Jun 2, 2008 6:45 pm US/Central
Another Showdown Over State Budget On Horizon
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Gov. Rod Blagojevich (File)
CBS
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Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan (File)
CBS
Gov. Rod Blagojevich is upset that the general assembly sent him a budget $2 billion out of balance. So Monday, he threatened to veto it.
CBS 2's Mike Flannery reports that would probably mean another long confrontation between the governor and House Speaker Michael Madigan.
During a rare visit to the floor in the final hours of the spring session, the governor and his chief antagonist shook hands and exchanged smiles.
Blagojevich did not reveal what he told Madigan in that brief meeting until Monday, as the governor once again invited Madigan to rejoin private budget negotiations the Speaker has been boycotting.
"I saw him Saturday at the House floor and I told him it's just not the same without him," Blagojevich said.
Madigan's spokesperson said the speaker himself would no longer bargain behind closed doors with Blagojevich, though he would send a representative if the governor convened a meeting about how to close a $2 billion shortfall in the budget approved over the weekend.
"I found my meetings with Rod Blagojevich to be non-productive," Madigan said.
Signaling another big fight, Madigan claimed 62 House members -- a majority -- oppose paying for a massive public works program by creating three new casinos and converting Illinois horse racing tracks into slot machine casinos. Madigan proposed raising the state income tax instead.
"The problem here is there are just too many people in the legislature who think that you can have a construction program at a time when there's a shortage of money in the treasury, and do it where there's no pain," Madigan said.
"I'm against that," Blagojevich said, "I want to ease their pain and I want to stimulate our economy without raises taxes on the people by using assets the state has," Blagojevich said.
Those assets are licenses for new casinos, and selling or leasing 80 percent of the Illinois Lottery.
The problem for the governor? Madigan says a majority of his House now opposes funding a big construction program that way. Options could include moving a much smaller capital construction proposal, perhaps later this year.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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