You can also read more on my web site: www.peopleforeddy.com or and follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/RepEddy and www.tweetillinois.org.