If there are checks, there must be money

House Speaker Michael Madigan is blaming Illinois' financial challenges on Gov. Bruce Rauner, but the state finances are all Madigan's fault.

Madigan has been speaker for 30 years, and he is in charge of all Illinois spending. The last time Illinois had a balanced budget was in 2001. Today Madigan's budget, over 500 pages, has proposed a deficit of over $3 billion with unpaid bills totaling over $7 billion, not including over $100 billion in unfunded pension liabilities.

The last time Illinois had an income tax increase, Madigan used the money his way. Instead of spending on education, health care and social services, he used the new revenue to pay some older bills and pension obligations with any unused funds going into the pension system.

Madigan controls the spending based on the pressure he receives from other politicians and labor unions. When revenue is inadequate to pay all the required bills, he reduces payments to pensions, education and social services. Madigan figures that any shortfall will be corrected in the next financial year. For 30 years, Madigan's accounting method does not meet any financial principles other than his own.

Madigan is blaming Rauner for the budget impasse but the real problem, which Madigan refuses to acknowledge, comes from the credit rating agencies that keep downgrading Illinois' credit rating, which adds millions of dollars in interest payments.

Madigan has the same ideas on money as all Illinois Democrats. New money comes from the "home equity" of Illinois. The bonds that are issued by Madigan are never intended to be repaid, all he does is reissue bonds creating new money and increasing Illinois debt, to repay the older bonds.

Madigan has the same financial integrity as people who cannot balance a checkbook: if there are checks, there must be money.

Jack McCabe

Batavia