Illinois Continues Down the Rathole

We were on vacation for most of May, so we weren’t here to see that the leaders of our state government were basically on vacation in May, too.  Once again, Illinois has failed to pass a budget.  As I stated back here, the situation is basically this: Governor Bruce Rauner thinks it is better to not have a budget than to agree to tax increases without at least some of the changes (he calls them “reforms”) he has asked the legislature to make.  Speaker Michael Madigan thinks it is better to not have a budget than to agree to whatever changes Governor Rauner wants.  So, the deadlock continues.

Shortly after we got home from vacation, the Chicago Tribune published what its reporters thought was a big exposé.¹  The Democrats who control the Illinois House had been willing to pass a budget with tax increases, but Governor Rauner told them he would veto it.  With that threat made, Speaker Madigan didn’t bring the plan up for a vote.

The Tribune reporters then said, or at least strongly implied, that Governor Rauner was being dishonest in claiming the Democrats in the legislature wouldn’t send him a budget when the reason they didn’t pass one was because he had told them that he would veto it.

Except that is more political interpretation than fact.  The fact that Bruce Rauner said he would veto the plan that Speaker Madigan was going to have the House vote on doesn’t mean the Democrats in the Illinois House couldn’t have passed it.  If the Democrats were really all that upset about Governor Rauner claiming that they won’t pass a budget, they could have passed the budget and dared Governor Rauner to carry out his threat to veto it.  Then, when Governor Rauner tried to claim the Democrats wouldn’t send him a budget, they could have said, yes we did, and you vetoed it.  The lack of a budget is on you.

But Speaker Madigan didn’t do that.  Apparently, he is more worried that some of his legislators might have to cast a vote to increase taxes, a vote that could then be used against them in the campaigns in the fall of 2018², than he is about Governor Rauner running political ads claiming the Democrats won’t pass a budget.

So, who’s to blame?  Maybe all of us – for electing and re-electing the people in Springfield.  And for expecting them to keep giving us highways, pensions, school funding, and everything else without asking us to pay more or make any hard decisions.

And what’s to be done?  Everybody needs to give a something.  Taxes need to go up.  Unions and trial lawyers need to accept some changes.  State programs need to be more cost-effective.  Pensions need to be adjusted (even if it requires a constitutional amendment).  And maybe most important, our legislators need to give up the right to draw legislative district lines so they can stay in office forever with worrying about anybody ever challenging them.  Because it’s not supposed to be a guaranteed lifetime job.
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¹ Kim Geiger and Monique Garcia, “How Rauner stopped a tax hike from hitting his desk,” Chicago Tribune, June 2, 2017, section 1, page 1 (print edition).  See here for the online version.

² According to the Tribune.