Springfield workers not happy with IDOT plans

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By Kartikay Mehrotra and Kurt Erickson | Sunday, June 29, 2008 |

SPRINGFIELD — While Gov. Rod Blagojevich was busy Friday announcing plans to move 140 Illinois Department of Transportation workers into an old Wal-Mart building in Harrisburg, employees in Springfield were busy fighting back tears over the governor’s decision.

The facility, located on U.S. 45, is slated to become home to employees in the Illinois Department of Transportation’s Traffic Safety division. The workers currently are headquartered in Springfield.

Some of the workers slated to have their jobs moved out of the existing traffic safety building adjacent to IDOT headquarters still are trying to make sense out of the governor’s maneuver.

“The governor has not shown any respect for state employees since he took office,” said Brian Hendricks, an office associate who has worked many state jobs since 1996. “It seems like he’s the king and we’re the pawns and everyone’s going to get rooked.”

Hendricks’ colleague, Amanda Abeln, has been outspoken in her opposition to the governor’s move. Abeln was in Harrisburg on Friday to hear the governor’s announcement firsthand.

“We didn’t even find out until we read it in the newspapers and through the media,” said Abeln. “The announcement was very upsetting and most of the people at IDOT are speechless. They’re mad and scared because they don’t know what is going to happen with their jobs, their houses or their kids.”

State Sen. Larry Bomke, R-Springfield, who has proposed filing suit against the administration, hopes this decision, like many other Blagojevich moves, ultimately falls to the wayside.

“He has a track record of changing his mind a lot,” said Bomke. “It was Benton, now it’s Harrisburg. Hopefully it’ll be Springfield tomorrow.”

The senator was clearly frustrated Friday with Blagojevich’s decision-making process.

“I keep hoping that the guy will have some sense of decency; everything he does is a political maneuver,” Bomke said. “This is just so unconscionable. I just don’t know how you do that without having some psychological problems. I sincerely mean that.”

The governor says moving the workers out of Springfield will help the economy in southern Illinois. IDOT also says lease payments for the current office in Springfield are too high.

The building, which is owned by the Southeastern Illinois College Foundation, is 3,200-square-feet and is on a direct, four-lane road from the Marion exit on Interstate 57, Phelps said.

The transfer has sparked controversy among state employees in Springfield, who argue the state could save money by simply moving the workers into existing office space at IDOT’s main headquarters on Springfield’s east side.

(Kurt Erickson of the Springfield Bureau contributed to this report.)

Kartikay Mehrotra can be contacted at (217) 789-0865 or at Kartikay.mehrotra@lee.net.

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