Chicago Sun-Times
June 28, 2006
Sweet Column: Blagojevich Says Prairie Parkway Not Priority
Gov. Blagojevich was in Washington on Tuesday. Let me first summarize the developments or rather, the debacle.
*Blagojevich stiffed Mayor Daley and Sen. Dick Durbin by originally
skipping a joint press conference with the two other top Illinois
Democrats, only to scamper to it in retreat after his chief of staff,
John Harris, and an aide could not shake reporters who had questions
for the governor.
*The governor said the proposed Prairie Parkway was not a priority for
him even though it was listed as a transportation priority in the
official joint city-state federal initiative document being handed out
Tuesday signed by Daley and Blagojevich. The document was released at
the news conference at the exact time Blagojevich, a few dozen yards
away, was downplaying his interest in the road.
The parkway is a pet project of House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert
(R-Ill.), who inserted the project into a bill last year through an
increasingly controversial process called earmarking.
Earlier this month, digging journalists and a watchdog group
investigating the role of money in politics and policy, revealed
Hastert made about $2 million by selling land adjacent to his Plano
home in Kendall County, a few miles from the proposed parkway.
*The governor, when he decided to rejoin Daley, Durbin and other
members of the delegation, let slip a secret -- that he was in Boston
on Monday afternoon for a fund-raising lunch hosted by Sen. Ted Kennedy
(D-Mass.). The governor entertained donors at another fund-raiser in
Washington on Monday night; I showed up and covered. Where Blagojevich
goes to raise or prospect for money is, with few exceptions, a closely
guarded Blagojevich secret.
Most in delegation take a pass
Here's how the afternoon unfolded:
Blagojevich and Daley threw a lunch Tuesday (in Durbin's offices) for
the 21-member Illinois delegation -- only 10 lawmakers bothered to show
-- to review the joint city-state agenda.
The lunchers, in no particular order: Democrats Durbin, fellow senator
Barack Obama, Danny Davis. Melissa Bean, Jan Schakowsky, Rahm Emanuel,
Dan Lipinski. Republicans Judy Biggert, Ray LaHood, Don Manzullo.
No shows: Hastert, though there was a place set for him and Republicans
Mark Steven Kirk; Henry Hyde; Jerry Weller; Tim Johnson, and John
Shimkus. Democrats Luis Gutierrez, Jesse Jackson Jr., Jerry Costello;
Bobby Rush and Lane Evans, who is ill.
It was mainly a Blagojevich-Daley symbolic show since Congress has long
been at work on items related to fiscal 2007. In reality, the city and
the state have professional lobbying offices in Washington that stay on
top of federal legislation. The Chicago and Illinois shops work closely
with Durbin's operation. The list of major projects and goals for this
year has not changed much since last year.
Joint city-state priorities either are in the pipeline by now, are not
to be or will spring to life at the behest of the powerful Hastert, who
will throw them in a bill at the last minute as an earmark. Durbin also
has juice as a member of the Appropriations Committee.
Since there was no strategic reason for the joint lunch (sandwiches and
chips) -- it had been postponed because of Daley and Blagojevich
scheduling issues -- the only reason then would be to draw public
attention to some policy goals.
But Blagojevich was set to leave through a rear door of Durbin's suite
of offices in the Capitol. However, he was sidelined as reporters
started asking him questions. Daley and Durbin were left to start their
news conference, flanked with several members of the delegation, with
most of the reporters not even there.
Honda plant may be lost cause
I asked Blagojevich about his commitment to the Prairie Parkway because
I have been writing about Hastert's windfall and because Hastert
complained a few weeks ago about Blagojevich not delivering on needed
state funds for the roadway. Hastert blistered Blagojevich on this
point while keynoting a Washington fund-raiser for GOP gubernatorial
candidate Judy Baar Topinka.
"I don't have a strong opinion about it one way or the other,''
Blagojevich said. With a wicked grin he queried me, "Why do you ask?''
And what was Blagojevich's hurry? He said he had to get back to
Illinois in order to meet with executives from Honda, the automaker. He
was trying to woo them to build a major plant in Illinois. He also
said, when I asked, that he had a fund-raiser in Chicago on Tuesday
night.
And that Honda plant? Indiana officials are expected to announce today that it is going to be in their state.