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State of budget will
decide governor's state of state plans Gov. Blagojevich set an
ambitious agenda for the 2006 legislative session in his fourth
State of the State address Jan. 18, but it will be the state of the
state's budget that will decide which of his ideas, if any, are
implemented.
Three years of failed policies and programs do not inspire trust
and confidence in the Blagojevich administration. Given his track
record, why should we believe that this year will be any different?
Based on the last three years, what allows us to think that he will
do more than continue to govern by press conference?
The governor also talked a lot in his State of the State speech
about his accomplishments of the last three years but did not say
much about:
- Why Illinois is 45th in the nation in terms of job growth.
- Why more than 2 million Illinoisans are on Medicaid -- a
record high -- when other states are cutting back enrollment
through programmatic changes or economic revival.
- Why he has consistently underfunded higher education.
- Why his administration is facing at least a dozen state and
federal investigations.
- Why he has already doubled the state's bonded indebtedness
-- to a total of $20 billion in just three years.
- Why the state has an unprecedented $2 billion backlog of
unpaid bills.
- Why he balanced the budget on the backs of retirees with a
$4.8 billion pension fund raid over 10 years, including $1.2
billion this year and $1.1 billion proposed for the next fiscal
year.
Blagojevich will outline his plans to fund his agenda and other
state programs Feb. 15 during his budget address.
[to top of second column]
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 Change of plans?
Well, that didn't take long.
On Wednesday, legalizing keno was the linchpin of the governor's
new capital plan. On Friday, media reports indicate that keno seems
to be out and the talk is of selling lottery tickets on the
Internet.
Sen. John Cullerton, a Chicago Democrat, has introduced
legislation allowing Internet lottery sales, which he claims could
generate up to $150 million annually.
This new proposal is just more of the same -- raising more money
to cover an increasingly bloated budget. We need to rethink our
priorities and make the kind of decisions that will allow us to
craft a budget that works within our existing revenue sources
Illinois prisons dangerously understaffed
Illinois prisons are dangerously understaffed, according to a
state employees union that is seeking an additional $5 million for
the coming fiscal year to hire more prison workers.
Staffing at Illinois' adult prisons has dropped by 14 percent, or
about 1,800 positions, since May 2001, threatening the safety of
guards and other prison workers, according to Henry Bayer, executive
director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees. At the same time, the inmate population has remained
about 44,000, Bayer said.
Boosting safety at Illinois prisons should be a no-brainer for
Blagojevich budgeteers, but they are the ones responsible for the
current "Sweet Home Chicago" budget loaded with more than $200
million in new spending for Chicago while at the same time stealing
$1 billion from state pension systems, underfunding education and
lagging behind in paying our bills to the tune of $2 billion.
[From
Sen. Bill Brady]
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