State should balk at buying Wrigley

Former Gov. Jim Thompson, chairman of the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, is making a pitch for the state to buy Wrigley Field. Actually, it sounds as if he's trying to sell the Brooklyn Bridge to the taxpayers. He claims the state can buy the Chicago Cubs' ballpark -- which needs an estimated $350 million to $400 million in renovations -- and it won't cost the taxpayers extra. Buying a stadium for free? Yeah, right.

In fact, the deal is expected to include a special taxing district. Those sales tax dollars would go toward the cost of restoring Wrigley. That's an extra cost to taxpayers.

Why does the state want to be in the ballpark business, anyway? This isn't public business by any stretch of the imagination. Yet Illinois already owns U.S. Cellular Field, home of the Chicago White Sox. In that case hotel tax dollars are being used to pay off revenue bonds.

Instead of acquiring a second Chicago ballpark, the state ought to get rid of the one we have. Illinois should be focused on things like roads and bridges, not baseball stadiums.

State needs jobs

It seems amazingly clear that Gov. Rod Blagojevich's budget is largely an irrelevancy. But it masks a bigger problem: How do we make Illinois government relevant?

How do we build a state where people are moving in, instead of fleeing? How do we create jobs? The Institute for Truth in Accounting and the Illinois Policy Institute have some suggestions. We have some of our own to add.

The first is to make Illinois politics competitive again. The Democrats have full control of every facet of state government. There aren't even many competitive Republican names bubbling up through the system. Competition keeps people on their toes. Currently, there's no politically overriding reason for the governor to act responsibly.

Everyone, the press and opposition, needs to begin holding government responsible for real costs.

Everyone sees the potholes. But the real problems are spending and taxes. The American Legislative Exchange Council rates Illinois as 48th in economic performance and 42nd in economic outlook. Those businesses that have a choice are leaving. Unless we begin to create industrial jobs, we will never be able to tax enough.