Chicago Sun Times Editorial: Spineless in Springfield: They can't do right thing

Chicago Sun Times Editorial: Spineless in Springfield: They can't do right thing
Copyright by The Chicago Sun Times
May 10, 2010
http://www.suntimes.com/news/commentary/2253812,CST-EDT-edit10a.article


It's a long time between now and the November election -- at least state legislators like to think so.
By November, they're hoping their profound incompetence will be long forgotten by voters.

Lawmakers left the Capitol on Friday without tackling a $13 billion deficit, a budget hole so large it threatens to irrevocably weaken our schools, universities and social service safety net.

Only the Senate has passed a spending package. House Speaker Michael Madigan said legislators would return later this month to finalize the budget.

Though we can dream, we are expecting more of the same.

During a truncated session this spring, legislators found common ground on almost nothing related to the budget. There was no agreement on an income tax hike, no agreement on significant budget cuts, no agreement on how to make a $3.7 billion pension payment, no agreement on how to cover $6.2 billion in unpaid bills owed to near-bankrupt schools, medical providers and social services agencies.

We're not suggesting this is easy. It's not. But taxpayers are owed a good-faith effort, and we haven't seen one.

By the end of May, we expect legislators to do what they had planned all along: pass a farce of a budget.

We challenge legislators to prove us wrong. But it's hard to envision anything but a six-month spending plan that leaves the state sinking ever deeper into a debt so severe that many fear Illinois may never fully recover.

Then, later this year -- after the election -- legislators likely will return to Springfield to consider a desperately needed tax hike. We consider that a key element of a budget plan that also should include deep cuts and efficiency reforms.

If you're looking for someone to punish in November, start with Speaker Madigan, whose iron fist directs the course of all action -- or inaction -- in Springfield. House Minority Leader Tom Cross also deserves blame for refusing to consider an income tax hike that even he admits several Republicans support.

Then there are the hordes of sheep, also known as rank-and-file legislators, who let themselves be bullied by Madigan and Cross and their powerful purse strings.

At a time of crisis, voters hold out hope that elected officials will rise above parochial interests to put the people of Illinois first.

That didn't happen.

Lawmakers have just a few weeks to reverse course.

If they fail, we won't be the only ones who remember in November.