The hole is plugged and the water is being pumped out of the Loop, but Gov. Jim Edgar has so far refused to commit to helping the city pay its flood bills.
While the federal government has agreed to pay for at least 75 percent of the cleanup costs that could run into the hundreds of millions of dollars, the state and the city are haggling over how to divide the remaining 25 percent of the bills.
Edgar has agreed to give the city $3 million to help pay for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers` role in pumping millions of gallons of Chicago River water from the city`s underground tunnels and Loop subbasements. But Mayor Richard Daley considers that sum a pittance and an insult, aides to the mayor said.
A long-standing agreement between the state and local communities hit by disasters dictates that each party pay half the remaining costs. But Edgar is backing away from that partnership, saying that the state government`s shaky finances won`t allow him to offer a blank check to help cover Chicago`s flood bills.
Edgar`s attitude has put Daley on a slow burn since last week. The mayor argued Monday that Chicago is still in Illinois and should be given the same consideration offered other municipalities granted national disaster status by the federal government.
Edgar`s waiting game has also apparently reopened old political wounds between the two, allowing Daley to personalize the conflict. In private moments he recalls that Edgar`s predecessor, Gov. James Thompson, had a different way of dealing with Democratic mayors from the big city.
The mayor, a conservative Democrat, might not be as polished as Edgar in public, but he has a long memory for slights, and sometimes has waited years to repay some insults.
When told that Edgar was saying publicly that the state couldn`t afford to commit to its usual 12.5 percent share, Daley chided the governor, who has already proposed a cut in the city`s share of the state income tax surcharge. ”I think he should not abandon any part of the state at all. I hope not,” the mayor said while touring the Loop`s Marshall Field`s store on its first day of business after the underground flood.
”You have the business community here, you have people here in the city, you have workers and all that,” Daley said. ”It would really be unfair to them.”
The mayor also said that proposed budget cuts by Edgar would also put a strain on his own city budget, and ultimately, the taxpayers.
”We have those cuts, we`ve got (city) labor negotiations, you`re right. It`s a very difficult time,” Daley said.
In the past, state officials have honored the 50-50 split with cities on the local share of cleaning up disasters, such as the 1990 Plainfield tornado, the Des Plaines River/Salt Creek flood of 1987 and the Champaign ice storm of 1990. But Edgar aides said Monday that the governor would be ”fiscally reckless” to commit the state to spending money on a disaster of this proportion without knowing the final costs. They acknowledge that the state has typically pitched in to pay half, but they say the Chicago flood is far from a typical disaster.
Edgar has also made a distinction between natural disasters such as tornadoes and Chicago`s catastrophe, which city employees were warned internally to fix before it became a disaster.
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”What the city wants at this point is a blank check,” said Mike Lawrence, the governor`s chief spokesman. ”Given the state`s difficult fiscal situation, the governor is not about to hand the feds and city a blank check.”
Lawrence insisted the governor was not discriminating against Chicago and that he was not ”anti-Chicago.”
Lawrence also noted that the governor agreed with Daley on the McCormick Place expansion and Daley`s plans for a Lake Calumet Airport. Daley political operatives note that it was the mayor, and not Edgar, who brought Republican state lawmakers on board the McCormick expansion project. During last year`s legislative session, the mayor`s operatives set up shop in the offices of Senate Minority Leader James ”Pate” Philip (R-Wood Dale).
Some Edgar sources say that the governor`s posturing on the issue is designed to make sure Daley calls in his political chips with the Illinois congressional delegation, as both the governor and the mayor seek even more funds from the feds.
Other political considerations are also said to revolve around the money the city needs. President Bush, campaigning for re-election in November, wants to carry Illinois and the mayor has all but given his endorsement to Democratic nomination-seeker Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton.
Meanwhile, city and state officials said that one possible formula being worked on would perhaps encourage the federal government to pay more than 75 percent.
One putting a hopeful spin on the bluffing game is Avis LaVelle, the mayor`s press secretary. She said that in other disaster areas, including the San Francisco earthquake of 1989, the federal government paid 75 percent of cleanup costs until the funds paid equaled $10 per person in the affected areas.
After that $10 per capita ratio was exceeded, the federal government picked up more of the costs.
”They could pick up more than 75 percent, at least that`s what we`re hearing right now in terms of discussion,” LaVelle said, downplaying the conflict between her boss and the governor. ”Sure there are tensions between both parties, but reasonable people can come to an agreement on how to work it out.”
But other Daley administration sources offered a litany of perceived slights to back up their claim that if the mayor and the governor were once on the same page, they are now not even in the same book.
These include:
– An agreement between Thompson and the city to provide $5 million in funds for books for the Harold Washington Library. Edgar broke the agreement, and Daley had to go back to the state legislature to secure the funds, forcing him to spend favors he would rather have kept.
– A deal between Edgar and Daley for a $5 million state payment for CTA security and discounts for senior citizens. That was also broken, Daley aides say, and the mayor had to again petition the legislature for the money.
– Edgar agreed to the city`s share of the state income tax surcharge, which amounts to more than $30 million for 1992. Citing a state fiscal crisis, the governor proposed to cut those funds, creating a drain on the city`s budget.
– The governor pulled back his support for Paula Wolff, Daley`s choice to become chancellor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The governor`s move, close to Daley`s re-election campaign, embarrassed the mayor and a top aide, Frank Kreusi, his policy chief, who had told Wolff they would help her get the job.
– In perhaps the most embarrassing tiff, Edgar last year supported City Treasurer Miriam Santos, a former Daley protege who accused Daley`s top aides of trying to use municipal pension fund loans to repay political debts. A Daley-sponsored bill struck Santos from some pension boards, but Edgar vetoed the measure and secured her a victory.
To the mayor, the governor`s granting a reprieve to Santos, who had insulted him and his friends, was too much, especially since Daley figures Santos will use that issue to campaign against him for mayor in 1995.
”These are the types of things that really tick him off and now you`ve got Edgar trying to squeeze him some more,” said one high-ranking Daley official.
Edgar`s staff acknowledges that relations between the two men have been strained, especially since the flood. But Lawrence offered a polite counterpunch.
”It`s unreasonable and arrogant for them to expect Gov. Edgar to go along with everything Mayor Daley wants. It shouldn`t be that way, and it won`t be that way,” he said.
”I don`t understand the city`s strategy. Why do they want to start complaining now instead of working with the state as closely as possible?”
Lawrence said.