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State Rep. Mitchell uses stop to decry downstate project cuts
By Mary Tallon
mary.tallon@lee.net
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CLINTON — A state representative from Forsyth and other local leaders say a state government dominated by Chicago Democrats is cutting off money intended for downstate projects, such as the Clinton fire station.

State Rep. Bill Mitchell, R-Forsyth, joined several local leaders from throughout his district at a news conference Thursday at the Clinton Fire Station.

The station received $50,000 under the new state budget signed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich and was not subject to the governor’s veto last week of $463 million in spending in the $59 billion measure. The governor vetoed what he described as pork-barrel spending to free money for his health-care expansion plans.

But Mitchell said Clinton officials originally were slated to receive $100,000 from the state for improvements at the facility in 2002, and the money was never released by the Blagojevich administration.

Similar funding for projects in Heyworth, which received $50,000 for its fire station in the new budget, and elsewhere had also been waiting years for funding.

Still, while Decatur’s CeaseFire anti-violence program, Good Samaritan Inn, Salvation Army and other agencies saw some funding slashed in the district of state Rep. Bob Flider, D-Mount Zion, projects requested by Mitchell survived the ax.

But Mitchell said some people complaining now about the process have been silent for too long in criticizing what they see as a stranglehold that Chicago Democrats have on state government. The governor has kept some schools and communities in Republican districts from receiving money that had been appropriated to them in the past, he said.

Warrensburg Mayor Leland Hackl, whose community received $50,000 for water improvements under the recently approved state budget, said he was pleased the funding for his community survived.

But Hackl noted that during the five years since the state first approved but didn’t release money to help Warrensburg build a new well, the cost of the project had soared from $125,000 to $195,000.

“I’m a Democrat, but what they’re doing is wrong,” Hackl said of the months the Democratic governor and legislative leaders have spent battling over the state budget.

Mitchell said the state needs to approve a capital construction bill that would benefit the entire state before taking up issues like Chicago’s transportation needs, scheduled to be discussed next week in a special session of the General Assembly.

He also said he may seek a memorandum of understanding from the governor that approved projects will receive the funding they have been promised in the budget.

“The next hurdle is having that money released,” Mitchell said. “The drama is not over yet.”

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Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

wake up wrote on Aug 31, 2007 7:20 AM:

" when are all you downstate democrats going to wake up. "
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