Ill. legis does little but quarrel
UPI
Ill. legis does little but quarrel
SPRINGFIELD, Ill., April 5 (UPI) - The General Assembly last week
passed many bills of a purely political nature. In the words of state
Rep. William Black, R-Danville, the Legislature accomplished ``piddly,
diddly squat'' for the people of Illinois.
bc-il-legis
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UPI
Ill. Legis does little but quarrel
By GREGORY TEJEDA
SPRINGFIELD, Ill., April 5 (UPI) - In the words of Statehouse sage
William Black, a Republican state representative from Danville, last
week was fairly unproductive for taxpayers.
The many bills passed by the Illinois House and Senate were motivated
more by campaigns and political concerns than the public good.
Actually, what Black said was, ``The House didn't do piddly, diddly
squat.''
Statehouse observers will admit politics were more important than
public policy last week when the Legislature approved:
-$25 fines against teenagers caught smoking.
-``good government'' bills on campaign finance and government ethics.
-tougher laws against people who run telemarketing scams against
elderly people.
The House also watered down giving more power to county boards to
determine where large-scale hog farms are located. A vote on that is
likely to come when the General Assembly returns to Springfield April
21.
``It's setup week,'' said Brian Timpone, a staffer to Illinois House
Republican Leader Lee Daniels.
``We do all this now so we can go back and run all kinds of campaign
ads during the fall.''
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Copyright 1998 by United Press International.
All rights reserved.
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UPI
(1stadd xxx fall.``)
Ill. Legis does little but quarrel
By GREGORY TEJEDA
SPRINGFIELD, Ill., April 5 (UPI) - In the words of Statehouse sage
William Black, a Republican state representative from Danville, last
week was fairly unproductive for taxpayers.
The many bills passed by the Illinois House and Senate were motivated
more by campaigns and political concerns than the public good.
Actually, what Black said was, ``The House didn't do piddly, diddly
squat.''
Statehouse observers will admit politics were more important than
public policy last week when the Legislature approved:
-$25 fines against teenagers caught smoking.
-``good government'' bills on campaign finance and government ethics.
-tougher laws against people who run telemarketing scams against
elderly people.
The House also watered down giving more power to county boards to
determine where large-scale hog farms are located. A vote on that is
likely to come when the General Assembly returns to Springfield April
21.
``It's setup week,'' said Brian Timpone, a staffer to Illinois House
Republican Leader Lee Daniels.
``We do all this now so we can go back and run all kinds of campaign
ads during the fall.''
The teen-smoking fines, for instance, were sponsored by state Rep.
Corrine Wood, R-Lake Forest, the Republican candidate for lieutanant
governor. The telemarketing scam penalties were sought by Illinois
Secretary of State George Ryan, the GOP candidate for governor. The
bills will enhance their political records.
In Wood's case, it is a necessity. The rookie state lawmaker has
virtually no state political record to fall back on.
Having an accomplishment can reduce the number of times people charge
Ryan with having a no-name running mate to moderate his somewhat
conservative political views.
The county board measure benefits House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-
Chicago, who had originally favored backing environmentalist concerns,
only to have rural Democrats warn of a political backlash if they have
to go against the hog farm owners.
In fact, last week will probably go down in legislative memory
because of Black, who had one of the most explosive tantrums ever seen.
Late Wednesday, Black accused Democrats who run the Illinois House of
being incompetent, saying they had wasted hours of his time.
He then stormed out of the chamber, leaving his legislative
colleagues speechless and resulting in a prompt adjournment for the
night.
Of course, there was one definite result of having the General
Assembly in session last week.
Taxpayers paid $48,975 for House members and $19,588 for senators to
cover the cost of housing and feeding lawmakers during their week at the
Statehouse.