Madigan May Back Down on Construction Plan

By Kevin Robinson in News on Aug 14, 2008 6:00PM

House Speaker Mike Madigan, speaking to the press at the Illinois State Fair, said yesterday that he may actually consider leasing the state lottery to pay for a capital construction plan. "Over the last few days in the House of Representatives, we've had two very productive meetings concerning a potential lease of the state lottery, where the proceeds of that lease would be used for a capital construction program," Madigan said.

Blagojevich (and his homeboy Emil Jones) seemed skeptical, however. Said Blagojevich: "I hope it's not a cynical attempt just to run the clock out. I'm going to take him at his word. He says today, he announced before all the Democratic county chairman, that his caucus has talked to him and they can support the use of an asset like the lottery to invest in infrastructure, create jobs. So I have no reason to think he would say that if he wasn't being truthful and sincere." Jones added, "The good news today is we’re going to move a capital bill forward," noting that Madigan hasn't said specifically where he would like the funding to go. Madigan has previously said that he'd like to see lottery lease money go to pay down state pension debt or fund schools.

Photo by Yan Pritzker