Wednesday, July 15, 2009

At least they worked through the Home Run Derby

Illinois budget: Gov. Pat Quinn, top lawmakers inch closer to stopgap deal -- chicagotribune.com: "SPRINGFIELD -- With state worker paychecks hanging in the balance, Gov. Pat Quinn and top lawmakers moved closer Tuesday to a stopgap budget agreement that includes billions of dollars in borrowing and pushing off a tax-hike vote to a more politically convenient time.

After several closed-door meetings and brief legislative sessions of the House and Senate, several lawmakers headed 90 miles down the road to St. Louis for baseball's All-Star Game and to see a ceremonial first-pitch delivered by their former colleague, President Barack Obama.

But two weeks into the state's budget year, no deal was reached among leading Democrats, Republicans and Quinn on a spending plan. With Wednesday the first major payday since the July 1 budget deadline, Comptroller Dan Hynes' office said checks to as many as 6,000 of the state's 69,000 workers would not go out."

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It must be nice to ride so high, so far above the peons, that you can waltz off to a baseball game the day before 6000 state employees aren't getting paid. If there is a more miserable excuse for a legislative body in the world, I would like to hear its name.

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