Too much finger-pointing, not enough action

Editorial
June 25, 2007

If you've lost patience with the ongoing state budget logjam in Springfield, take heart. At least you're not alone.

If the situation seems confusing, well, again, you're in good company.

For some background on one of the newest wrinkles, let's start with this position statement: "Any final budget approved by the General Assembly must provide for significant new investments in education, capital improvement and transportation needs, health care and human services, frontline staff in state agencies, and the long-term stability of state-funded pension systems."

Wow! That sounds too good to be true - in other words, not grounded in reality.

To say that every component listed above is a "must" and that lawmakers have to approve a spending plan with all of those elements is about as realistic as Paris Hilton ever calling Paris, Illinois home.

Yet the language above came from a real letter earlier in the week. It was sent to the state's top elected officials, including Gov. Rod Blagojevich, House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President Emil Jones.

The authors: Nearly two dozen House Democrats who are at odds with the only budget plan approved by the Legislature before it went into overtime May 31 - a Madigan-backed nearly $60 billion plan with spending up by 1.5 percent.

The House speaker, considered a master political tactician, claims that budget "talks" have been show-and-tell sessions by the governor and his aides, and not meaningful sessions aimed at reaching an accord before the state's fiscal year begins July 1.

If it weren't so prevalent, it would be easy to ignore the finger-pointing and blame-placing going back and forth. Beyond the hyperbole, what exists are three leaders, all Democrats, who can't agree on key budget positions they each hold tightly: Blagojevich wants universal health care; Jones wants to see significant increases in education spending; Madigan continues to stand behind his bare-bones budget.

And to think, Democrats control the Senate, have a majority in the House and own all of the Constitutional offices. Weren't we once told that gridlock between opposing parties prevented progress?

We'd like to believe that an accord reached at the end of the week to approve a one-month budget so state checks can continue to be cut after July 1 is a good sign.

The move helps ensure that state payroll checks continue to go out in July, that Medicaid payments - already lagging behind - aren't made at a slower clip, that health care providers and nursing homes aren't financially strapped more than they are now with delayed state reimbursements.

But the devil is in the details, and we don't yet know what details will be included in a stop-gap budget measure. Bigger still, though, is the need now for a full fiscal year blueprint that allows community agencies across the state to plan the coming year with some measure of fiscal confidence.

It is reprehensible for state lawmakers to be in the position they're in now, especially after approving nearly 10 percent pay increases for themselves and executive officers, and particularly without an accord in hand for electric rate relief.

For their lack of progress on a state spending plan, Blagojevich, Madigan, Jones and GOP leaders Tom Cross and Frank Watson should lock themselves down in Springfield and stay that way until an accord on a full-year spending plan is reached.

Our governor should take the lead, show that he means business and set up shop in Springfield until the job is done. Spending nearly $75,000 to fly him back and forth from Chicago since mid-May doesn't cut it.

We need leadership, compromise and accountability.

We need it now.

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