Amid "partisan bickering over procedural questions,"
the IL House of Representatives "narrowly rejected" one
version of a $587M plan to renovate Soldier Field yesterday,
according to Holt & Long of the CHICAGO TRIBUNE, who write
that despite yesterday's vote, IL Gov. George Ryan and
legislative leaders, "expressed confidence" they could still
"push through" a stadium deal as soon as today (CHICAGO
TRIBUNE, 11/30). The AP's Dennis Conrad reports that IL
House GOP Leader Lee Daniels "predicted" that the Senate and
House would adopt a "better-written and constitutional
version" of the bill today (AP, 11/30). In Chicago,
McKinney, Novak & Spielman report that Former IL Gov. and
Bears lobbyist James Thompson said that he "expected" Senate
and House leadership to "sign off on a final deal today." A
"major obstacle" was resolved when Chicago Mayor Richard
Daley "took state taxpayers off the hook" by agreeing that
the city would "absorb" any financial losses if Chicago's
hotel tax revenues failed to fully pay for the stadium (see
THE DAILY 11/29), but new questions "surfaced" yesterday
about "whether the mayor had effectively given away the
store to the Bears" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 11/30).
DECK OF CARDS: The IL Senate is expected to take up a
"stripped down" version of the stadium bill today that
eliminates the creation of a state panel to lure the MLB
Cardinals to IL, a provision that "helped torpedo" the plan
in the House. That provision was added to "attract support"
from Downstate lawmakers for the bill, but some legislators
said it "damaged the bill by violating a constitutional
tenet that every bill deal with a single subject." The
prospect of luring the Cardinals was "openly derided" by
Senate President James Philip: "Anybody that thinks the St.
Louis Cardinals are going to come to Illinois, you ought to
have your head examined." Cardinals President Mark Lamping
told a group of St. Louis business leaders that he and the
team "remain committed to building a new stadium west of the
river in Missouri, next to 34-year-old Busch Stadium,"
adding that "without question" that is where the team should
remain. Lamping: "Do we expect a new ballpark will be built
in the Metro East (area in Illinois)? Absolutely not. And
we're going to tell them that" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 11/30).
Lamping said that the only way the Cardinals "would consider
not being in downtown St. Louis" is if no stadium deal can
be reached with the city (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 11/30).
