Illinois House members Friday denounced a Department on Aging office lease as a waste of money but failed to muster the votes needed to launch an investigation.
And while some demanded that Gov. Pat Quinn step in and cancel the half-million-dollar-a-year lease, Quinn's spokesman only issued a terse statement Friday afternoon.
"The governor's office has no comment at this time," Bob Reed said in an e-mailed message.
Quinn's Republican opponent, Sen. Bill Brady of Bloomington, said he's trying to get additional information about the lease from the administration.
"Given what has surfaced, it seems completely inappropriate that we could discontinue using paid for state space and incur over $500,000 in expenditures when the government has racked up billions in deficits," Brady said. "Until he provides some justification for how this is good for the taxpayers and the state budget, I don't know how anyone can be anything but critical."
The State Journal-Register reported this week that the Department on Aging plans to move out of two state-owned offices into leased office space costing more than $532,000 a year. The Department of Central Management Services - which handles state office leases - said it could not find suitable space elsewhere and that the site at 300 W. Jefferson St. in Springfield was selected after obtaining bids from landlords.
Reps. Raymond Poe, R-Springfield, and Rich Brauer, R-Petersburg, are among House members behind a resolution that would direct Aging and CMS to review the lease and seek a cheaper alternative. The resolution is currently being held in the Democrat-controlled House Rules Committee.
"To move in and spend $530,000 on rental seems to be an inappropriate time to do that," Poe said.
Rep. Bill Black, R-Danville, Meals-on-Wheels programs in his district have had to cut back because of funding shortages. He said he wanted to give the Quinn administration his first "Let them eat cake, we don't give a damn" award for the lease.
Rep. Sandra Pihos, R-Glen Ellyn, is a ranking member of the House Committee on Aging.
"Yesterday we heard bills that would reduce services for our senior citizens because the Department on Aging says they do not have funding," Pihos said. "Now they want to relocate the department at a cost of over half a million dollars a year. The move being proposed is irresponsible and irrational."
