Governor of Illinois Declares State of Emergency

[thePhilosopher]

In light of the tragedy at NIU today, the governor of Illinois has declared a state of emergency. My understanding is that this will allow the governor to use state funds to reimburse local authorities for their response to the shooting today. I think this is a benevolent act, but it does raise some questions (at least for me).

Can a governor of a state declare a state of emergency whenever he or she pleases? It seems like the shooting, while tragic, was nothing on the level of damage like a natural disaster such as a massive flood, hurricane, or tornado. Could the governor, once declaring some event or place a "state of emergency," initiate a martial law over the area? I am sure that this varies from state to state, but in this age of the Patriot Act, its always good to know how exactly stuff can unfold. Any thoughts or info is very much appreciated.

 

[WilliamC]

Over the entire State or just the affected community?

I agree that this seems to be an over-response as, to my knowledge, only a single individual was involved.

Now if I'm wrong and a large group of gunmen are still at large that's a different situation.

 

[thePhilosopher]

This is from CNN: "Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich declared a state of emergency, which will open the governor's disaster fund to reimburse local government entities for "extraordinary expenses related to the response in NIU DeKalb" and will allow the state Emergency Management Agency to provide assistance, the governor's office said in a statement."

http://www.cn n.com/2008/US/02/14/university.shooting/index.html

My guess is that its a local thing, but it seems like almost any kind of a violent event could cause the top bananas to declare states of emergency or martial law or whatever. CNN didn't specify that it WASN'T state-wide, though I doubt it would be.Truly a tragic event, but a strange wrinkle in this story nonetheless.

 

[MrZach]

Gov. Blagojevich is a terrible Governor. He only got elected because the guy he was running against was in the same party as and has the same last name as our former disgraced Gov. Ryan and voters were too dumb to be able to tell the difference.

Gov. Blagojevich won't be governor for long. Most people in IL hate him.

What happened at NIU, while tragic, does not constitute "a state of emergency" - this guy is ridiculous. The only "emergency" in IL is how desperately we need to get rid of our governor before he does any more damage to our state.

 

[PauliticsPolitics]

Gov. Blagojevich is a terrible Governor. He only got elected because the guy he was running against was in the same party as and has the same last name as our former disgraced Gov. Ryan and voters were too dumb to be able to tell the difference.

Gov. Blagojevich won't be governor for long. Most people in IL hate him.

What happened at NIU, while tragic, does not constitute "a state of emergency" - this guy is ridiculous. The only "emergency" in IL is how desperately we need to get rid of our governor before he does any more damage to our state.

agreed.
but for the record, this state of emergency has NOT installed a police state in IL.

Blagojevich just does whatever makes him look good.
I think Mayor Daley is the real governor of IL (scary), Blago is just useless.

 

[roshi]

Oh crap. I live in Illinois too.

 

[MrZach]

agreed.
but for the record, this state of emergency has NOT installed a police state in IL.

Blagojevich just does whatever makes him look good.
I think Mayor Daley is the real governor of IL (scary), Blago is just useless.

Yeah... this has nothing to do with a police state, so people need to at least get the story straight there. All this has to do is with our Governor throwing more of our state's money on the fire so he can look like a "good guy" and so we can't afford crap even with our outrageously high taxes...

 

[MrZach]

lol... The Daley family practically runs the entire Democratic party. Who are the Kennedys? Its the Daleys who run the show...