Thursday, July 24, 2008

Blagojevich & Jones: Dumbest Budget Cuts Ever

The screws are turning on Governor Rod Blagojevich for cutting funding for substance abuse treatment and prevention by $110 million, or 48%, as well as Senate President Emil Jones for standing behind the cuts.

Mike Flannery reports for CBS-2 Chicago in a piece entitled "Truth in Politics: Dumbest Budget Cut Ever?"

One of the governor's cuts was $55 million in funding for drug- and alcohol-treatment programs that the federal government would have matched penny-for-penny. The cut has forced programs across the state to shut down and many of their tens of thousands of clients are likely to end up in jail, costing taxpayers far more.

At an Alsip site called "A Safe Haven," women trying to kick addiction to drugs and alcohol get enough help that their children can live with them, even if they've previously been taken away. Beginning Monday, though, all 120 of the women and kids there will have to leave.
followed by
Anthony Cole, vice president of the Haymarket Center, said, "It means you're gonna have increased homelessness, increased people committing crimes, increased neglect and abuse of children, increased burden on Cook County Hospital, increased burden on mental health institutions, because where else can these people go?"

Haymarket got a letter from the state Wednesday; their award-winning addiction-treatment center is losing nearly $4 million.

Come next Monday, they'll be forced to close half the beds in the detox unit. Recovering cocaine user Porcha James said she is thankful she and her son are already in.

"Without Haymarket and places that provide treatment or recovery, I and my son of 12 would be homeless, I would probably be selling drugs or doing lots of other illegal activity," James said.
And here's the kicker:
According to a University of Chicago study in 1994, up to 80% of the state's prison population committed crimes related to substance-addiction; $1 spent on addiction-treatment saves at least $7 by reducing crime, child abuse and diseases such as HIV/AIDS.

The Illinois House voted to restore most drug- and alcohol- treatment money, leaving it up to the Illinois Senate to keep the funding in place, but the Senate President Emil Jones has indicated he won't bring senators back until after the November election.
See Cal Skinner's story below about the sorry state of the Cook County Jail, because that's where the people turned away from drug addiction programs are likely to end up. Via the already overcrowded homeless shelters perhaps.

Despite his on-the-record statements, I think President Jones is way too smart and cares far too much for his community to let that happen. But the clock is ticking.

9 comments:

Anonymous,  12:45 AM  

Okay...how much sense does this make?? When the NIU tragedy happened on Feb. 14th, this man said that he would be in favor of helping NIU restructure and willing to help with the financial strain. Okay...this tragedy happened because an individual was not receiving mental health counseling. So instead of helping with prevention programs and outreach to individuals who may need treatment, we would rather act like the "hero" after a tragedy happend. The funding that he has facilitated in cutting is now preventing counselors going into public schools and reach some individuals who would not otherwise recieve services. Thanks Rod.

Anonymous,  2:14 AM  

Emil is Rod's "lap dog" and if Rod tells Emil to go fetch something, Emil is going to break speed records in going to fetch it or do anything else that his master has told him to do.
It must be embarrassing for Emil to have to go among the voters in his own district and pretend to be his own man. In a way, I have to feel sorry for the guy.

Anonymous,  5:52 AM  

The Senate did pass revenue bills that would have provided the funds necessary to pay for a lot of the services that have been cut. It might be fun to call these the "Blagojevich and Jones cuts" but they were necessitated by the the unconstitutional Madigan budget.
We all know what is going on here and both Madigan and Blagojevich should be ashamed of themselves for forcing the cutting of essential services. By the way, the budget is still not balanced. The $1.4 million in cuts still leaves the budget about $1 billion out of balance. It looks like without some action to provide revenue by the House the worst is yet to come.
This game of chicken is getting real old, real fast and is hurting the citizens of Illinois. Aren't there any grownups left in Springfield?

steve schnorf 9:58 AM  

Dog, I have to confess some sympathy for the Gov in this matter. Based on a lot of years doing this, I always felt those who said "don't do this" had some obligation to follow up with "do this instead". If you ask service providers none of them will say that they can afford the cuts (naturally), so wherever you make the cuts you're going to get the same stories, and they are normally true, but that means you can't cut anywhere.

Anonymous,  10:24 AM  

Is this 55 mil. more than last years budget? Another words, how much was the budget increased over last year? How much is really being cut from existing programs and how much would be increased funding?

Anonymous,  8:12 PM  

What's striking is that these cuts really do result in loss of federal dollars, unlike some of the predictions of what would happen without a capital budget plan. It's amazing that this governor can say that we need a capital plan so that we don't lose federal matching funds, and then slash a state program that gets federal matching funds.

Dog, I don't know whether to admire or pity your faith in the Senate President. Let's just say I hope you're right. Because if you're not, then his caucus members will have to answer some tough questions this fall -- as in, how could they let this happen? Why do they tolerate this kind behavior from Emil?

Anonymous,  9:04 PM  

During this next week, Counselors, case managers, intakeworkers,technicians, nurses, will be losing their jobs, programs will be closing, and clients will be out on the street. The $55M is not increases in budgets from 08 to 09. This is about programs that have been in existence, during 2008 that will no longer be funded.

People that need help, and have been getting it will be turned out onto the streets because our elected officials can't rise above their personality issues and reach a solution.

Anonymous,  7:26 AM  

It makes me sick. The reality is that drug treatment facilities are already letting people know that they "just dont have the funding" for treatment. I've been touched very personally by this and there isnt a whole lot they can do. Of all the things to cut, this is ridiculous. Jails and emergency rooms beter get ready. Its a sad time for Illinois and the mistake of reducing this funding will be felt for years and years.

Anonymous,  10:50 AM  

I'd like to reinforce a previous comment....THIS IS NOT NEW MONEY. The prevention and treatment systems haven't gotten a dime in new money from this Gov, and now he is cutting into the base to give Emil (and maybe RickEy @ $20,000 a pop) these dollars to fund some of their pet programs.

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