Excerpts from recent editorials in newspapers in Illinois

November 9, 2016

The (Kankakee) Daily Journal

Now it's time to govern, and that means solving real problems

The presidential election of 1884 was said to be the dirtiest in American history. Democratic nominee Grover Cleveland had fathered a child out of wedlock. That led to the Republican slogan, "Ma, Ma, Where's My Pa? Gone to the White House. Ha Ha Ha."

Republican nominee James G. Blaine was widely suspected of corruption and collusion regarding railroad contracts. That resulted in the Democratic slogan, "James G. Blaine: Continental Liar from the State of Maine."

It was an election notable for mudslinging and ignoring the real issues. The real problems in the country were two-fold: How to ensure the equality of former slaves freed by the Civil War, and how to build a fair economy with the advent of the industrial revolution.

Now, there are new issues that must be resolved. They include:

. Build the economy. President Barack Obama inherited a crater, but eight years later, we still limp along. The recovery has been slow, and wildly uneven. Some areas have prospered. Others, like Illinois, have floundered. Real unemployment, which includes those who have stopped looking for work and those who are underemployed, mask the stated unemployment figures.

Were the economy to grow at 3 or 4 percent instead of 1 or 2, the additional tax revenue could be used to fund and expand the programs already in place.

Taxing Peter to pay for Paul might be popular with Paul, but it's not the ultimate solution. We need more jobs, and more well-paying jobs.

. Win the war on terror. One of the more absurd moments of the campaign came when people said Donald Trump should not be elected because he might lead us into a war. We already are in a war. It's just a war most Americans have forgotten.

Shootings in American cities can dominate the news, but if you are an American soldier killed overseas, you often die in anonymity.

Our current strategy in the war on terror seems to be threefold. We're worried about what and who we call terrorists. We seem to think that if we have some type of gun control, it might stop them. And we downplay the issue between attacks.

Those who attack us need to be pursued and punished relentlessly.

. Repair Obamacare. Americans want a health system that works. But nearly seven years after its enactment, 10 percent of the population is ignoring the law. Insurers are ducking out.

Clearly people need to be given more choices. If young, healthy people want coverage only for catastrophic illness, they should get it. If someone wants coverage that would pay for virtually everything, they should have that option - and cost - too.

Instead, too much of the plan forced people to pay for items they do not want. We need more choices. But not participating should not be an option.

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November 11, 2016

The (Champaign) News-Gazette

Time for Rauner, Dems to do deal

Legislators return to Springfield on Tuesday with important business undone.

With another election in the books, members of the Illinois House and Senate will soon take another whack at their version of governing.

So perhaps it shouldn't be a surprise that, during the post-election veto session, the Democratic-controlled House and Senate will take up legislation that would require the state to spend hundreds of millions of dollars it doesn't have. That is, after all, the hallmark of state government over the past two-plus decades - spending vast sums with nonexistent money.

How those votes comes out will be indicative of whether legislators - Republicans and Democrats - learned anything from this week's state and national elections.

Tuesday's vote brought a cessation of overt hostilities between Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan.

Each claimed victory in their epic battle over the future of the state, and each has grounds to do so.

Madigan, who also heads the state Democratic Party, was able to defeat Republican Comptroller Leslie Munger, who was appointed by Rauner to fill the vacancy created by the December 2014 death of Judy Baar Topinka. That post will be filled by Madigan protege and former Democratic state Rep. Susana Mendoza, who has made it clear she intends to wage war on the GOP governor. Madigan also saw Democrats win the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican Mark Kirk.

But Rauner claimed an even bigger win because his triumphs were on Democratic turf. The GOP won five Democratic House seats while losing only one. That relieves Madigan of his supermajority by which he could overturn Rauner vetoes. The GOP also won two state Senate seats.

Make no mistake about it, however. The Democrats, thanks to the state's gerrymandered legislative districts, remain firmly in control of the General Assembly.

Of course, job one is for Rauner and Democratic legislative leaders to negotiate an end to the two-year budget standoff. The state is currently operating on a temporary budget that ends Dec. 31. It was cobbled together in late August to ensure the K-12 schools would open this year.

Rauner already has indicated he's eager to make a deal. So, too, have Republican legislative leaders - Sen. Christine Radogno and Rep. Jim Durkin - as well as Senate Democratic leader Cullerton. The Senate president said he is "optimistic" about the two sides working out their differences.

Madigan, however, has indicated that he still insists that Republicans will accede to his way of doing things.

In other words, Madigan suggests Rauner abandon his economic growth package while acceding to Madigan's spending plans and proposed tax increases. If he remains adamant about his my-way-or-the-highway approach, the budget standoff that began in June 2015 will continue with no end in sight.

Rep. Lou Lang, a member of Madigan's leadership team, recently indicated that Democrats are prepared to wait the full length of Rauner's term to get what they want.

That kind of intransigence represents a gross disservice to the people of Illinois, particularly given the need for legislation that would spark the economic growth this state needs.

Rauner has indicated that he's willing to back Madigan's tax hikes. But he's made it clear that tax hikes alone are insufficient, that legislative changes that spur job creation are necessary to generate the additional revenue this state must have to prosper.

Democrats, obviously, don't like Rauner's growth proposals. So let them come up with a growth package of their own.

Frankly, their reluctance to embrace growth as a means of solving this state's problems is mystifying. Since when are Republicans the only party in Illinois that wishes to expand the economic pie?

But the intensely competitive Madigan is a tough customer. He wanted to expand his supermajority and lost seats instead. Further, he's especially peeved that the GOP made him the key issue in legislative contests that the GOP won, portraying local Democratic representatives as stooges of the Democratic boss.

It's understandable that Madigan didn't appreciate the tactics. But then, he spent millions of dollars portraying Rauner and GOP candidates as ideological twins of Donald Trump. So they're even.

Now it's time to put the people of Illinois first and work out their budget differences in an atmosphere of divided government. The cost of failing to work together is one the people of Illinois cannot afford.

___

November 11, 2016

Sauk Valley Media

The demand of voters: Be part of the solution

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem, so the saying goes.

Voters in the 71st District, worried about Illinois' longstanding budget problems, evidently thought state Rep. Mike Smiddy was part of the problem.

Garnering only 37 percent of the vote, Smiddy, a two-term Hillsdale Democrat whose district includes Whiteside and Carroll counties, was unceremoniously booted from office Tuesday.

Elected in his place with nearly 63 percent of the vote was Savanna Mayor Tony McCombie, a Republican.

Smiddy, who has been on leave of absence from the East Moline Correctional Center where he worked as a supervisor before being elected to the state House of Representatives in 2012, didn't do himself any favors.

Earlier this year, he chose to vote "present" on a crucial budget bill - not once, but twice. He was caught by a TV cameraman playing a smartphone video game during House debate. And his support of the unpopular but powerful Michael Madigan, a Chicago Democrat, as House speaker likely didn't help his cause.

The 71st House race featured more than $3 million being spent, much of it on negative TV ads that targeted both candidates.

It was a key battleground in the larger political war between Madigan, who is also Illinois Democratic Party chairman, and deep-pocketed Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner.

Rauner, who contributed millions to Republican efforts in a Democratic-dominated state, succeeded in lessening Madigan's veto-proof advantage from 71 Democrats vs. 47 Republicans, to 67 Democrats vs. 51 Republicans - no longer a veto-proof majority.

But McCombie and other House newcomers won't take office until after the first of the year. And vital business remains on the agenda of the lame-duck Legislature, in which Smiddy will continue to serve.

The state's half-year stopgap budget, agreed to by the Legislature and signed by Rauner on June 30, expires Dec. 31.

A budget to carry the state through the next half year needs to be forged in the Legislature's upcoming fall veto session, which starts Tuesday, or perhaps during an undetermined special session sometime before the end of the year.

The alternative is for the state to revert to having no budget, a difficult situation which Illinoisans endured between July 1, 2015, and June 30, 2016, and which caused serious financial distress to governmental agencies and units across the board.

The pain and harm are the result of Rauner's insistence that the Democratic-controlled Legislature agree to a number of reforms before he would be willing to sign any budget-balancing tax increase into law. For their part, Democrats refuse to link proposals viewed as friendly to business and unfriendly to public employee unions to budget negotiations. Dems also don't want term limits and redistricting reforms, insisted upon by Rauner, to be part of any budget deal.

After an acrimonious campaign season, a budget accord won't be an easy problem to solve. But as 71st District voters said in a loud and clear voice, they want their representative - present and future - to be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

The governor and every member of the House and Senate should now put politics aside, listen to the people's voices, and be part of the solution to Illinois' serious budget problems.