Posturing galore on Wednesday

I’m dreading Wednesday.

That is going to be a day for all the gasbags to come crawling out of the woodwork and express their “outrage” over the great injustices that will be committed that day.

WHAT MAKES IT worse is that there isn’t even just one issue that will cause the rhetorical pontification that will spout up that day. Politics and sports – take your pick. There are going to be ticked off people.

Wednesday is the day that an Illinois government commission will meet both in Chicago and at the Statehouse in Springpatch to discuss the “fate” of the Thomson Correctional Center. That also will be the day that the Baseball Hall of Fame will inform us which ballplayers – if any – wind up gaining admission this year.

The big, fat balls of gas will come out on both issues, and we’re going to hear so much pompous rhetoric – particularly if onetime Montreal Expo Andre Dawson (who played a few years with the Chicago Cubs) doesn’t get it, while the other side of town will give us some people seriously outraged at the concept that former Chicago White Sox outfielder Harold Baines never gains more respect from Hall of Fame voters.

The scary thing is that their rhetoric will be just as intense as the cheap talk coming from the political people at the Thompson Center and at the Statehouse.

FOR IT WILL be on Wednesday that the Illinois Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability will use modern technology to meet without gathering in the same room to express their thoughts about the fact that the federal government wants to purchase the unused maximum-security state prison from Illinois government – so as to provide a place to locate some of the people alleged to have committed acts of terrorism against the United States who now are being held at a U.S. Navy base in Cuba.

State officials even go so far to say that they may reach a decision on what to do with this issue when they meet on Wednesday.

Hah!

I will be the first to concede this is a serious issue. It is legitimate. It ought not to be ridiculed by anyone.

BUT THE IDEA that anything that will happen on /Wednesday will resolve this issue is a laughable concept. For the bottom line is that this is a federal issue. It is going to be the Congress and the president who ultimately settle this score.

All that is going to happen on Wednesday is that a lot of state officials, some of whom have Election /Day interests at stake come Feb. 2, will make pompous statements meant to make themselves look firm and authoritative to the people of their home districts who foolishly elected them once and likely will send them back to Springfield to continue to do “the people’s business.”

The state at some point will have to take some sort of vote approving the sale of the prison that was meant to be opened in the early 2000s as a way of giving the state a modern maximum-security facility – but never was properly opened because the state’s financial problems made it impossible for them to afford to operate it.

In short, Thomson was the fancy new house that we never could afford, and now someone is willing to take it off our hands at something resembling a fair price.

BUT WE’RE GOING to hear the politicking from Republican officials who will parrott the partisan rhetoric of their federal government counterparts – bringing inmates from Guantanamo Bay to Thomson somehow makes us Illinoisans (and Chicagoans in particular) a target for terrorist plots.

Ignoring the fact that the city’s size and amenities already do that, Wednesday will be another case for political people to manage to say something stupid, all in the name of trying to get themselves re-elected. I wish I didn’t have to hear it.

But we’re going to have to listen to more of this trash talk at our local level, on top of the identical arguments that are made at the federal level. At least there, there is legitimate procedures that need to take place. There are Republicans who can hold up the actual purchase of the prison if they are that determined to try to make President Barack Obama look bad.

Of course, all they will really do is make themselves look inane. But that has never stopped political people before. I’d like to think that I could somehow escape the political trash talk by simply looking elsewhere.

BUT THEN, I’M going to encounter all those Baseball Hall of Fame types who already are polluting the Internet with their tyrades. Bert Blyleven in the Hall of Fame? I hardly think so, although here in Chicago we’re going to get our focus of people either feeling self-righteous indignation that Dawson had to wait nearly a decade before being accepted, or more disgust if he (probably rightfully so) gets overlooked again.

When combined with the complaints about Baines (who despite his quality statistics is now paying for being such a quiet, mild-mannered personality when he was an active ballplayer), it is going to be hard for me to figure out whether the sporting-type or the political-type people are being more ridiculous.

Chicago sports fans might have to settle for cheering the election of Roberto Alomar, the one-time star second baseman who played some non-descript ball with the White Sox toward the end of his career.

In short, Wednesday might turn out to be one of those days I lock myself away in my apartment and hide under the covers while the kooks complain. Somebody wake me up when its Thursday.

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They're coming to Illinois, accept it!

Federal officials made it final on Tuesday, the U.S. government is going to buy the largely-vacant prison near Thomson, Ill., and use it to house many of the alleged terrorist suspects who until now have been held indefinitely at the U.S. Naval base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

President Barack Obama made one of his first actions in office to be the signing of an order that those inmates be moved out of there as soon as was practically possible, and the purchase of the prison means that the answer to the question “What will we do with them?” is now “Send them to rural Illinois.”

AS WAS TO be expected, this is becoming a partisan issue amongst our political people. Democrats are lining up behind the president, while Republicans are engaging in the scare tactics of ridiculous rhetoric implying that somehow, this makes Chicago more of a target for future terror acts than it already is.

Or do these people believe Chicago should give up O’Hare International Airport and the Willis Tower?

All big cities in this country are targets, just because an incident in Chicago or somewhere else significant will draw more international attention than, say, an attack on Watterson Towers in Normal, Ill. (and my apologies to any Illinois State University alums who ever actually lived in that 27-story structure).

Also, there’s the fact that no more than 100 Guantanamo inmates are being sent to Thomson, a maximum-security facility that has about 1,600 cells. This is not going to be the end destination for all those would-be terror suspects, so we’re not going to get the brunt of negative attention.

YES, I WILL come out and write it. I mock the idea that Illinois is somehow being put at risk by shifting these inmates to Thomson. I realize that they ultimately have to be put somewhere on the mainland United States, and a place in northwestern Illinois that is located a hundred or so miles from any city of significant size is about as isolated a ground as one can find.

About the only placemore isolated might very well be to build a facility in Alaska and transport them there – but then I could envision Sarah Palin getting all worked up.

Part of what makes me think little of the Republican rhetoric was the debate held this week among the GOP dreamers for Illinois governor – all of whom took their own shots at Democrats, which is to be expected.

But one-time Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan, in his attempt to criticize, wound up conceding the absurdity of the argument.

“I THINK IT’S a very bad idea to bring the mastermind of (the World Trade Center attack) to Thomson,” said Ryan, according to the Daily Herald of Arlington Heights. “I have no doubt we can keep him there and he’ll never get out . But no one can tell me there’s no risk.”

In short, he concedes that it would be impossible for these inmates to sneak out of the prison and “blend in” with the surrounding community. So what’s the problem?

Is it just that some people are determined to complain no matter what the issue or how ridiculous a viewpoint they must take in order to be “in opposition” to the “other” side? Because under typical circumstances, these particular officials would be the first ones to praise the opening of a new prison facility because of the creation of so many new jobs for people who are their potential political supporters.

At least with the case of Rep. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., whose campaign website promoting his bid for a U.S. Senate seat contains a link to an Internet petition to be sent to Obama, his ridiculous rhetoric can be explained away as a cheap attempt to gain attention to his political aspirations and to try to appear more conservative than his voting record would indicate he is on various issues.

I’M SURE HIS people took a look at polls such as the one recently released by the Chicago Tribune that showed nearly half of would-be Republican voters (46 percent, to be exact) remain undecided, which means their initial look at Kirk was not enough to convince them to want to support him.

It may be shameful, but Kirk’s rhetoric is political, and his comments of today may very well be the ones that he tries to downplay in the future when he’s trying to get the votes of “real” people – not the ideologues.

My problem with the issue, and the reason I’m glad to see that movement is being made to get the inmates out of Guantanamo is that I always have believed the odd conditions (unlike those of any other person being incarcerated by our government against his will) of that facility go a long way toward undermining the moral authority our country claims with regard to the military efforts taking place in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A line I often have used remains true today – any time Fidel Castro can criticize you (and he has many times on this issue) without being totally dishonest means you’re doing something wrong.

TUESDAY’S ANNOUNCEMENT ALSO gave me a kick because it had the feel of Illinoisans taking over the White House for the day. Obama made sure to have Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., at his side, along with Gov. Pat Quinn – who made last-minute changes to his schedule so he could be in the District of Columbia for the day instead of at his Chicago office.

Heck, even our other senator, Roland Burris, D-Ill., got into the mood, issuing the statement that usually would have been the priority of Republican officials and which likely will be the last time anyone pays serious attention to him.

More than 3,000 jobs created for the local folk, along with the potential for much more federal funding for the area on account of the fact that the Thomson Correctional Center shifts from the Illinois Department of Corrections to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.

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Stateville "fight" helps Will, hurts state

If it turns out to be true, politics got put ahead of public policy in the likely deal that would keep a maximum-security state prison – and roughly 400 jobs – in the Joliet area.

The Herald News of Joliet reported that state officials will announce a deal Monday that will keep the Stateville Correctional Center open in full, even though state officials earlier this year expressed interest in closing the oldest parts of the prison and shifting inmates to the newly-built maximum-security prison in Thomson, Ill.

THAT PRISON HAS its own unique political story. It is new – built in the first few years of the 21st Century and intended to supplement the existing maximum-security prisons located across the state, including Stateville near Joliet.

But it has never opened, because state budgetary constraints prevent the Department of Corrections from having enough money in its budget to hire sufficient guards and other staff for the facility.

As a result, the state has a modern maximum-security prison sitting empty. Meanwhile, Stateville dates back eight decades – and has portions that are old and decrepit. The cost of bringing the facility up to modern corrections industry standards would be excessive. This model of the Stateville "penitentiary" is from the days when the facility near Joliet was a modern prison using the ultimate in technology. Now, it is old and nearing the end of its life as a corrections facility, even if some state officials don't seem to realize that fact. Note Joe Ragen, the long-time warden of Stateville who was known nationally for implementing prison reforms intended toward rehabilitation - rather than punishment - of inmates.

So the idea that the old maximum-security prison should be shuttered and replaced by the new prison is one that makes all too much sense. While the name “Stateville” has a historic connotation (among prisons, it is as legendary a name as “Alcatraz” or “Leavenworth”), this would be a case of a building reaching the end of its useful life.

OF COURSE, THAT logic is way too logical for many political people, who were determined to put their local concerns ahead of those of the state. While the Illinois Department of Corrections viewed the move as a transfer of jobs (the payroll would have remained the same), political people would only view the move as a loss of about 400 jobs for the Joliet-area, many of whom come from Crest Hill – the town that borders up against Joliet and is the actual mailing address of the prison.

“To suggest we could lose 400 jobs out of our area was not something I would want to see,” state Rep. Brent Hassert, R-Romeoville, told the Herald News newspaper.

Of course, the fact that the town of Thomson (population 559) and the nearby “big city” of Mount Carroll (population 1,832) would have gained a windfall of economic benefits from having the state facility located in their region of the state was considered irrelevant to the local politicos.

This is the reality of politics at the state or federal level, as opposed to the world of Chicago City Hall or any other municipal government.

COMPETING REGIONS OFTEN fight it out for the perks that will benefit the state or Midwestern U.S. as a whole. In the big picture, it doesn’t matter where a facility is located, since a region will receive benefits. Getting involved in the actual location of a facility is considered a parochial matter.

It almost compares to the fight that has taken place for nearly three decades now over where to put a new Chicago-area airport. The Federal Aviation Administration has always taken the perspective that Chicago needs a third airport, but doesn’t care where it is put.

The need for a new airport hasn’t lessened throughout the years, but political people who want to be able to control “the jobs” can’t reach agreement amongst themselves. So the aviation needs of the nation are put on hold.

It is the same situation for corrections, where the needs of the state prison system are now made to suffer a bit longer because the political people are more concerned about the site and the jobs.

I FULLY REALIZE that prison guard jobs are not the types that people would move to a new community for (particularly not one as isolated as Thomson). Will County would have taken something of a loss.

But in the big picture, keeping inmates in the aging roundhouses for which Stateville is known (the structures which at one time were considered an innovation in corrections practices are considered “historic” in nature) is ridiculous.

The structures have become old (on a couple of occasions when I was a reporter for United Press International, I got a chance to get a “very structured” tour of the prison by state officials), and portions are downright disgusting.

The time has come for a new maximum-security prison to go along with the Menard Correctional Center near the Southern Illinois town of Chester.

WHILE SOME PEOPLE will argue that one of the prisons should be near the Chicago area, the simple fact is that land acquisition costs are significantly less in the rural communities that have become the home of most of the state’s prisons.

So Thomson makes as much sense as any other northern Illinois location for a new high-security level prison for the state’s most dangerous inmates.

To me, it also is a bad idea to further delay the opening of the Thomson prison because no one was ever talking about completely shuttering Stateville. Only the oldest portions would have been closed, and the prison itself would have continued to house inmates.

THERE STILL WOULD have been some corrections department jobs for Crest Hill and the Greater Joliet area, which also has a lot of other things going for it. Joliet’s image should not be totally reliant on a prison being located nearby.

So come Monday, state legislators from Will County are expected to be joined by Illinois Senate President Emil Jones, D-Chicago, to announce the political deal that will keep Stateville fully open for the upcoming state fiscal year.

Will County may have won a “short-term” economic victory (because the prison’s age means its demise is not long in the future). But the “better interests” of the Corrections Department, and the state as a whole, will have taken a hit.

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EDITOR’S NOTES: Joliet could keep its status as Illinois’ preeminent prison town (http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/heraldnews/news/929008,JO02_STATEVILLE_WEB.article) once a deal to keep the Stateville Correctional Center is announced.

The 83-year-old state prison designed for 1,506 inmates currently houses 2,773 people who (http://www.idoc.state.il.us/subsections/facilities/information.asp?instchoice=sta) are considered among the most dangerous in the Illinois prison system.

Will County officials took seriously the notion that inmates (and jobs for prison guards) would be moved (http://chicagoargus.blogspot.com/2008/02/joliet-ill.html) to a prison located near the northwestern Illinois town.

For those of you who were curious, there are restrictions on the ability to get married (http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Can_you_get_married_in_Stateville_Correctional_Center_in_Joliet_Illinois_if_the_person_is_in_reception) to an inmate at the Stateville Correctional Center.