Animal Farm

Invites have apparently been distributed to groups of lawmakers for meetings with Gov. Rod Blagojevich in an effort to try to set aside harsh feelings, mistrust and all the other ill will that members have had toward the administration. The intent is to try to win lawmakers over to the governor's side for budget debates.

Will it work? Similar meetings in past years didn’t exactly smooth the political pavement. But hope always springs eternal at the Illinois Capitol.

The best defense …

On Tuesday morning, House Republican lawmakers gathered in a Capitol news conference room to demand the state's sales tax on gasoline be removed to help working families cope with $4-a-gallon gas.

On Tuesday afternoon, former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, a Plano Republican, appeared in the same news conference room to announce a proposal that would finance $31 billion worth of road construction that numerous lawmakers on both sides of the Illinois Capitol aisle have been clamoring for.

The catch?

Hastert's plan uses that gasoline sales tax money as the financial backing for the borrowing needed for such a massive undertaking.

Former U.S. House Speaker Denny Hastert and SIU President Glenn Poshard were scheduled for a 2:30 p.m. news conference to announce the latest plan for billions of dollars in state-sponsored construction spending.

It's 4 p.m. and they're no where to be seen.

When last spotted, they were headed into the governor's office, like so many construction advocates before them.

For weeks, Hastert and Poshard have emerged from similar meetings to tell reporters "good progress" was made on reaching a deal on how to pay for the construction spending.

House Republicans had a news conference this morning to tell reporters about their idea to get rid of the state’s sales tax on gasoline. The move could save motorists upward of a quarter per gallon IF the station operators pass along all the savings.

Illinois imposes a sales tax on the total price per gallon. That tax is atop other gasoline taxes. The gasoline taxes, in theory, pay for road construction. The added sales tax can pay for anything in state government.

Men’s Fitness Magazine has named Barack Obama as one of its 25 Fittest Guys In America.

Last week, we – Amber Krosel, Nick Shields and myself – set out to talk to every lawmaker from the Daily Herald’s circulation area. By week’s end we’d touched base with almost everyone. More than 40 interviews later, they’d painted a fairly, but not completely, gloomy picture of getting done on time with a balanced spending plan for the next state budget year, which begins July 1.

A tally of the lawmakers’ quotes can be found here.

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=193073&src=109

But if you want to know what those representing your specific part of the suburbs said, below is a lengthy list broken down by those representing Cook, Lake and DuPage counties along with the Fox Valley.

The most important development at the Capitol is word that Matt Damon will be in Springfield this weekend filming for an upcoming movie about the 1990's informant scandal at nearby Decatur-based ADM.

The production crew is looking for extras Sunday through Tuesday, and Tuesday filming is at the Capitol.

This place hasn't been this excited since Reese Witherspoon and the Legally Blonde II crew left town. (The Illinois House chamber subbed for Congress in the critically acclaimed flick).

There've been extensive Damon sightings and interaction over in Decatur during recent filming.

In other movie news ...
Thursday night was the Chicago premier of HBO's new film RECOUNT.

Here's Daily Herald politics and projects reporter Joseph Ryan's red carpet report.

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State Rep. Paul Froehlich, the former Schaumburg Republican turned Democrat, got zinged today on the House floor by a former GOP colleague. Froehlich was accusing state Rep. Raymond Poe, a Springfield Republican, of flip-flopping on gambling.

Poe was having none of it, and given his accuser’s party-swapping background quickly fired back, much to the delight of GOP members. Here's a link to the audio. Special thanks to Illinois Public Radio for assistance.

http://www.dailyherald.com/multimedia/?category=4&type=audio&item=20

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So far this morning, state lawmakers have been busy voting down legislation.

Time is running short on lawmakers’ spring session. But don’t look for a late night tonight.

Tonight is the annual House-Senate softball game.

Here’s what state Sen. Rickey Hendon, a Chicago Democrat, had to say on the Senate floor about the game. To get an accurate feel, try screaming this at the top of your lungs.

“We have lost to the lower chamber the last few years. No fault of our own. The umpires were clearly paid off by the speaker of the House. Every call went against us.

This year my brothers and sisters in the Senate. … We’re going to show those minions in the lower chamber that we are the House of Lords, they are the House of Commons. We will be victorious tonight.

A Springfield media company scheduled a “Rally for Common Sense” tomorrow outside the Capitol. For those not following state government on a minute-by-minute basis, here’s a rundown of why that might be a good idea.

There’s two weeks left in the scheduled spring session, legislative leaders remain in personal political gridlock, there’s open class warfare among Senate Democrats, the current budget is $750 million in the red, next year’s budget is worse off, state auditors say more than $1 billion in health care bill payments are being pushed back weeks in order to make the books look better than they are AND the political world awaits a verdict in a corruption case involving the governor’s top political fundraiser.