Better than Monday Night Football: Lang pounds Gov. Blagojevich, Cable and Streaming
State Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie): ...There is no trust at all in Rod Blagojevich by any member that I can think of of the Illinois General Assembly...
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State Rep. Lou Lang : It is my view that there will be a transit bill that we pass, whether we pass it in the calendar year of...
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Rep. Lang: …in short this [gaming bill] is a bill that would create almost two billion dollars annually and create lots of up front licensing fees.
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Berkowitz: You would not be averse to ... maybe even proposing some legislation that proposes some of these reforms-- to see if you could introduce competition into the mass transit business?
********************************************
Tonight's City of Chicago and City of Aurora editions of "Public Affairs," features State Rep. Lou Lang, Chair of the Gaming Committee in the House. Lang has been quite critical of Governor Blagojevich, for what Lang views as a tremendous lack of leadership. Senator John Cullerton (D-Chicago) is featured in this week's suburban edition of "Public Affairs."
The show with Rep. Lang airs through-out the City of Chicago tonight [Oct. 8] at 8:30 pm on Cable Ch. 21 [CANTV] and also tonight at 7:30 pm on Aurora Community Television, on Comcast Cable Ch. 10 in Aurora and some surrounding areas. The Aurora station reaches all of Aurora, Bristol, Big Rock and parts of Oswego, Sandwich, Sugar Grove and Montgomery. Next Monday night's Public Affairs shows in Chicago and Aurora features State Sen. Cullerton.
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For more about tonight's show and Rep. Lang, including a list of topics and a partial transcript of the show, go here.
**************************
The recent "Public Affairs," shows with State Reps. Julie Hamos(D-Evanston) and Lou Lang (D-Skokie), Senator Susan Garrett (D-Lake Forest) as well as former Senator, budget guru and policy wonk-- Steve Rauschenberger (R-Elgin)-- are now posted on our podcast page and can be watched on your computer at www.PublicAffairsTv.com or at I-Tunes.com and perhaps at youtube.com
Taking together, this week's suburban show with Senator Cullerton on resolving the Springfield impasse and the prior shows with Garrett, Hamos, Lang and Rauschenberger shows provide a good perspective on the intersection of Mass Transit, Capital Budget and Gaming legislation in Illinois, which some would call a difficult, but perhaps improving, intersection, these days.
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You may also watch on your computer the shows with 14th CD Republican Primary candidates Mayor Kevin Burns and Senator Lauzen and 14th CD Democrat Primary candidates Jotham Stein and John Laesch at PublicAffairsTV.com. In addition to those shows, prior shows on the "Public Affairs," podcast page feature a show with Senators Durbin and Dodd, Cong. Kucinich and others; Democratic Presidential Candidates Senator Barack Obama and Governor Richardson; possible Republican opponent to Senator Durbin next fall: Dr. Steve Sauerberg . Additional previously posted shows feature Presidential candidates Giuliani, McCain and Cox, and many other pols and opinion makers. You may also watch these "Public Affairs," shows, and others, at www.itunes.com
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Passing a Transit Bill:
State Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie): It is my view that there will be a transit bill that we pass, whether we pass it in the calendar year of ’07 or the very first part of ’08, I cannot promise. What I believe though strongly, talking to my colleagues, even my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, is that there will be a very strong effort to make sure a transit bill happens because it is necessary for the economy of our state. It is not a Republican or Democratic issue. It is an economic issue for our state.
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Two billion new dollars to spend?
Rep. Lou Lang: …in short this [gaming bill] is a bill that would create almost two billion dollars annually and create lots of up front licensing fees.
Jeff Berkowitz: Two billion dollars in what? Annual revenue for the State?
Rep. Lou Lang: Yes, that’s correct. I think it’s 1.6 or 1.7 billion dollars
Jeff Berkowitz: From the three [additional] casinos…
Rep. Lou Lang: This would be the annual recurring revenue from the new riverboats and the additional positions that licensees, the current licensees would put into play, additionally new dollars that would come out of the horse racing community.
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A mass transit sales tax: The best of the regressive taxes, says Lang?
Rep. Lou Lang: I have heard some say—this is a regressive tax. The sales tax is regressive.
Jeff Berkowitz: Some would include Senate President Emil Jones.
Rep. Lou Lang: It would.
Jeff Berkowitz: Speaking on that “At Issue,” radio show on Sep. 23, he [Jones] had concerns about the mass transit bill because he says the sales tax [which would be increased to cover mass transit spending] is very regressive.
Rep. Lou Lang: And, I would agree that it is regressive. However, nothing is more regressive than not being able to get to work…
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Lang on Blagojevich: Verify, don't trust.
Rep. Lou Lang: … This capital bill is maybe a good start but it doesn’t get us there and the reason it doesn’t is that it creates a very large pot of billions of dollars without any specificity as to how we are going to spend those dollars. And, because of this session and the four previous sessions I might add, there is no trust at all in Rod Blagojevich by any member that I can think of of the Illinois General Assembly and that being the case, they are not going to vote for a bill that simply gives him fifteen, twenty or twenty-five billion dollars to spend any way he wants to spend it without regard to what regions of the state are helped, what roads and bridges are repaired, what schools are re-built, etc.
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Hamos and Lang: Open to Market Reforms?
Jeff Berkowitz: You would not be averse to trying it? To maybe even proposing some legislation that proposes some of these reforms-- to see if you could introduce competition into the mass transit business? Am I putting words in your mouth or would you—
Rep. Lou Lang: Jeff, one of the things I have always said as a legislator is that rarely do we leave all options on the table. Politics always makes us take this item off the table or that item off the table. That’s what the governor has done. The Governor has insisted that the only items ever on the table be his. I will never do that and so, this is an interesting concept—it is something we ought to look at--
Jeff Berkowitz: Rep. Hamos said a few weeks ago [on this show] she would look at it. I mean there are some obvious things that aren’t being done [that] people operating in free markets would do. We charge the same price—you have I-Pass now, you have an easy mechanism for charging different prices at different times…shouldn’t more be done to try to get the people who operate the toll roads in Illinois to have…congestion pricing: higher prices in peak times, lower prices at off-peak [usage] times…
Rep. Lou Lang: It is definitely something we ought to look at, but other things as well…
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State Rep. Lou Lang , as he is airing tonight at 8:30 pm on Cable Ch. 21, CANTV on the City of Chicago edition of Public Affairs and tonight at 7:30 pm on Aurora Community Television, on Comcast Cable Ch. 10 in Aurora and some surrounding areas. The show was recorded on Sep. 23, 2007.[You may also go here to watch Reps. Lang and Hamos, Senator Garrett, and soon, Senator Cullerton and 8th CD Republican Primary candidate Presidential candidates and many other politicians on PublicAffairsTV.com].
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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 Richardson, Obama, McCain, Giuliani and Cox and many other pols at www.PublicAffairsTv.com
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State Rep. Lou Lang : It is my view that there will be a transit bill that we pass, whether we pass it in the calendar year of...
*****************************************
Rep. Lang: …in short this [gaming bill] is a bill that would create almost two billion dollars annually and create lots of up front licensing fees.
******************************************
Berkowitz: You would not be averse to ... maybe even proposing some legislation that proposes some of these reforms-- to see if you could introduce competition into the mass transit business?
********************************************
Tonight's City of Chicago and City of Aurora editions of "Public Affairs," features State Rep. Lou Lang, Chair of the Gaming Committee in the House. Lang has been quite critical of Governor Blagojevich, for what Lang views as a tremendous lack of leadership. Senator John Cullerton (D-Chicago) is featured in this week's suburban edition of "Public Affairs."
The show with Rep. Lang airs through-out the City of Chicago tonight [Oct. 8] at 8:30 pm on Cable Ch. 21 [CANTV] and also tonight at 7:30 pm on Aurora Community Television, on Comcast Cable Ch. 10 in Aurora and some surrounding areas. The Aurora station reaches all of Aurora, Bristol, Big Rock and parts of Oswego, Sandwich, Sugar Grove and Montgomery. Next Monday night's Public Affairs shows in Chicago and Aurora features State Sen. Cullerton.
***********************
For more about tonight's show and Rep. Lang, including a list of topics and a partial transcript of the show, go here.
**************************
The recent "Public Affairs," shows with State Reps. Julie Hamos(D-Evanston) and Lou Lang (D-Skokie), Senator Susan Garrett (D-Lake Forest) as well as former Senator, budget guru and policy wonk-- Steve Rauschenberger (R-Elgin)-- are now posted on our podcast page and can be watched on your computer at www.PublicAffairsTv.com or at I-Tunes.com and perhaps at youtube.com
Taking together, this week's suburban show with Senator Cullerton on resolving the Springfield impasse and the prior shows with Garrett, Hamos, Lang and Rauschenberger shows provide a good perspective on the intersection of Mass Transit, Capital Budget and Gaming legislation in Illinois, which some would call a difficult, but perhaps improving, intersection, these days.
*********************************************************
You may also watch on your computer the shows with 14th CD Republican Primary candidates Mayor Kevin Burns and Senator Lauzen and 14th CD Democrat Primary candidates Jotham Stein and John Laesch at PublicAffairsTV.com. In addition to those shows, prior shows on the "Public Affairs," podcast page feature a show with Senators Durbin and Dodd, Cong. Kucinich and others; Democratic Presidential Candidates Senator Barack Obama and Governor Richardson; possible Republican opponent to Senator Durbin next fall: Dr. Steve Sauerberg . Additional previously posted shows feature Presidential candidates Giuliani, McCain and Cox, and many other pols and opinion makers. You may also watch these "Public Affairs," shows, and others, at www.itunes.com
*****************************************************************
Passing a Transit Bill:
State Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie): It is my view that there will be a transit bill that we pass, whether we pass it in the calendar year of ’07 or the very first part of ’08, I cannot promise. What I believe though strongly, talking to my colleagues, even my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, is that there will be a very strong effort to make sure a transit bill happens because it is necessary for the economy of our state. It is not a Republican or Democratic issue. It is an economic issue for our state.
**********************************************
Two billion new dollars to spend?
Rep. Lou Lang: …in short this [gaming bill] is a bill that would create almost two billion dollars annually and create lots of up front licensing fees.
Jeff Berkowitz: Two billion dollars in what? Annual revenue for the State?
Rep. Lou Lang: Yes, that’s correct. I think it’s 1.6 or 1.7 billion dollars
Jeff Berkowitz: From the three [additional] casinos…
Rep. Lou Lang: This would be the annual recurring revenue from the new riverboats and the additional positions that licensees, the current licensees would put into play, additionally new dollars that would come out of the horse racing community.
*********************************************
A mass transit sales tax: The best of the regressive taxes, says Lang?
Rep. Lou Lang: I have heard some say—this is a regressive tax. The sales tax is regressive.
Jeff Berkowitz: Some would include Senate President Emil Jones.
Rep. Lou Lang: It would.
Jeff Berkowitz: Speaking on that “At Issue,” radio show on Sep. 23, he [Jones] had concerns about the mass transit bill because he says the sales tax [which would be increased to cover mass transit spending] is very regressive.
Rep. Lou Lang: And, I would agree that it is regressive. However, nothing is more regressive than not being able to get to work…
*************************************
Lang on Blagojevich: Verify, don't trust.
Rep. Lou Lang: … This capital bill is maybe a good start but it doesn’t get us there and the reason it doesn’t is that it creates a very large pot of billions of dollars without any specificity as to how we are going to spend those dollars. And, because of this session and the four previous sessions I might add, there is no trust at all in Rod Blagojevich by any member that I can think of of the Illinois General Assembly and that being the case, they are not going to vote for a bill that simply gives him fifteen, twenty or twenty-five billion dollars to spend any way he wants to spend it without regard to what regions of the state are helped, what roads and bridges are repaired, what schools are re-built, etc.
*******************************************
Hamos and Lang: Open to Market Reforms?
Jeff Berkowitz: You would not be averse to trying it? To maybe even proposing some legislation that proposes some of these reforms-- to see if you could introduce competition into the mass transit business? Am I putting words in your mouth or would you—
Rep. Lou Lang: Jeff, one of the things I have always said as a legislator is that rarely do we leave all options on the table. Politics always makes us take this item off the table or that item off the table. That’s what the governor has done. The Governor has insisted that the only items ever on the table be his. I will never do that and so, this is an interesting concept—it is something we ought to look at--
Jeff Berkowitz: Rep. Hamos said a few weeks ago [on this show] she would look at it. I mean there are some obvious things that aren’t being done [that] people operating in free markets would do. We charge the same price—you have I-Pass now, you have an easy mechanism for charging different prices at different times…shouldn’t more be done to try to get the people who operate the toll roads in Illinois to have…congestion pricing: higher prices in peak times, lower prices at off-peak [usage] times…
Rep. Lou Lang: It is definitely something we ought to look at, but other things as well…
********************************************************
State Rep. Lou Lang , as he is airing tonight at 8:30 pm on Cable Ch. 21, CANTV on the City of Chicago edition of Public Affairs and tonight at 7:30 pm on Aurora Community Television, on Comcast Cable Ch. 10 in Aurora and some surrounding areas. The show was recorded on Sep. 23, 2007.[You may also go here to watch Reps. Lang and Hamos, Senator Garrett, and soon, Senator Cullerton and 8th CD Republican Primary candidate Presidential candidates and many other politicians on PublicAffairsTV.com].
********************************
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 Richardson, Obama, McCain, Giuliani and Cox and many other pols at www.PublicAffairsTv.com
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