The budget passed in the Illinois General Assembly this week cut education and human service providers and has a gaping fiscal hole in it. We’re still waiting for the smoke to clear to get a clear understanding of what’s been cut, but there is near-unanimous agreement that the budget passed this week is unbalanced and irresponsible.
But it doesn’t have a tax increase, so some will claim that it’s the best budget possible.
The state senate will soon return to try to pass a bill to borrow $4 billion to allow the state to make its required payment to the pension systems.
Borrowing to pay for pensions, incredibly, is the most responsible option. Since the legislature refuses to increase revenues, the only alternative would be to declare a “pension holiday,” which would cost taxpayers billions more and further weaken the systems.
What a state we’re in.
The Southtown’s Phil Kadner observes that state government’s reputation is such that, when a lawmaker changes a position, eveyone believes the change was the result of a political deal as opposed to a belief that changing the vote is “the right thing to do.”
Case in point, Rep. David Miller (D-Lynwood) who voted “No” on the pension-borrowing proposal, then switched his vote after the measure appeared about to fall one vote short of passage in the House.
After his “No” vote, Rep. Miller met with Speaker Michael Madigan and Gov. Pat Quinn. A short time later, when a second vote was held, he voted “Yes.”
Interestingly, Miller said the Madigan, Quinn meetings weren’t the deciding factor,
He said House Republican Leader Tom Cross railed against the plan in a partisan fashion. He heard some of his Democratic colleagues discussing a possible tax increase or budget cuts as solutions to the state’s deficit.
“But those things weren’t going to happen,” Miller said. “They weren’t realistic alternatives because there were not enough votes to pass any of them.
“And the more I listened to that, the more I realized that unless we act like mature adults here, we’re never going to come up with a solution. We’re going to drive the state to insolvency.”
Kadner says the negative reaction to Miller’s decision to do “the right thing” speaks volumes about the state of our state’s politics.
It has become impossible to believe that any elected official in Illinois would do anything just because he thought it was the right thing to do.
And maybe that’s worse than the budget crisis itself.
No members of the legislature emerged from this month’s activities with an enhanced reputation, but for a House member from a wealthy Chicago suburb, this has been a most unmerry month of May.
May sorry
Karen May (D-Highland Park) was among a group of Democrats who announced a plan to cut the state budget which, some believe, is needed to pave the way for a tax increase.
Nothing wrong with that. We’ve been saying for sometime that a “balanced approach, involving cuts more revenue” is needed to get Illinois back on solid financial footing.
However, Rep. May, for some reason, went into last Monday’s news conference with an attitude that seemed quite tone-deaf to 
thousands of Illinoisans living on fixed incomes:
“As much as we love our retirees, this is a tough-love exercise,” said Rep. May. “They have to feel the pain.
We’re guessing that it was Rep. May who experienced some discomfort through contacts from retirees. By the end of the week she had retreated:
“I would have, could have, should have, said, ‘We must all share the pain,’” May clarified Wednesday. “If it came out differently, I apologize.”
“If?”
Oh, well. We’ll accept the apology anyway.