CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Carol Marin :: Fight to help = seniors runs into lobbyists' buzz saw

State=20 Rep. Ruth Munson (R-Elgin) has stirred up quite a = little=20 hornet's nest. As I write this, Munson is down in = Springfield=20 fighting to override Gov. Blagojevich's veto of what = amounts=20 to a pretty small piece of legislation. But a phalanx = of new=20 lobbyists has descended on the Capitol, hired by an = industry=20 with deep pockets to defeat her. One of them is Bill = Filan,=20 cousin of the governor's budget = director.=20

This is the latest chapter in a David and Goliath = story=20 I've been telling you about for a while now.

For two years, Munson and a bipartisan band of = mostly=20 female legislators have been trying to help senior = citizens=20 who live in what we used to call mobile home parks. We = now=20 call them "manufactured home communities." The homes, = once=20 they are set on a foundation, are not mobile. And = neither are=20 their residents, many of whom are retirees who found = this=20 housing more affordable than a brick-and-mortar type = of=20 dwelling. About 300,000 people live in these = communities in=20 Illinois. If you put them all together, they would be = twice=20 the population of Rockford.

For years, most of these manufactured home parks = were Mom=20 and Pop operations. Now many of them have been gobbled = up by=20 huge corporations. The biggest of them all is the one=20 controlled by Chicago mega-zillionaire Sam Zell. His = nickname=20 is "The Grave Dancer" because Zell is a genius at = buying up=20 properties and turning them into gold mines. He is, = according=20 to Money Magazine, the "nation's biggest landlord."=20 Stockholders are the folks Zell worries about. = Residents of=20 these little communities don't appear to command as = much of=20 his interest. I don't know that firsthand, of course, = because=20 Zell hasn't ever wanted to talk to me.=20

But I have visited communities he owns. Last year I = watched=20 as an elderly couple in Elgin loaded up a moving van = and=20 abandoned their two bedroom home. They couldn't afford = the=20 rent any longer. Yes, they owned their house. But the = didn't=20 own the land underneath it. And when that rent began = to=20 skyrocket, they couldn't pay it anymore. They were = packing up=20 to live with a daughter out of state.

Little wonder that last March a couple of busloads = of=20 residents from all over the state, some in walkers, a = few in=20 wheelchairs, staged a demonstration in Springfield, = pleading=20 with lawmakers for a little relief.

Munson's bill provided homeowners a few modest = rights. A=20 longer lease agreement. A chance to appeal their rents = to an=20 independent arbiter. That arbitration, by the way, = wasn't even=20 binding. Last spring, after a lot of hard work, Munson = and her=20 colleagues in the House and Senate finally managed to = get a=20 watered-down version of her legislation passed.

What happened? Blagojevich vetoed it, arguing the = bill only=20 applied to publicly traded companies like Zell's, not = to=20 private companies. He was correct. Part of the = watering-down=20 that had taken place, thanks to industry lobbyists, = was to=20 make the legislation as limited as possible by tacking = a bunch=20 of amendments onto it. Blagojevich, with a stroke of = his=20 amendatory veto pen, could actually have restored the = full=20 power of the bill, making it applicable to all = manufactured=20 home communities, but he didn't.

Why? Have I mentioned big campaign contributions = yet? This=20 industry has handed out a lot of money to a lot of=20 politicians. Zell and his wife, Helen, for instance, = wrote=20 checks to Blagojevich in 2002 totalling $82,000. I = don't know=20 if the governor took that into account, but he might = have.

As of 3 p.m. Tuesday, Munson thought she had the = votes in=20 both houses to override the governor's veto. But it = was going=20 to be a fight. A national group called the = Manufactured=20 Housing Institute, a group that includes a number of=20 manufactured home companies including Zell's, sent a = letter to=20 legislators arguing that Munson's bill amounts to rent = control=20 and would create "irreparable harm" with "irreversible = consequences." For the record, Munson's bill does not = call for=20 rent control.

Attorney General Lisa Madigan is supporting the = Munson bill=20 and the attempt to override the governor's veto, = though=20 Madigan would prefer, said spokeswoman Cara Smith, = that the=20 original, even broader legislation be enacted.

At 4:05 p.m. Tuesday, my phone rang. It was Munson = from the=20 floor. "We just lost by two votes," she told me. "We = needed 71=20 yes votes; we got 69." Two people defected, she said, = "within=20 the last hour. Forty voted no, seven voted present."

Munson had one more chance to call it to a vote and = immediately went to work. At 4:58 she called back. She = and her=20 colleagues had managed to convert a few more votes. = They=20 overrode the governor's veto in the house with four = votes to=20 spare.=20

But don't think for a moment this fight is over. = Now the=20 measure heads to the Senate. But so do the lobbyists.

I'll keep you posted.