Quinn budget announcement cuts no money from religion grants
Pat Quinn on July 13, 2009, at the ceremony at Marshall High School at which he signed the disputed Capital Bill. Photo by Rob Sherman.
Governor Pat Quinn announced, today, that he was cutting a billion dollars from the State budget. However, not one single dime was cut from the recently approved State grants to places of worship, parochial schools or religious ministries. I called Pat's office to ask why.
The receptionist at the Governor's Press Office said that nobody was available to answer my question. Everybody was in a meeting, but she would take a message and somebody might call me back by Monday.
Five minutes later, my phone rang. It was Robert Reed, from the Governor's Press Office. Mr. Reed was the aide to the Governor who was in charge of the press conference that I attended at Marshall High School, two weeks ago, when Governor Quinn signed the Capital Bill. It was Mr. Reed who made the decision to allow me in to the news conference, so he's a good guy.
Bob Reed asked for clarification on the message that he had received from reception, as to what information I was looking for.
I told him that I had called to inquire as to whether the cuts in the budget, announced today by the Governor, included any cuts to the grants to houses of worship, parochial schools and religious ministries, the issue which I raised at the news conference two weeks ago.
Bob said, "No." He went on to explain that today's cuts pertained to the Operating budget, and the grants that I was concerned about were a part of the Capital budget.
I thanked him for the information, and our conversation concluded.
I don't agree with what Pat did. I think that, if he wanted to, Pat could have announced that he was transferring millions of dollars from the Capital budget, that was going to go to the places of worship, parochial schools and houses of worship, and transferring that money into the Operating budget, so that State employees wouldn't have to miss out on their raises or take unpaid furlough days. Pat didn't do that.
Bob Reed is a spokesman for the Governor -- a press spokesman. When I spoke to Bob, it was for the purpose of obtaining information from him about Pat's decisions, not debating with him the merits of Pat's decisions.
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For more about Rob Sherman, visit www.robsherman.com.
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