Rich, Pat and Joe Vote No on Tom's Plan

It's looking less likely that I'll need to move out of the State of Illinois under protest.  It seems that not just bloggers in their mothers' basements are against Tom Ricketts' plan to get money from a state that is $15 billion in debt.  Some guys with some actual clout aren't big fans of the scheme either.

Mayor Daley has come out against the plan in typical Daleyesque eloquence:

“That would deny the next mayor — if I sign the agreement and say, ‘Go ahead’ — of the revenue they need to balance the budget,” Daley said. “And government needs money in order to balance budgets.

“We have to really talk about how you finance this without jeopardizing — whether it’s $5 million, $7 million or $8 million of — future growth….It’s a good concept. They’re well-intentioned….but that would really burden the next mayor. You wouldn’t want to do that.”

Don't hold your breath for Daley to support this plan.

The governor isn't out whipping votes for the Rickettseses either:

 
“We have top priorities in Illinois right now that must be dealt with,” Quinn said, adding that the Ricketts family’s proposal “would not be a top priority for me.”
 
He's not a little miffed that Michael Madigan, John Cullerton, and all 27,000 Cubs' season ticket holders knew about the plan before he did, is he?
 
“Apparently, they don’t think I’m as important as some others,” Quinn said. “I am important in this matter because I’m goalie for the people of Illinois to make sure they get their top priorities addressed.”
 
The governor added: “These are private owners of a baseball team. They spent almost $1 billion buying it. They knew what they were buying. To be coming to the people of Illinois for assistance now after an election isn’t a top priority… If they wanted this to happen, they should have talked about it before the election — not after.”
 
Oh, snap!  But the Ricketts will not be easily deterred.  They will continue to try to convince their representatives that the government would be wise to invest the money in the Cubs:
 
[Spokesman, Dennis] Culloton said team officials "respect our elected officials and will continue meeting with them and their staffs" to explain how the team's proposal "will create $200 million in additional private-sector investment, create 1,000 construction jobs" and hundreds of permanent jobs.
 
They are going to stick with it because if they learned anything from their father, it's that government spending is their friend.  Or something.  They weren't really listening to dad ramble on, but luckily there is a video of Dad Ricketts on YouTube:
 
 


So Papa Joe isn't on board either.  You have to start wondering whether anyone except the Ricketts siblings and possibly a solitary bleacher season ticket holder is still in favor of the plan anymore.