State cannot take care of everyone

The leaders, to use the term loosely, of Illinois government are trying to work out a capital plan. That provides money for the big ticket, infrastructure items, such as roads, buildings and the like.

What's got them back together so soon after the recent, disastrous legislative session is that the Chicago mass transit system is about to go broke. Some want $430 million so fares don't increase and routes aren't cut.

Also in the bill would be the money for road building, school construction and that sort of thing.

"We're going to try to take care of mass transit," Senate President Emil Jones told the Associated Press. Then, apparently so people don't think this is just a Chicago thing, he added, "We're going to try to take care of everybody."

That, in a nutshell, is the reason the state is in such grim financial shape. What makes the performance of elected representatives a laughingstock is the belief that it is the state's role to take care of everybody.

So, money from all over the state will be used so people in Chicago don't have to pay another $1 to get to work. How, exactly, is that our problem?

No to gambling

To hear some Illinois politicians tell it, gambling is the only game in town. They say that if the state wants a $25.4 billion capital program -- with funding for such things as roads and schools and a new Mississippi River bridge -- it has to hold its nose and become even more dependent on gambling.

HB 2035, which passed the Senate last week, ties the capital program to a huge expansion of gambling. The bill would create a land-based casino in Chicago with its own casino authority, two more riverboat casinos and more gambling positions for existing casinos.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who said during his re-election campaign that he opposed any expansion of gambling, is on board. So are a number of lawmakers who say they dislike the idea of more gambling in Illinois, but what else are they supposed to do?

Provide some leadership for starters. There are all sorts of ways to fund a capital program that don't require the state to entice gamblers to lose more. Gambling isn't the only solution available; it's just an easy solution.