Capitol Fax

Rich Miller's commentary on State Government

Illinois Senate President Emil Jones has never been fully appreciated as a legislative leader. Jones, who announced his retirement last week after years at the helm, has a manner of speaking which leads far too many people to assume that he is not intelligent. Nothing could be further from the truth. He has been a supremely crafty tactician, who, despite all the bad raps and his recent blunders, has won far more than his share of legislative battles. He is literally a larger than life character.

Yet, there's little doubt that Jones has been the most publicly vilified legislative leader in memory, particularly in the past two years.

His constant and unwavering support for Rod Blagojevich, the most unpopular (and most investigated) governor in the nation, certainly contributed to the shwacking. Jones stood by the governor's hugely controversial Gross Receipts Tax idea last year when everyone else had abandoned it and when it had become clear that the proposal had probably killed off his professed life's dream of enacting permanent, real education funding reform.

Jones appeared to brazenly block electric utility rate relief at the behest of his buddies at ComEd. He stood by the governor throughout a long, bitter overtime session last year and this year. His family benefitted from pay raises and no-bid contracts from the Blagojevich administration. He allegedly lied to House Speaker Michael Madigan about upholding last year's budget agreement when he refused to override Blagojevich's vetoes that targeted House Democrats and Senate Republicans for political punishment.

Jones blocked a constitutional amendment for recall of public officials and deliberately slow-walked an ethics reform bill at the governor's behest. He railed against attempts to block a pay raise for lawmakers, infamously telling reporters that he needed that raise and some food stamps. And he just managed to replace himself on the November ballot with his son.

Sen. Jones has certainly become a liability for his members. You can't get thumped for all of those outrages on an almost daily basis without at least some mud splashing on your rank and file. So his announcement last week that he would give up the Senate presidency may help ease the pain of some of his incumbents.

The retirement's legislative impact is not completely clear. It's thought that Speaker Madigan and maybe even some of Jones' own members will want to put off a multi billion dollar capital construction plan until Jones leaves office. Why cut a deal now when a better one might be concocted after January?

There's a legitimate concern in some circles about what this retirement announcement may mean for Jones' fundraising. He is allowed to withdraw about $577,000 from his personal campaign fund because of a clause inserted into a mid 1990s ethics bill. That would leave his bank balance at just over $1 million - about a half million shy of Senate Republican Leader Frank Watson's June 30th total. Except for his most loyal friends, it's difficult to see how Jones can easily add to that account now that he has made himself a lame duck.

Members were assured that there would be plenty of money in the campaign fund for incumbents, but Watson and his cohorts have to be breathing just a bit easier now that Jones has taken himself out of the game.

Meanwhile, loads of candidates are engaged in the Jones succession battle. It's every man (literally, because there are no women in the race as I write this) for himself. And it's far too early to make any predictions of how things will play out. There are no locks, there are no true frontrunners. This thing is wide open.

Also, word is that some candidates are already beginning to reach out to Senate Republicans in an effort to pad their margins and reach the magic number of 30 required to win the presidency - a majority of those elected in the entire Senate, not just among Democrats.

But forget about those 30 votes today. The big problem now is just finding 19 votes - a majority of the Democratic caucus. Almost that many Democrats are currently floating their names for president.

There is certainly no shortage of egos in the General Assembly, and the Senate Democratic caucus has an overabundance. It will likely take some time before many are ready to set aside their vanity candidacies and start actively engaging in the process.

Rich Miller also publishes Capitol Fax, a daily political newsletter, and thecapitolfaxblog.com.

Response To 'Employment Concerns

Dear Mr. Bennett,

Your points presented in your letter to the Prairie Advocate dated 8-20-08 are well taken and each point may have some validity. However, the whole situation is not only a potential economic problem, but for me and my neighbors, a current quality of life problem.

When I am unable to use my property as I wish because of a negative action of a neighbor, then I have a right to complain and make my circumstance known to any authority that may help alleviate the problem.

This will probably be my last statement I will make in the written media about this situation. The dialogue has begun. My hope is that it will continue.

Respectfully submitted,

Curt Merchant

Lanark, IL

And Now, the Rest of the Story

This is a rebuttal against the "Employment Concern" in the August 20, 2008 Prairie Advocate

I was compelled to write this to dispel some of the opinions stated in that letter with some facts. I am a citizen of, as well as an alderman for, the City of Lanark. I am also very active in community and economic development throughout Carroll County and Northwest Illinois. Community and economic development go hand-in-hand. Part of community development is quality of life. The residents of the City have some serious quality of life issues in regards to the feedlot. As an alderman, I receive many phone calls and get stopped in the street with complaints about the smell as do my colleagues. I think the best approach is to handle this line for line.

"Is the City of Lanark so wealthy"

Actually, the negative economic impact of the City of Lanark far outweighs the positive. Property owner's wealth may diminish due to property values drop and not be able to sell their homes. The only hope is that they sell to an out-of-towner that looks at the house on a day that the wind is out of the south. But even then, the seller could be hit with non-disclosure lawsuit after the sale.

"that they don't need the tax dollars that the feedlot north of Lanark generates for the schools"

Yes, the taxes are appreciated and the schools need tax dollars. However, they also need students to teach. If families get fed up with the odor, they will leave and no one will be moving in to replace them.

"or the other businesses, whether they are the gas stations, restaurants, stores, banks, feed supplies, tractor supplies?"

Gas stations, restaurants, and stores within the city limits suffer more than benefit from NWIL. The number of people from Lake Carroll that use these services are dwindling. They do not want to drive by the feedlot. This is a huge difference from the business generated from the handful of NWIL owners, employees and those traveling to the feedlot.

"If the people of Lanark were to force the business to close, would the city be willing to pay for the employees' mortgages, children's educations, groceries, and other necessities?"

I think there are very few people (myself included) that would like to see it close, and the employees lose their jobs. I know there have been some improvements made. But it still is not enough. It would be helpful if NWIL follow all the recommendation that the EPA has provided.

"Will they give us new employment in this day and age where jobs are hard to come by?

I would like to point out that I read this 3 times before I figured out that you are an employee. The word "us" is a vague disclosure that you have a personal interest in the facility. As for your question: what about those currently unemployed and those working at low paying jobs that can't make ends meet? The City of Lanark has identified land on the north side of town that would be ideal for an industrial park that could attract many well paying jobs. This will not be feasible with the current odor problem.

"What if every community complained about feedlots, and we followed a trend of buying everything overseas?"

"Every community" does not have a feedlot touching their city limits.

"Maybe the people of Lanark should ask local farmers if they would rather buy commercial fertilizer, or use organic fertilizer that is available right here. What if the local farmers quit buying in Lanark altogether?"

This is irrelevant. This is not about whether it should exist or the value of organic vs. chemical. But rather how they manage their pollution and their proximity to a municipality.

"I realize that a lot of people in Lanark might not feel this way, but sometimes people need to start thinking of others."

BINGO!!!!! Exactly! That's absolutely the point! You hit the nail on the head! That's the problem in a nutshell! "Start thinking of others." There are over 1500 residents plus children that are affected by this. The quality of life is diminished. Think of the low income and elderly that must shut their windows on a hot summer day because of the odor. They either have to suffer in the heat or spend money on running the air conditioner. This year was not so bad, but if next year the temperature higher and energy costs are way up, the latter may not be an option. This does not only affect the residents within the city limits. There are a lot of people at Lake Carroll that come to Lanark to shop, eat, bank that are affected. Plus friends and family that come to town to visit. "Thinking of others" is why the EPA is now there on a regular basis now. They are thinking of the health of others.

"Yes, feedlots and farms smell. They are farms. They have farm animals on them. What about the other large farms in the area: the large Hog farm on Highway 72, or what about the Dairy Farm on 73? What about the large Hog Confinement on Cyclone Ridge? Are you going to go after them, too? What would you like to do about them?"

This is an apples and oranges comparison. These facilities do not touch any city limits. But now that you mention it, I would like to commend the dairy farm on 73 for their efforts to control pollution with their anaerobic digester. Plus the added benefit of tapping into renewable energy.

"The feedlot has been here for over thirty years, yet people are still buying houses in Lanark."

Yes, the feedlot has been there for 30 years. However, the previous owner only had a maximum of a couple hundred head of cattle. The current owners now have a permit for 5000 head.

"The city has not been ruined."

Yet.

"The difference now is that now the EPA is involved in everything that the NWIF does."

This is a positive thing. They are there to protect our water and air quality.

"People need to remember that we are an agricultural community."

I, as do many of the citizens of Lanark, see it as a rural community. Many of the residents are not directly or indirectly involved or employed by the agriculture industry. Most people that are looking to move to a rural community from a larger city are looking for quiet, low traffic, low crime, better schools, and no smog (air pollution). New people moving to Lanark are paramount to the City's community and economic development. This expands the tax base; brings new children to the schools; and brings in new businesses. Some of these new businesses may be agriculture related such as value-added agricultural businesses. That does not mean that the owners of that type of business want to live with the smell of manure.

"Thank you, Mark Bennett Mt. Carroll, IL"

Keywords here are "Mt. Carroll."

Respectfully,

John Huggins

Lanark, IL

Capitol Report

By Jim Sacia, State Representative, 89th District

If you hear something is bad over and over, sooner or later you'll start to believe it. Such is the case with the large dairy farm proposed by A J Bos for the Warren/Nora area. I have no horse in this race other than to learn as much as I possibly can and share that information with the citizens I have the privilege of representing.

I had no intention of writing about the proposal again but personal attacks accusing me of taking money from Mr. Bos and lying about the large number of supporters of the dairy who have contacted me has pushed me as far as I'm going to be pushed.

As you are aware, I have traveled the nation at my own expense visiting nine large dairies built in the past ten years. I have also visited the communities surrounding these dairies. My objective was a fair and impartial investigation to learn first hand if the proposal was sound. I know a little about how to conduct an investigation having spent my adult life as an FBI agent - 26 of those years were spent as the only agent in the four Northwest counties of Illinois.

My visits convinced me that the proposal is environmentally sound. The words of Dr. Frank Mitloehner, one of the most renowned animal scientists in the nation who teaches at the University of California, Davis, resonates with me. Environmentally he would much rather see one 10,000 cow dairy than 10 ­ 1000 cow dairies or 100 ­ 100 cow dairies. The point is a large dairy can operate in harmony with small dairies and the environment.

I have great respect for the Illinois Department of Agriculture and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. Do you really feel that they would allow a project to move forward that was not environmentally sound?

I am amazed at the number of people who feel they know more than these organizations. These folks want you to believe that it doesn't make sense to bring dairy cows to a dairy county. This is the same mentality that has erected a professionally painted sign just East of Lena on Cedarville Road that reads "They spread cow manure on this land." Welcome to Northwest Illinois ­ this is livestock country.

Do a fair and impartial investigation and you will land squarely where I have. The Bos proposal is good.

Stephenson County Farm Bureau Manager Bruce Johnson shared an exceptional article last week following the large number of folks who visited Fair Oaks Dairy which is about an hours drive south of Chicago off I-65 in Indiana. Fair Oaks Dairy is a showplace folks, and it doesn't stink. They milk 32,000 cows there on ten dairies. The extended Bos family built five of those dairies. Do they know something about dairy farming? I think so.

Do you realize that when the Bos dairy is milking 5000 cows, Jo Daviess County will still have 1000 fewer dairy cattle than they had ten years ago?

Many are concerned because some have perpetuated the myth that the Illinois General Assembly was "duped" in 1998 when they passed the Livestock Management Facilities Act. They have been told that the General Assembly didn't know that the LMFA removed local control. Go to the archives of the Freeport Journal Standard dated February 16, 1998 and read the opinion page. You will realize that the big issue at the time was whether or not there should be local control. The paper supported state control for very valid reasons.

Now we have a petition being circulated to stop the diary. Read it carefully folks, you may well be punishing your neighbor milking a smaller number of cows than the Bos proposal.

As always, you can reach me, Sally or Barb at 815/232-0774 or e-mail us at jimsacia@aeroinc.net. You can also visit my website at www.jimsacia.com. It's always a pleasure to hear from you.

Response to Jim Sacia and Mega Dairy Controversy

Jim, I think you are a conscientious and good representative for upstate NW Illinois. Your points are valid when it comes to the Bos Dairy Farm.

Of course, you know there's a but coming along and there is. BUT, I don't think the mega dairy being built is the whole picture. I can't speak for everyone, BUT I want the ability for local government to decide what is in its backyard, not a bureaucracy in Springfield telling the people what is best for them. I believe local government does that best and that it is the most true adherence to a democratic republic.

I don't know what you think, BUT it seems to me that more and more of our local control, especially when it comes to state rights, have been eroded down to nearly nothing. One thing the State of Illinois could do is to at least let local government retain its autonomy when it comes to decisions of what I believe rightly belongs to their own jurisdictions.

If things keep going the way they are, we will soon have no need for county governments, which we all know serve very different residents. The people of Carroll County have a vastly different way of life than those in Cook County and their home area should be a reflection of their views on how it should be.

I hope you will stand up to huge centralized government, run by bureaucrats who in no way represent (as in elected) the people of your district.

Respectfully,

Lynn Kocal, Prairie Advocate

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