King Rod Blagojevich’s slash and burn line-item veto on the Illinois state budget is coming under increasing fire, and could be overridden in the upcoming Legislative veto session.

Blagojevich ran under four main premises: Improvement in employment, safety, education and health care, and his public statements say he is fighting for transparent and efficient government. The vetoes were ‘pork’ projects – or so he says.

The voters of Illinois appear to disagree, if the feedback being received during Michael Madigan’s town hall meetings being conducted all over the state are any indicator. Many, if not all, of Blagojevich’s vetoes could be overridden by his own party in the upcoming Legislature’s veto session.

Follows is a breakdown of the four key areas that the Governor claims he is working on and how they faired in his red ink extravaganza.

From Education:

1. $3.5 million for starting Charter Schools
2. $5 million for Gifted Education
3. $863,000 for Arts Education
4. $9.5 million in matching grants for Higher Education
5. $200,000 for the Task Force on Higher Education and the Economy
6. $3 million for Student Success Grants at community colleges
7. A triple whammy to employment, education, and health care with his $250,000 veto for funds for medical education grants at the Lincoln Land Community College’s Hillsboro campus
8. $300,000 pulled from Prairie State Community College for educational purposes
9. $500,000 for scholarships for training in criminal forensics
10. $500,000 from the Building With Books program for library improvements
11. A double whammy to education and health, by yanking $700,000 from the Rural Medical Education program in Rockford

Total Pulled from Education programs - $24,313,000

From Safety-related programs:

1. $500,000 for the Center for Law Enforcement Technology Collaboration
2. $170,000 from the Illinois Commerce Commission for railroad safety inspections
3. Killed the Operation Ceasefire Program in Chicago and Waukegan geared at ending gang violence to the tune of $6,250,000
4. Killed the expansion of the wildly successful Lincoln’s Challenge program that diverts youths from a life of crime - $2,000,000
5. $1,300,000 in three different vetoes from the Criminal Information Authority

Total vetoed safety programs - $10,220,000

From Health Programs:

1. $100,000 grant to the Southern Illinois University Dental College for improvements
2. $350,000 yanked from the University of Illinois Pathways to Health Professions Program
3. $350,000 from the University of Illinois Dental School
4. Another double whammy impacting both health and education, by pulling $200,000 from the Illinois Comprehensive Knowledge Service and the Health-E Illinois collaboration
5. Killed a $500,000 grant to the Rush Alzheimer’s Health Center
6. $8 million for mental health
7. $6.6 million for addiction treatment
8. $250,000 technology grant for Rehabilitation Services Grants to create school-based health care centers
9. Killed a $420,000 grant to the Easter Seals fund
10. $150,000 for newborn hearing issues
11. $500,000 for creating birth-related data systems
12. A big one - $1,183,000 to prepare for the inevitable flu pandemic
13. $400,000 from the Sickle Cell Anemia Foundation
14. $100,000 from the Heart Saver fund
15. $1 million from the Access to Health program
16. Killed adding 80 beds to the LaSalle Veteran’s Hospital to the tune of $2,225,600

Health-related items vetoed: $20,832,000

From Employment-related initiatives:

1. Killed the entire $6 million budget for the Department of Commerce and Economic Development’s Illinois Global Partnership initiative.
2. $354,000 pulled the Main Street Program in three vetoes, geared at small towns to make improvements to their central business area

Total Employment-related hits: $6,354,000

Blagojevich vetoed $463,000,000 in total appropriations. Of those, $61,719,000, or 13%, were from areas in which Blagojevich purports his full support.

There were also literally hundreds of smaller appropriations vetoed, everything from stopping the extension of a Tax Increment Finance district’s authority in Villa Grove (cost ZERO) to $500,000 for the expansion and repair for a water line in Oreana so the citizens of that small community have access to safe drinking water. Most of those smaller items killed will impact downstate communities.

The Governor also vetoed $350,000 from the budget for Phase 2 of the 2010 Census Redistricting fund. We have three years to plan. Is Blagojevich already worried about his power base and getting re-elected?

A truly interesting veto was the one that killed the payment for legal fees in the case of Foreign Trade Council, Inc., et al. v. Alexi Giannoulias, et al., No. 06 C 4251. In this case, the State of Illinois is being sued for refusing to help fund the atrocities in Sudan. Why would he kill this money to defend the Treasurer from this ongoing legal action?

From voter reaction, it appears Governor Blagojevich has quite a bit to answer for with these vetoes.