Blagojevich pitches 'daring solutions'

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Promising "daring solutions" to the state's problems, Gov. Rod Blagojevich delivered a State of the State Address Wednesday that called for universal access to preschool, reopening a shuttered prison and new efforts to cut the cost of prescription drugs.

"The question before us now is, can we still dream big dreams and try daring solutions at a time when our spirit has been dampened?" Blagojevich told a joint session of the General Assembly. "My answer to you today is a resounding yes."

Blagojevich pledged, "We will balance the budget without an increase in the income or sales tax."

He also said the cost to the state of the new programs he proposed Wednesday was $88 million, but he said the state could afford it.

Few specifics offered

Otherwise, the Democratic governor offered few specifics in his first State of the State Address.

House Republican leader Tom Cross of Oswego said the speech offered few surprises. It sounds good, he said, but cannot really be judged until Blagojevich explains his proposals.

"It is a speech that, if you didn't care about the details, you didn't care about the money, you'd say, 'Wow, he touched the key points."'

Judy Baar Topinka, chairwoman of the state Republican Party, called it a speech full of "warm and fuzzies" but no substance.

Blagojevich said all children should have access to preschool programs and promised to begin phasing in a program to guarantee that. But he said nothing about how long that would take or what it would cost. Blagojevich campaigned on a promise to start by targeting 28,000 "at risk" children at a cost of $80 million.

"In an ideal world, preschool for every child would begin tomorrow. But an ideal world doesn't operate on a $5 billion budget deficit," he said in prepared remarks.

Despite legislative grumbling that Blagojevich needs to start discussing his plans to balance the budget, the governor offered little information about the budget plan he will release April 9.

"I didn't create the budget mess we are living through today. But I promise you this: By working together, we can and we will solve it," Blagojevich said.

Blagojevich also promised to reopen the state prison at Sheridan, which was closed to save money. He said the prison would be a "national model institution aimed solely at deterring drug crime."

Many lawmakers said he must answer fundamental questions about his long-term goals and plans to ensure the state can pay its bills despite a deficit approaching $5 billion.

"The governor has not exactly hit the ground running," Senate Republican leader Frank Watson of Greenville said Tuesday. "This will be his first real opportunity to show leadership, and that's what a governor should do. We don't need political rhetoric. We need substance."

Blagojevich also called for a change in state law to give more parents unpaid leave to attend parent-teacher conferences and other school activities. The law offers eight hours of leave to people working at companies with 50 or more employees; Blagojevich wants that changed to 24 hours for people at businesses with 25 or more employees.

The proposal was questioned by Kim Maisch, Illinois director for the National Federation for Independent Business, who said such small businesses often don't have employees who can fill in for absent parents.

"You're talking about cutting into profitability or productivity," Maisch said Tuesday.

The governor also discussed ways to promote parent-teacher communication, including using the Internet and voice mail.

Another proposal would lower the cost of prescription drugs for senior citizens by pooling the purchasing power of nine state agencies, creating a discount "buying club" and expanding the "Circuit Breaker" program that provides medicine for poor seniors, his aides said.

And Blagojevich announced "Project X," a $2 million program to combat "club" drugs, such as Ecstasy. It would be funded by selling assets seized from drug dealers.

Traditionally, by this time of year the governor would have delivered a State of the State and offered his proposal for a new state budget. But being new to the office and facing a massive deficit, Blagojevich has delayed both those major speeches.

That has left lawmakers, and the public, with little on which to judge his performance except for his Cabinet appointments -- an area where Blagojevich has stumbled.

His nominee to run the Corrections Department is on hold because of a brutality scandal at the Cook County Jail. His Labor Department nominee pleaded guilty to slashing tires during a protest. Senate Democrats are delaying action on his nominee to run the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. Meanwhile, his deputy governor has resigned and will be replaced by a 29-year-old New Yorker.

Blagojevich has announced some initiatives -- firing some people hired under the previous, Republican governor, for instance, and proposing a complex plan to cut pension costs by borrowing money -- but has said little about how he plans to address the massive deficit.