The final nail in the capital bill's coffin

Illinois Senate President Emil Jones Jr. should include a hammer when he sends out his retirement announcement this afternoon. That hammer would be to nail the lid closed on the political casket holding the so-called "compromise" capital proposal.

Now those who've been closely following Illinois politics know the plan's been dead. Never really had much life. Initially it was a $25 billion plan paid for with gambling expansion and leasing out the lottery.
It went nowhere.
So, Gov. Rod Blagojevich brought in Democrat Glenn Poshard and Republicans Denny Hastert to sell it. They said that would require taking the plan up to $34 billion.
It too went nowhere.
Then, the governor came out with what he called a compromise: $25 billion paid for by leasing out the lottery.
It too has gone nowhere.

Jones has been the governor's biggest supporter in this area. He's expected to stick around through the end of this session -- in January. But make no mistake, word of his retirement makes him a political lameduck and the power struggles to replace him have already begun.

The next Senate president is likely to want to put his (or her) stamp of approval on project spending rather than rubberstamp Jones' vision.

And that's why the construction spending spree is a little bit deader today than it was yesterday.