Lawmakers heard from DuPage County State’s Attorney Joe Birkett, as well as advocates and family members of victims and prison reform groups Aug. 25 at the second meeting of the Illinois Joint Investigatory Panel on Early Release.
State Senator Larry Bomke (R-Springfield)said Birkett cautioned lawmakers to make public safety the top priority when considering any prisoner early-release program. Any inmate who is released early without having clearly demonstrated a clear commitment to rehabilitation is a “high-risk” release, Birkett warned.
The Panel is examining controversial early-release programs in Illinois, including one unpublicized program established under Gov. Pat Quinn that allowed the early release of nearly 2,000 prisoners, including violent offenders.
The early-release programs were the subject of a highly critical report from retired Judge David Erickson released Aug. 13, two days after the first Joint Panel meeting in Peoria. That report concluded that Quinn’s Department of Corrections failed to adequately protect public safety and released inmates early for “meritorious” behavior “simply by virtue of being delivered into DOC (Department of Corrections) custody.”
Birkett testified before lawmakers and witnesses who gathered at the ThompsonCenter in downtown Chicago for the Aug. 25 meeting. He said it was clear from the timing of prisoner releases that occurred under the controversial Meritorious Good Time (MGT Push) Program, that the Illinois Department of Corrections released criminals before they could have possibly received information on the prisoners from local prosecutors and law enforcement personnel.
He also recommended that any guidelines or criteria that are adopted as a result of the scandal should be made public, so that state’s attorneys, local police and victims know what the criteria for early release will be. Birkett added that the Corrections Department never consulted him, and he has been unable to identify any other state’s attorneys who were consulted before the early releases began.
This week, legislation intended to generate much-needed revenue was signed into law, which State Senator Larry Bomke (R-Springfield) said will provide a five-week amnesty period for tax delinquents.
Senate Bill 377 (PA 96-1435) allows individuals who have accumulated back taxes between June 30, 2002, and July 1, 2009, to pay those taxes penalty-free from Oct. 1 to Nov. 8 without being fined. Tax delinquents who don’t pay during the amnesty period will see all interest and penalties double.
Officials hope that by providing incentive for tax delinquents to cough up their overdue obligations the program will bring in tardy tax dollars, as opposed to spending state time and energy pursuing the tax delinquents.
The tax amnesty program was initially projected to return about $350 million, a prediction based on projections from the state’s 2003 tax amnesty program. However, recent data from the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability and the Department of Revenue indicate the program is more likely to return about $170 million.
State Senator Larry Bomke (R-Springfield) reacted to the guilty verdict handed down by jury in former Governor Rod Blagojevich’s corruption trial on Tuesday, August 17.
“A guilty verdict on the charge of providing false statements to FBI agents is a very serious conviction,” Bomke said. “With the guilty verdict and possibility of another trial, I fully stand behind the decision of the Illinois General Assembly to remove Blagojevich from office.”
Senate Week in Review
A Republican-initiated panel held its first meeting this week to investigate a secret and controversial prisoner early-release program, according to State Senator Larry Bomke (R-Springfield).
The Illinois Joint Investigatory Panel on Early Release held its first meeting August 11, in Peoria. The panel selected that community, in part, because of the murder of a Peoria grandmother in May. The man accused of the crime had been a prisoner and participant in the controversial Meritorious Good Time Push (MGT-Push) program.
The panel first offered a brief review of the history of the controversy, and recounted efforts dating back to January to obtain information about the ill-fated program. Although Gov. Pat Quinn appointed former Judge David Erickson of the Cook County Circuit Court in December 2009 to conduct a review of release practices, a report still has not been released eight months later.
Among those testifying at the hearing August 11 were local police and sheriffs, along with several crime victims and crime victim advocacy groups. All participants expressed concern about the implementation of the early-release program, and urged officials to be more discriminatory when deciding which prisoners will receive early release.
Illinois taxpayers got an $8 million taste during the week of just how expensive poor fiscal management can be.
State Senator Larry Bomke (R-Springfield)explained that the Quinn administration took out a short term loan in mid-July and -- even though federal treasury rates have been cut nearly in half -- the state will end up paying about $8 million more in interest when compared to a similar loan taken out last year.
The key difference is that Illinois has seen its credit rating plummet. One major credit rating agency ranks Illinois as tied for worst in the nation with California, while two other agencies have Illinois just one notch above California. The state has had eight credit downgrades since Quinn replaced impeached Governor Rod Blagojevich.
Also during the week, Senator Bomke said dozens of measures were signed into law as the deadline for the Governor to act on legislation passed during the spring legislative session nears.
