Government gridlock is fine in Illinois

There is nearly universal agreement among the state chattering class that Illinois needs a capital bill right now.

The unanimity and urgency are warning for all taxpaying citizens to be skeptical.

The proposed $34 billion infrastructure spending is mostly supposed to go to transportation and schools.

There is no doubt that Illinois has been lax in maintaining its roads and bridges; a major reason is that the governor has taken billions from the road fund to pay for ongoing state projects and the legislature aided and abetted him.

During the past few years, the state has been running disguised deficits by raiding the road fund and the state pension fund, and by putting off paying nearly $2 billion in payments to state vendors.

And this year's budget had a $2 billion shortfall and remains in limbo as the state leaders work begrudgingly at a compromise.

Of course through all this, they made sure they'll get a raise.

And we want to give these guys $34 billion to play with? What can we possibly be thinking?

The one significant downside to postponing a capital bill is the claim, made earlier this week by Minority Leader Tom Cross in Jacksonville, that the state could lose $9 billion in federal highway funds.

That figure is questionable, however, and there is no clear drop-dead date for at least another year.

Despite all his many faults, including criminal ones, Gov. George Ryan at least kept the state budget more or less in balance (although he also ignored the pension-fund shortfall).

But his similar capital spending plan, Illinois First, was larded with pork. A $25,000 statue in Waukegan for favorite son Jack Benny was just the curly tail of the sow.

Can you imagine what the crowd in Springfield will do when it gets its hands on a $34 billion windfall?

As we've noted in the past, gridlock is not always a bad thing. It prevents terrible ideas from being realized.

In this instance, with these leaders, gridlock might be working its magic.

Perhaps it would be better to wait until they have earned our fiscal trust before we give them a thick wad of more money.