Again a dubious distinction, again a denial

Most people cringe when they find their community or their state on those "worst" lists. Worst traffic. Worst schools. Worst corruption.

Generally, they respond to their civic embarrassment with anger and demand for change.

Not so in Illinois, where the governor responded to yet another dubious state distinction with his patented denial, a response that has now become automatic and is a big reason why the state is now considered among the bottom feeders.

A study by the Washington, D.C.-based Pew Center on the States ranked Illinois among the worst for government management and effectiveness. In earning an overall grade of C, Illinois finished only above Rhode Island and New Hampshire in the ratings, and below its five state neighbors.

"We respect the Pew Center's commitment to this project, but unfortunately, the Pew Center chose to focus on politics instead of fiscal facts," said Kelley Quinn, a spokesman for the governor's budget office. That was, no doubt, a response to a Pew reference to the lack of action in Springfield.

"When the state's leaders are effectively stuck in the mud, the difficult becomes all but impossible," said the report.

But the Pew report did note plenty of facts as well, saying the state had weaknesses in nine of 20 assessed areas and a strength in but one -- its online services and information available to the public. Its weakness included the state's budget process, long-term financial outlook, training and development of workers, and lack of a statewide infrastructure program.

Sound familiar? They should. All those issues have been constantly in the news with little or no progress. And this report can hardly come as a surprise to anybody.

State Comptroller Dan Hynes, a Democrat like Blagojevich but far better at recognizing fiscal truth, recently reiterated the state's dire financial condition.

He included its dubious distinction as the state that carried the largest deficit for the fourth year in a row, continuing delays in payments to Medicaid providers, $3.4 billion in unpaid bills and an unfunded pension liability among the biggest nationally.

But the governor continues in financial denial and leadership failure, pushing for new programs we can't pay for while seeking new ways to get around a legislature that at least seems to understand it must pay for any programs it creates, its unpaid bills notwithstanding.

The General Assembly has shown the backbone not to let the governor run roughshod over it, but it has done little to move around him and solve some of the state's pressing issues itself, either.

Until the governor faces reality or the General Assembly takes firmer control -- or miraculously, all start working together toward a fiscally responsible end -- we can expect more depressing reports about Illinois and its future.