Rep. Flowers on the Springfield Budget Circus, Cable and Streaming
Update: The Public Affairs show with Rep. Mary Flowers is now streaming, along with 25 other episodes of Public Affairs, at www.PublicAffairsTv.com
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Jeff Berkowitz: Would you call him [Blagojevich] a commuter Governor?
State Rep. Mary Flowers: He is a commuter Governor because he doesn’t live in Springfield.
******************************************
Jeff Berkowitz: ...[W]ould it be too much to say he [Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago)] is in bed with ComEd?
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This week’s suburban edition of Public Affairs features Mary Flowers, a 23 year veteran Democrat State Rep. from the Southwest Side of Chicago. Flowers, a full-time state legislator, is Chairperson of the Healthcare Availability Access committee. The airing schedule for the suburban edition of “Public Affairs,” is included, below.
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The show with State Rep. Flowers also airs through-out the City of Chicago this coming Monday night [June 18] at 8:30 pm on Cable Ch. 21 [CANTV] and on Monday, June 18, 2007 at 7:30 pm on Aurora Community Television, on Comcast Cable Ch. 10 in Aurora and some surrounding areas.
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You may also watch the show with State Rep. Flowers on your computer at PublicAffairsTV.com. In addition to the Flowers show, additional recent shows posted on our video podcast site are shows featuring Republican Campaign Consultants and media personalities Dan Proft and Dan Curry, Roberto Maldonado, a Cook County Commissioner who is running in the 4th CD Democratic Primary in 2008, State Reps. Julie Hamos, Jim Durkin, Paul Froehlich and John Fritchey, former State GOP chairman Gary MacDougal, Presidential candidates Obama, Giuliani, McCain and Cox, and many other pols and opinion makers.
****************************************************
State Rep. Mary Flowers debates and discusses with show host and legal recruiter Jeff Berkowitz the following questions and topics on "Public Affairs,": Did the Democratic Party fail in the 2007 legislative session? Are the State budget discussions best described as a Four-Ring Circus, led by Democrat ringmasters Speaker Madigan, Senate President Jones, Governor Blagojevich and Mayor Daley; Was the revenue to be generated by the Gross Receipts Tax or HB 750 [the Tax Swap bill ] sufficient to meet the spending desires of Democratic legislators? will anything less do? Are Republicans the bogeymen? What impact on the legislative budget process will the Republicans have, post May 31?
Did the Governor double cross Rev. and Senator Meeks? Is Blagojevich a "commuter Governor?" Is Emil Jones "in bed with ComEd?" Did the legislature make a mistake when it passed the De-regulation law in 1996 [or restructuring of the energy industry, as Exelon Chairman John Rowe prefers to call it] ? Should electric power and natural gas retail consumer rates be frozen in Illinois? Do the opinions of legislators, other than the ringmasters, matter? Is the performance of the public schools in Illinois below the standard? Did the Chicago Public Schools ["CPS"] lower their standards to increase the percentage of students meeting the standards? Are CPS schools [K-12] spending, on average, $12,000 per kid per year? Should that be sufficient for the CPS to educate students to read, write and do math at grade level?
Would parents be better off if they could choose between traditional public schools, charter schools and voucher private schools? Does illegal immigration hurt African-American low skilled labor? and many, many more questions and topics.
*********************************************************
A partial transcript of this week's suburban show is included directly below.
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--Blagojevich: Illinois’ Commuter Governor?
Jeff Berkowitz: … Is the Governor working hard? I mean they can’t get him down to Springfield.
State Rep. Mary Flowers [D-Chicago]: Well, now. That is an issue. He is not in Springfield.
Jeff Berkowitz: That is an issue. He won’t live in Springfield. He doesn’t even want to be there, right.
State Rep. Mary Flowers: That’s the impression that he has given to the people of the State of Illinois.
Jeff Berkowitz: And, you can’t do that. You can’t sort of commute to work during the session when things get intense.
State Rep. Mary Flowers: You have to be there in the midst of things.
Jeff Berkowitz: He [Blagojevich] is a commuter Governor, would you say?
State Rep. Mary Flowers: Absolutely, [and] you have to be there…
--Give and Take with Gov. Blagojevich
Jeff Berkowitz: We have commuter students who don’t live on campus—He is a commuter Governor who doesn’t live [in the Capitol]
State Rep. Mary Flowers: They don’t have a feel for what is really going on. You have to be there. You have to have give and take and be willing to negotiate.
Jeff Berkowitz: So, that’s a problem, whether you call it a circus, or not.
State Rep. Mary Flowers: That is a problem.
Jeff Berkowitz: The commuter Governor.
State Rep. Mary Flowers: You could say that.
Jeff Berkowitz: I haven’t heard people say that, but that’s a phrase that might stick.
State Rep. Mary Flowers: You could say that.
Jeff Berkowitz: Would you call him a commuter Governor?
State Rep. Mary Flowers: He is a commuter Governor because he doesn’t live in Springfield.
Jeff Berkowitz: And, you don’t think that’s a good idea.
State Rep. Mary Flowers: I think he should be in the heart of what we are dealing with in Springfield.
***********************************************************
--Senate President Emil Jones in bed with ComEd?
Jeff Berkowitz: That’s Emil Jones you are blaming because he won’t take it up [the issue of skyrocketing energy rates in Illinois]
State Rep. Mary Flowers: Absolutely. Absolutely.
Jeff Berkowitz: Because he’s-- would it be too much to say he’s [Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago)] is in bed with ComEd?
State Rep. Mary Flowers: You can say that.
Jeff Berkowitz: Would you say that?
State Rep. Mary Flowers: I am not going to say that…. I am saying that the Senate needs to take up this issue.
Jeff Berkowitz: I am not going to say it, but why is…Senate President Emil Jones so closely aligned with the ComEd position?
State Rep. Mary Flowers: I can’t answer that but I can say just from what I have been told—
Jeff Berkowitz: Contributions?
State Rep. Mary Flowers: I am not going to say that.
Jeff Berkowitz: What have you been told?
--The decade old Energy De-Regulation Deal
State Rep. Mary Flowers: He [Emil Jones] seems to think that this business of Comed and Ameren, there was a deal cut and legislation was passed and so therefore he figured it should stay in place, but that is not—
Jeff Berkowitz: … You disagree with that?
State Rep. Mary Flowers: Absolutely. We made a mistake in regards to the—
Jeff Berkowitz: Did you support that Energy Deregulation bill ten years ago?
State Rep. Mary Flowers: I did.
*****************************************************
--Getting Energy Industry Competition
Jeff Berkowitz: …maybe that’s why these companies didn’t come in and provide the kind of competition you want because they want to see that rates are going to be allowed to be priced at the market rate and now if you freeze rates and this might be what Senate President Emil Jones would say—those companies are not going to come into Illinois and you are not going to get the kind of competition you want because they are going to see that the Illinois legislature reneges on its deals.
State Rep. Mary Flowers: No, because the law said that the only way de-regulation could take place in the first place is if there is competition, so therefore—there is no competition—
Jeff Berkowitz: No …you can’t go into the courts and say we want those rates to go back down because competition didn’t happen-- because that wasn’t the law that you wrote. You and your colleagues wrote a law that said that in ten years electric and gas companies can raise their rates—no ifs, ands or buts, right?
State Rep. Mary Flowers: With competition. I am almost positive that competition was involved in that legislation.
*************************************************
Rep. Mary Flowers, as she is airing this week on Public Affairs in 35 Chicago Metro suburbs [See below for the suburban airing schedule] and as will be airing on Monday, June 18, 2007, 8:30 pm on Cable Ch. 21, CANTV on the City of Chicago edition of Public Affairs and on Monday, June 18, 2007 at 7:30 pm on Aurora Community Television, on Comcast Cable Ch. 10 in Aurora and some surrounding areas. The show was recorded on June 3, 2007.[You may also go here to watch Rep. Flowers on PublicAffairsTV.com].
***************************************************
In twenty-five North Shore, North and Northwest suburbs, the "Public Affairs," show airs every Tuesday night in the regular weekly Public Affairs slot, 8:30 pm on Comcast Cable Ch. 19 or 35, as indicated, below.
In ten North Shore suburbs, the Public Affairs show airs three times each week in its regular slots at 8:30 pm on Comcast Cable Ch. 19, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, as indicated, below. ********************************************************
The suburban episode of Public Affairs with guest State Rep. Mary Flowers [D-Chicago] airs Tonight :
at 8:30 pm on Comcast Cable Channel 19 in Buffalo Grove, Elk Grove Village, Hoffman Estates, parts of Inverness, Lincolnwood, Morton Grove, Niles, Northfield, Palatine, Rolling Meadows and Wilmette
And at 8:30 pm on Comcast Cable Channel 35 in Arlington Heights, Bartlett, Glenview, Golf, Des Plaines, Hanover Park, Mt. Prospect, Northbrook, Park Ridge, Prospect Heights, Schaumburg, Skokie, Streamwood and Wheeling.
and this week on Monday night, Wednesday night and Friday night at 8:30 pm on Comcast Cable Channel 19 in Bannockburn, Deerfield, Ft. Sheridan, Glencoe, Highland Park, Highwood, Kenilworth, Lincolnshire, Riverwoods and Winnetka.
***********************************************
Jeff Berkowitz, Show Host/Producer of "Public Affairs," and Executive Legal Recruiter doing legal search can be reached at JBCG@aol.com. You may watch "Public Affairs," shows with Presidential Candidates Obama, McCain, Giuliani and Cox and many other pols at www.PublicAffairsTv.com
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************************************************************
Jeff Berkowitz: Would you call him [Blagojevich] a commuter Governor?
State Rep. Mary Flowers: He is a commuter Governor because he doesn’t live in Springfield.
******************************************
Jeff Berkowitz: ...[W]ould it be too much to say he [Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago)] is in bed with ComEd?
************************************************************
This week’s suburban edition of Public Affairs features Mary Flowers, a 23 year veteran Democrat State Rep. from the Southwest Side of Chicago. Flowers, a full-time state legislator, is Chairperson of the Healthcare Availability Access committee. The airing schedule for the suburban edition of “Public Affairs,” is included, below.
*************************************************************************
The show with State Rep. Flowers also airs through-out the City of Chicago this coming Monday night [June 18] at 8:30 pm on Cable Ch. 21 [CANTV] and on Monday, June 18, 2007 at 7:30 pm on Aurora Community Television, on Comcast Cable Ch. 10 in Aurora and some surrounding areas.
***********************************************************
You may also watch the show with State Rep. Flowers on your computer at PublicAffairsTV.com. In addition to the Flowers show, additional recent shows posted on our video podcast site are shows featuring Republican Campaign Consultants and media personalities Dan Proft and Dan Curry, Roberto Maldonado, a Cook County Commissioner who is running in the 4th CD Democratic Primary in 2008, State Reps. Julie Hamos, Jim Durkin, Paul Froehlich and John Fritchey, former State GOP chairman Gary MacDougal, Presidential candidates Obama, Giuliani, McCain and Cox, and many other pols and opinion makers.
****************************************************
State Rep. Mary Flowers debates and discusses with show host and legal recruiter Jeff Berkowitz the following questions and topics on "Public Affairs,": Did the Democratic Party fail in the 2007 legislative session? Are the State budget discussions best described as a Four-Ring Circus, led by Democrat ringmasters Speaker Madigan, Senate President Jones, Governor Blagojevich and Mayor Daley; Was the revenue to be generated by the Gross Receipts Tax or HB 750 [the Tax Swap bill ] sufficient to meet the spending desires of Democratic legislators? will anything less do? Are Republicans the bogeymen? What impact on the legislative budget process will the Republicans have, post May 31?
Did the Governor double cross Rev. and Senator Meeks? Is Blagojevich a "commuter Governor?" Is Emil Jones "in bed with ComEd?" Did the legislature make a mistake when it passed the De-regulation law in 1996 [or restructuring of the energy industry, as Exelon Chairman John Rowe prefers to call it] ? Should electric power and natural gas retail consumer rates be frozen in Illinois? Do the opinions of legislators, other than the ringmasters, matter? Is the performance of the public schools in Illinois below the standard? Did the Chicago Public Schools ["CPS"] lower their standards to increase the percentage of students meeting the standards? Are CPS schools [K-12] spending, on average, $12,000 per kid per year? Should that be sufficient for the CPS to educate students to read, write and do math at grade level?
Would parents be better off if they could choose between traditional public schools, charter schools and voucher private schools? Does illegal immigration hurt African-American low skilled labor? and many, many more questions and topics.
*********************************************************
A partial transcript of this week's suburban show is included directly below.
**************************************************************************
--Blagojevich: Illinois’ Commuter Governor?
Jeff Berkowitz: … Is the Governor working hard? I mean they can’t get him down to Springfield.
State Rep. Mary Flowers [D-Chicago]: Well, now. That is an issue. He is not in Springfield.
Jeff Berkowitz: That is an issue. He won’t live in Springfield. He doesn’t even want to be there, right.
State Rep. Mary Flowers: That’s the impression that he has given to the people of the State of Illinois.
Jeff Berkowitz: And, you can’t do that. You can’t sort of commute to work during the session when things get intense.
State Rep. Mary Flowers: You have to be there in the midst of things.
Jeff Berkowitz: He [Blagojevich] is a commuter Governor, would you say?
State Rep. Mary Flowers: Absolutely, [and] you have to be there…
--Give and Take with Gov. Blagojevich
Jeff Berkowitz: We have commuter students who don’t live on campus—He is a commuter Governor who doesn’t live [in the Capitol]
State Rep. Mary Flowers: They don’t have a feel for what is really going on. You have to be there. You have to have give and take and be willing to negotiate.
Jeff Berkowitz: So, that’s a problem, whether you call it a circus, or not.
State Rep. Mary Flowers: That is a problem.
Jeff Berkowitz: The commuter Governor.
State Rep. Mary Flowers: You could say that.
Jeff Berkowitz: I haven’t heard people say that, but that’s a phrase that might stick.
State Rep. Mary Flowers: You could say that.
Jeff Berkowitz: Would you call him a commuter Governor?
State Rep. Mary Flowers: He is a commuter Governor because he doesn’t live in Springfield.
Jeff Berkowitz: And, you don’t think that’s a good idea.
State Rep. Mary Flowers: I think he should be in the heart of what we are dealing with in Springfield.
***********************************************************
--Senate President Emil Jones in bed with ComEd?
Jeff Berkowitz: That’s Emil Jones you are blaming because he won’t take it up [the issue of skyrocketing energy rates in Illinois]
State Rep. Mary Flowers: Absolutely. Absolutely.
Jeff Berkowitz: Because he’s-- would it be too much to say he’s [Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago)] is in bed with ComEd?
State Rep. Mary Flowers: You can say that.
Jeff Berkowitz: Would you say that?
State Rep. Mary Flowers: I am not going to say that…. I am saying that the Senate needs to take up this issue.
Jeff Berkowitz: I am not going to say it, but why is…Senate President Emil Jones so closely aligned with the ComEd position?
State Rep. Mary Flowers: I can’t answer that but I can say just from what I have been told—
Jeff Berkowitz: Contributions?
State Rep. Mary Flowers: I am not going to say that.
Jeff Berkowitz: What have you been told?
--The decade old Energy De-Regulation Deal
State Rep. Mary Flowers: He [Emil Jones] seems to think that this business of Comed and Ameren, there was a deal cut and legislation was passed and so therefore he figured it should stay in place, but that is not—
Jeff Berkowitz: … You disagree with that?
State Rep. Mary Flowers: Absolutely. We made a mistake in regards to the—
Jeff Berkowitz: Did you support that Energy Deregulation bill ten years ago?
State Rep. Mary Flowers: I did.
*****************************************************
--Getting Energy Industry Competition
Jeff Berkowitz: …maybe that’s why these companies didn’t come in and provide the kind of competition you want because they want to see that rates are going to be allowed to be priced at the market rate and now if you freeze rates and this might be what Senate President Emil Jones would say—those companies are not going to come into Illinois and you are not going to get the kind of competition you want because they are going to see that the Illinois legislature reneges on its deals.
State Rep. Mary Flowers: No, because the law said that the only way de-regulation could take place in the first place is if there is competition, so therefore—there is no competition—
Jeff Berkowitz: No …you can’t go into the courts and say we want those rates to go back down because competition didn’t happen-- because that wasn’t the law that you wrote. You and your colleagues wrote a law that said that in ten years electric and gas companies can raise their rates—no ifs, ands or buts, right?
State Rep. Mary Flowers: With competition. I am almost positive that competition was involved in that legislation.
*************************************************
Rep. Mary Flowers, as she is airing this week on Public Affairs in 35 Chicago Metro suburbs [See below for the suburban airing schedule] and as will be airing on Monday, June 18, 2007, 8:30 pm on Cable Ch. 21, CANTV on the City of Chicago edition of Public Affairs and on Monday, June 18, 2007 at 7:30 pm on Aurora Community Television, on Comcast Cable Ch. 10 in Aurora and some surrounding areas. The show was recorded on June 3, 2007.[You may also go here to watch Rep. Flowers on PublicAffairsTV.com].
***************************************************
In twenty-five North Shore, North and Northwest suburbs, the "Public Affairs," show airs every Tuesday night in the regular weekly Public Affairs slot, 8:30 pm on Comcast Cable Ch. 19 or 35, as indicated, below.
In ten North Shore suburbs, the Public Affairs show airs three times each week in its regular slots at 8:30 pm on Comcast Cable Ch. 19, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, as indicated, below. ********************************************************
The suburban episode of Public Affairs with guest State Rep. Mary Flowers [D-Chicago] airs Tonight :
at 8:30 pm on Comcast Cable Channel 19 in Buffalo Grove, Elk Grove Village, Hoffman Estates, parts of Inverness, Lincolnwood, Morton Grove, Niles, Northfield, Palatine, Rolling Meadows and Wilmette
And at 8:30 pm on Comcast Cable Channel 35 in Arlington Heights, Bartlett, Glenview, Golf, Des Plaines, Hanover Park, Mt. Prospect, Northbrook, Park Ridge, Prospect Heights, Schaumburg, Skokie, Streamwood and Wheeling.
and this week on Monday night, Wednesday night and Friday night at 8:30 pm on Comcast Cable Channel 19 in Bannockburn, Deerfield, Ft. Sheridan, Glencoe, Highland Park, Highwood, Kenilworth, Lincolnshire, Riverwoods and Winnetka.
***********************************************
Jeff Berkowitz, Show Host/Producer of "Public Affairs," and Executive Legal Recruiter doing legal search can be reached at JBCG@aol.com. You may watch "Public Affairs," shows with Presidential Candidates Obama, McCain, Giuliani and Cox and many other pols at www.PublicAffairsTv.com
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