State lawmakers reject pay raise

Clout St:

The Illinois Senate rejected a 7.5 percent pay increase Tuesday following weeks of withering public pressure to turn down the money.

The 47-0 vote (with three senators voting "present) came only weeks after lawmakers got 3.8 percent cost-of-living increases on July 1. That bumped the based salary of a rank-and-file lawmaker to $67,833 and legislative leaders close to $100,000.

Sen. Christine Radogno (R-Lemont) said it would be "unconscionable" to vote for a pay increase---a sentiment echoed by Sen. Dan Kotowski (D-Park Ridge), who said it's "no time" to approve a pay increase for politicians.

Despite his strong support for the pay hike, Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago) allowed a vote on the measure that had to be rejected or the pay raises automatically would have taken effect.

Jones decided to allow the vote following weeks of criticism from citizens and editorial boards.

I followed this yesterday watching the state senate feed provided by the Illinois Channel. An interesting debate and also noted were three Senators who voted "present". Who were they?

The three senators who voted "present" were Jones, Sen. Donne Trotter (D-Chicago) and Sen. Kwame Raoul (D-Chicago).

Also noted the house met for 21 minutes on Tuesday.

Lawmakers returned to the Capitol Tuesday to tackle education funding at the command of Gov. Rod Blagojevich, but the House adjourned after 21 minutes.

And most of that time was filled by two lawmakers who ripped the governor for calling them into special session but failing to submit legislation for them to consider.

House Minority Leader Tom Cross (R-Oswego) chided Democrats for six years of "dysfunction," but he said all the blame for Tuesday's "debacle" rests with the governor.

What a day Tuesday was!