By Gary Barlow

Staff writer

Illinois House of Representative leaders announced last week a series of hearings across the state to address concerns about health funding and other programs cut from the state budget last month by Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Blagojevich vetoed more than $140 million in legislative initiatives, including virtually all initiatives supported by House Democrats. The vetoes appeared to be retaliation against legislators who didn’t vote for some of his proposals earlier this year.

The governor cut more than a million dollars in HIV/AIDS funding, including Democratic lawmakers’ allocations for the Howard Brown Health Center, Better Existence with HIV, Chicago House, Bonaventure House and Vital Bridges.

Also cut were initiatives to fund public schools, programs for the developmentally disabled and drug treatment. The governor has refused to answer questions about the cuts but his staff has issued statements saying the programs were cut because they were considered “wasteful” or “Inefficient,” or because they cost more than the state could afford.

But other legislative initiatives supported by Senate Democrats loyal to the governor and some House Republicans were left untouched, including $500,000 for a bicycle trail in Romeoville and money to upgrade a sports stadium in Danville.

The cuts came after leaders in both the House and Senate grew frustrated with negotiations with Blagojevich on a state budget and decided to pass one without his cooperation. That budget was passed by veto-proof bipartisan votes in both houses, with a pledge by House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) and Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago) to allow their members to vote to override any vetoes of the measure by the governor.

But just days after the deal was struck, Jones broke his word and said he would prevent the Senate from even considering a vote to override the governor’s vetoes. Community leaders and healthcare advocates around the state condemned the moves by Blagojevich and Jones.

“It’s a shame to me that the politics of all this has to be played out on the backs of the least vulnerable people in Illinois,” Ill. state Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago) told CFP shortly after the vetoes were announced.

Madigan said last week that the bipartisan hearings would allow people “to put a human face on Blagojevich’s budget tactics.”

“The governor’s savage cuts will have seriously adverse consequences for millions of Illinois residents,” Madigan said.

He added that he, House Minority Leader Tom Cross (R-Plainfield) and Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson (R-Greenville) continue to support an override of the governor’s vetoes.

Hearings in Chicago on Gov. Blagojevich’s budget cuts are scheduled Sept. 26, 6:30 p.m., at Kennedy-King College Theatre, 6301 S. Halsted St.; Sept. 26, 6 p.m., at Austin Town Hall Auditorium, 5610 W. Lake St.; Sept. 27, 7 p.m., at Loyola University’s Mundelein Center Auditorium, 1020 W. Sheridan Road; and Sept. 27, 7 p.m., at Oak View Community Center, 4625 W. 110th St., Oak Lawn.