By Jon Seidel, Post-Tribune
jseidel@post-trib.com
A public/private partnership to build the Illiana Expressway won overwhelming support Thursday in the state Senate, but that vote belied a storm of political gamesmanship in the House that brings serious doubt to its chances.
While the Senate's Illiana bill was on cruise control, a House version authored by Rep. Chet Dobis, D-Merrillville, and co-authored by Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso, failed to even win a hearing in the transportation committee this month.
Meanwhile, Soliday said Rep. Terri Austin, D-Anderson, quietly filed Illiana language into a vehicle bill that included several "poison pills" he said are sure to kill the project.
It was assigned not to the transportation committee, but to the committee on government reform.
"It's just outrageous," Soliday said.
Neither Austin nor Dobis could be reached for comment. However, Sen. Earline Rogers, D-Gary, and third author of the Senate bill, said she was told about a "killer amendment" to the House version.
"I don't know what kind of games they're playing over there," Rogers said.
Among problems in Austin's bill, Soliday said, are memoranda of understanding for every city and town the road touches.
"It just doesn't work," Soliday said. "It's too complicated. It's the perfect poison pill."
That bill failed to get out of committee in a 49-49 vote on the House floor Thursday.
Now, Soliday said, he and Dobis have been told if their names aren't taken off the Senate's Illiana bill, authored by Republican Sen. Ed Charbonneau of Valparaiso, the bill will die in the House.
That threat, Soliday said, has everything to do with this year's election.
"I don't play games with thousands of jobs and people's lives," Soliday said. "I rarely, rarely get this disgusted at people's behavior."
Soliday said it's not clear what will happen next. He said the road isn't feasible under Austin's terms.
Charbonneau's version of the bill, which passed on third reading 48-0 but currently has no House sponsor, would authorize a public/private partnership and allow the state to contract with an investor to build the toll road with private dollars.
The proposed 10-mile Illiana Expressway would connect Interstate 65 with Interstate 55 in Illinois. Among the goals of the highway would be easing heavy truck traffic on the Borman Expressway.
Soliday, Dobis and Charbonneau have also touted it as a jobs bill, one they say currently has crucial support in Illinois.
"We have the stars aligned," Charbonneau told the Senate. "We have interest in the state of Illinois with the governor, the legislature; interest in Indiana with the Indiana Department of Transportation interested in moving forward with this very significant project."