THE JOURNAL & TOPICS NEWSPAPERS | WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2008

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Garrett: Lawmaker Raise 'A Slap In The Face'

Gov. Blagojevich has ordered state agencies to tighten their belts and submit revised budgets in an effort to chop $1.4 billion from the state budget.

Not chopped are 14% pay raises for the governor and state lawmakers. That has local State Sen. Susan Garrett (D-29th) hopping mad.

"There is no way to spin this. We are asking every state agency to take cuts and low and behold legislators and the governor aren't taking one," said Garrett in a recent interview with the Journal & Topics Newspapers. "It's a slap in the face to both the state employees and the tax payers of Illinois."

Garrett, who represents parts of Des Plaines, Mt. Prospect and Glenview, said that if the governor is asking state agencies to cut funding he should ask that the legislature share that sacrifice and he should forgo his own pay raise. She also accused him of flip-flopping on the issue.

In 2006, Blagojevich opposed pay hikes mandated by the Illinois Compensation Board.

When asked for the governor's position on the pay hikes last week, Blagojevich spokeswoman Kelly Quinn said, "That is their (the state legislature) issue to take up."

Earlier this year Senate Assistant Majority Leader Rickey R. Hendon (D-5th) and State Senate President Emil Jones, strong supporters of pay increases, made disparaging comments about Garrett in response to her opposition to the pay hikes.

Hendon commented on the size of Garrett's home and Jones quipped the he needed food stamps.

After finding what agencies or programs are affected by cuts in the district Garrett said she would donate her raise to an "appropriate charity" to try to help off set those cuts.

Last year, Garrett donated her raise to the North Shore Special Education District.