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| At times it seems like the Illinois Legislature paid more attention and time to developing the Chicago White Sox' current ballpark, compared to their efforts the last two years to get a budget for state government |
THEORETICALLY,
OUR GOVERNMENT officials could concoct something within the next month and a
budget could be in place when the Illinois Fiscal Year 2018 begins on July 1.
But it’s not likely. We’re going into Year Three without a balanced budget on
the books for Illinois government operations.
It
was fairly early in the day on Wednesday when Illinois House Speaker Michael
Madigan’s minions let it be known there would be no vote, and no last-minute
efforts to try to concoct a deal. This wasn’t going to be like the end of 1988
when the potential loss of the Chicago White Sox to St. Petersburg, Fla.,
motivated our officials into approving a stadium deal that didn’t get enacted
until the final seconds of the final day.
We
learned there will be hearings throughout the month of June at locations across
the state – beginning with Thursday at the Thompson Center state government building.
Gov.
Bruce Rauner was quick to dismiss the idea of budget hearings as a sham, saying
that if there was a real chance of getting a budget, such hearings would have
been held throughout the spring.
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| RAUNER: Retaliatory vetoes on unrelated issues? |
YOU
KNOW, HE’S right.
I
have no doubt that the Illinois House hearings to be held this month will turn
into sessions where the name of Rauner is taken in vain. They won’t put us any
closer to having a deal that details just how much money can be spent on the
operations of various government programs.
But
then again, I’m realistic enough to know that so long as Rauner is insisting on
dragging various unrelated issues into the budget process for
politically-partisan reasons, nothing is going to happen.
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| MADIGAN: Leading the Rauner bashing? |
I
suppose Madigan and House Democrats (who still have a solid majority and full
control of that chamber) could have gone the Illinois Senate route and passed
some measure that claimed to be a budget – even though they knew no one else
was ready to sign off on it.
YEAH,
DOING SUCH a thing could have placed full blame for the lack of a state budget
on the governor. But then again, there already are enough reasons for people to
blame Bruce Rauner for the chaos that has become of our state.
Looking
for ways to add to the juvenile behavior doesn’t put us any closer to having a
budget deal. And I doubt it really sways the public’s view of the situation.
The
people willing to “Blame Madigan!!!” for the situation aren’t going to be
swayed by fact. The scenario whose focus is the 2018 election cycle is set, and
the real solution to our fiscal situation most likely is to wish that we could
somehow hold that Election Day more quickly than the 17 months we’re going to
have to wait.
So
perhaps it was best that our legislators spent the final official days of their
session tending to other issues – such as the TRUST Act meant to impose the immigration
reform ideals of a “sanctuary city” on communities across Illinois and an increase
to $15 per hour for a statewide minimum wage.
IT
KEPT OUR legislators’ minds occupied with something that might have some
positive benefits for the people of Illinois. Although I wonder if the
hostility created by the lack of a budget is now going to be enough to start
killing off other ideas.
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| Gloom and doom continues to linger over Illinois Statehouse |
And
as for TRUST? I can easily see a beleaguered Rauner not wanting to even think
about immigration policy.
So
what are we likely to see Thursday when our legislators resume their government
activity? Probably not much of anything; we’d probably be better off focusing
our attention on the White Sox’ game that night against Tampa Bay.
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