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| RAUNER: Re-election more important than budget? |
The only truthful answer is that nobody knows, but everybody knows. Our state officials are likely to adjourn without taking any action towards a budget. The new fiscal year will begin July 1 without a spending plan in place.
WHICH
MATTERS BECAUSE the state Constitution requires that government have a budget
approved in order for government to operate. There are some programs that
continue because the federal courts have deemed them too important to shut down
(think Illinois Department of Corrections, for one).
But
others have restrictions on how money can be spent, which means some bills just
aren’t getting paid.
And
because the partisan politicking that has occurred since the day in January
2015 that Bruce Rauner took the oath of office as governor, it has created a
sense of chaos within our state that wouldn’t immediately be fixed even if our buffoonish
legislators were to come to an agreement with the maroon of a governor we seem
to have.
It
would take time for things to resolve themselves back to the way they should
be, and the longer our state lingers in budgetary chaos the longer the
resolution time will stretch out to.
 |
| CURRIE: Leading Dem 'common ground' cmte |
THAT
IS WHY it is somewhat discouraging to see that our state officials don’t seem
to be the least bit shaken up by the status we’re in. Perhaps they’ve become so
adjusted to the chaos they’ve wrought that it doesn’t phase them any longer.
And
they’re probably also counting on the fact that many amongst us in this state
don’t really pay attention to the details of how our government operates. They’d
probably like it if we’d focus more on outrage over Miss D.C.’s comments about
being an “equalist” rather than a “feminist.”
Perhaps
we should be more outraged over why Miss Illinois, Whitney Marie Wandland of
Chicago, didn’t win. Our legislators would like it if we’d quit caring about
this issue. Because they certainly seem to have moved on.
 |
| MADIGAN: Really calling the shots! |
Rauner
on Monday partook in a ceremony at the Willis Tower to welcome a Japanese
economic development organization to Illinois, and also kicked off the opening
of a Polish history exhibit at the Thompson Center state government building in
Chicago.
AS
FOR THE Legislature, a House committee on Wednesday will review the state’s
education funding formula and pension reform bills may come up before another
House committee on Tuesday.
We
may also get some activity this week on a bill pending to make the board of
education for the Chicago Public Schools an elected, rather than mayoral
appointed, entity.
All
of which are nice bits of business. But if state government doesn’t have full
authority to operate and conduct its business, all of these details really are
reminiscent of that old cliché about studying the china patterns and silverware
on board the Titanic. The fact that the Illinois House Speaker Michael
Madigan-appointed budgetary negotiating team is meeting Tuesday to show off its
“common ground” proposals seems more like an effort to pretend it’s trying “real
hard” to find a resolution, without doing much of anything.
 |
| WANDLAND: Maybe this LuvaBull is more intriguing |
The
problem by this point is that our officials have become too comfortable with
operating in chaos. Rauner, who has interfered with any serious efforts to put
together a government budget, is so preoccupied with his anti-organized labor
rhetoric that he’s tied into the issue under the guise of “reform” that he
probably sees any concession at this point as failure.
WHEREAS
DEMOCRATIC POLITICAL operatives who have stood firm against the governor for nearly
two full years now wouldn’t see it as a victory if they could reach a budget
agreement. I don’t doubt many wouldn’t mind the state enduring four full years
of not having a budget in place.
Make
Rauner the guy who was so incompetent that he couldn’t even put together a state
budget. “Some reformer!,” they’re betting voters will think to themselves as
they cast ballots in that November 2018 gubernatorial election.
There
are those who are more interested in having an issue to trash the governor with
rather than trying to resolve the problem.
All
of which adds to the underlying problem of why many people are skeptical (to
say the least) of their government – it has become one way too comfortable with
people stepping into their voting booths and casting their ballots based on the
concept of “Who do I hate the most?!?”
-30-
EDITOR’S
NOTE: This is one commentary where I would thoroughly enjoy it if unforeseen events
occurred between now and May 31 prove me wrong. I feel fairly confident I won’t
be.
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