State of Illinois Strikes Again (Arrrgh!!!)

This morning I was listening to the third installment of the Petulant Politics of Illinois. We have a zealous young governor, Rod Blagojevich (BLAH-GOY-A-VITCH to the uninitiated), who was saddled with a 5 billion dollar deficit in the state budget when he took office. Of course his primary concern is cost cutting.

Well, he's been initiated to the real world of budgeting, now. FOr example, it seems that agreement had been reached concerning funding for the office of the Secretary of State, but at some point, the legislature decided to add an extra five million to that figure. The Governor is up in arms, saying that the legislature is spending the public's money like "a bunch of drunken sailors." One legislator took offense, and said he'd never been a sailor!

A budget was agreed upon last Spring, and the legislature adjourned for the summer. During the summer the Governor cut additions that he felt were special interest in nature. When the legislature returned for the two week fall veto session, they began restoring that funding to the budget.

There's a good explanation of the situation at this site.

It's interesting. This is the first time in ages that the Democrats have the majority in the legislature, and we also have a Democratic governor. Unfortunately they can't seem to find a way to work together. The governor is accusing the legislature in the media of being on a spending orgy, and the legislators are just smiling and doing business as usual.

In retaliation for taking his complaints to the media, the politicians are accusing Blagojevich of being an absentee governor. It seems that Mr. and Mrs. Blagojevich have decided not to uproot their seven year old daughter, so they are maintaining their residence in Chicago rather than in the traditional Governor's mansion.

While he COULD have been schmoozing and working the pols, the gov was flying home each night from Springfield. That's been another thorn in the side of the politicians, most of whom have families settled in other towns. They feel he should have been sticking around to contact them and try to work things out, and he feels that it's none of their business where he sleeps.

Actually, I'm on the side of the legislators here. I think the family should have been prepared to move to Springfield when Blagojevich was elected. Springfield is our capital, and the seat of our state government. Mrs. Blagojevich should understand her function as a hostess and emissary for the state, and it seems to me that she has thumbed her nose at us all. Beyond that, the governor needs to be available to the legislators when they are in session, not flying back and forth to Chicago. At a time when the general populace is concerned about his ties to Chicago politics, this behavior isn't doing anything to endear him to the voting public.

I suspect we are going to have several turbulant years where NOTHING gets done. Too bad that the pols couldn't see the advantages to budgeting our way out of debt, and too bad that we don't have a governor who is better at looking past his own needs to the needs of his electorate.