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| Vetoed Ill. Bill Cuts Prison Captains |
| By Urbana/Champaign News-Gazette |
| Published: 06/06/2003 |
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Corrections captains got some unwelcome but not unexpected news Wednesday when Gov. Rod Blagojevich vetoed the $17.3 million lawmakers inserted into the budget to save those 219 jobs. Blagojevich has long insisted that the captains were an unnecessary level of bureaucracy and hinted last week that the veto was imminent. Wednesday he made it official, and cut another $4.5 million in pay raises for judges and other state officials. 'In these difficult times, when state agencies are being consolidated, when the number of state personnel is being reduced - in short - when others are being asked to sacrifice - this is not the time to give pay raises to the governor, the lieutenant governor, to the constitutional officers, to the men and women of the General Assembly, or to the Supreme Court, the Appellate Court or the Circuit Court judges,' Blagojevich said. Most area lawmakers had pledged not to take the 2.8 percent pay hike anyway and said they were happy to see it cut from the budget. 'He made absolutely the correct decision on the pay raises,' said state Rep. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet. State Sen. Rick Winkel, R-Champaign, said he also supports freezing salaries at current levels but was 'very disappointed' that the funding for the captains was vetoed. 'The captains have very important responsibilities in running the prisons, and I don't understand the governor's reason for making this cut,' he said. The captains, who earn an average salary of $75,200 a year, have received notice that they will be laid off June 30. 'The public expects us to do more with less,' Blagojevich said. 'I cannot ask them to cover the cost of middle management we just don't need.' But area lawmakers said the governor is wrong when it comes to the captains. 'I think that's unbelievably short-sighted,' Rose said. 'These guys aren't just sitting around eating doughnuts and drinking coffee. These are the first guys in to put down a violent inmate.' State Sen. Dale Righter, R-Mattoon, said the captains help provide safety and security not only for the inmates, but for the staff of the prisons. 'I think we're seeing some of the basic functions within the Department of Corrections get sacrificed in order to preserve funds for the $90 million or $100 million in new programs that the governor asked for and that the Democratic majorities in the House and the Senate approved,' he said. The governor said the captains may bid on any of the 122 open lieutenant jobs or any of about 1,300 open union jobs in the department. Their old duties will be handed over to assistant wardens or majors, Blagojevich said. Those people taking on the extra work are salaried and not eligible for overtime, according to his spokesman, Tom Schafer. |
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