10:06 AM
A message came from State Senate Republican Leader Frank Watson and he had this to tell. The pay raise issue didn't come up in the special session. The State Senate would have had to reject the pay raises to keep them from kicking in automatically. No such luck since the Senate Democrats were adamant on not rejecting them a few weeks back. Governor Blagojevich was not vocal on the issue at all during this last special session.
“The Speaker of the House won’t sit in the same room with the Governor. The Governor and Lieutenant Governor haven’t spoken in months.The party that is in control is out of control.”
- State Senator Tim Bivins (R-Dixon, 45th District), as quoted in the Freeport Journal-Standard on July 14, speaking about the political bickering and gamesmanship between the state’s Chicago Democrat leadership.