Same approach makes us laughing stock
Lou Lang, Illinois House assistant majority leader, was on Dick Kay's radio show on WCPT the other day, painting himself as the picture of bipartisanship.
He revealed that he had worked with six governors, and that he and they had always punctually agreed on a state budget. His point was that Governor Rauner, in pushing for his "Turn Around" agenda, was to blame for the recent impasse in Springfield. OK, we get it: Lang and his peers were fabulous negotiators. Now let's look at what those high-minded negotiations have brought us - a state that's $321 billion in debt. Nice work! Cost to me, as a resident of Illinois? $25,000. And another 25 grand for my wife. My son and daughter, out of college, live in Iowa, separated by the Mississippi from Lang's long, glib tongue and grubby spendthrift's hands.
Rep. Lang also said that while Gov. Rauner has "every right" to have an agenda, he was wrong in "holding the state hostage" to his demands for labor and fiscal reform. OK. But one might also argue that while Democrats have a right to their agenda, they were equally wrong in holding the state hostage to their demand for continuing the very practices, and preserving the same priorities, that have brought state government to this stage: center stage, as laughing stock of the nation.
Between 2014 and 2015, state spending grew by 15 percent, increasing the cumulative deficit. Democrats insist on more taxes; Rauner wants to eliminate superfluous or misguided programs, stealth bonuses, and rigged formulas. I just want out. Illinois politics is fine, as vaudeville. But I'll be leaving the theater soon; too many drama queens, shell games, and budgetary juggling acts, plus they charge you extra for the intermissions.
Alexander Lee
West Chicago