Slusher: Now is the time to follow politics from suburban perspective

You may not generally care for the dry tedium of politics, but if you care about the economy of Illinois, the quality of life the suburbs or perhaps even the size of your own pension, you will want to pay attention to the news coming out of Springfield over the next few days.

Sorting through it will not always be easy. With the General Assembly scheduled to end its session on May 31, the last week of the month is always a mind-boggling blur of activity. Important but noncontroversial legislation - like an anti-heroin bill that passed the House unanimously Wednesday - sail through committees and out of both houses of the legislature. Contentious issues - like the budget, the perennial granddaddy of all contentious issues - hover gloomily over the proceedings, with suggested actions sweeping from end to end and side to side as rapidly and as abruptly as a hockey puck in a Blackhawks playoff game.

On these overriding issues, no one usually can know the final outcome until the last minute. This is partially because of the aspect of human nature that often leads us to delay difficult decisions with endless study and largely because the deadline is the arbiter that both sides use in a high-stakes game of "chicken," waiting to see just how much political blame the other side is willing to endure for the hardships of the decisions that must be made.

In and of itself, it can be an emotional and intriguing process to follow, but it is made even more challenging - and more valuable - when you try to watch it not just as a statewide political process but as a series of actions leading to laws that will directly affect life in the suburbs - the amount of money local schools will have for their programs, the assistance that will or will not be available for agencies that help the poor, the elderly and the disabled, even the size of local property tax bills.

To reach that level of understanding takes a special, concentrated effort and the result is uniquely local coverage of state government shepherded - or perhaps more accurately described as "cat-herded" - by Political Editor Mike Riopell.

With the assistance of reporter Erin Hegarty, Riopell examines stories surging through the House and Senate not just from the vantage point of political sausage-making but from the specific and unique perspective of the suburbs. Their stories aim to show how suburban lawmakers influence and are influenced by the big issues developing in Springfield, and then to examine the direct impact of legislation on our towns and neighborhoods.

If you want to know what's happening in Springfield this critical final week of the General Assembly, there are many great sources for that, including the Daily Herald. But if you want to know how the suburbs are affecting what happens in Springfield or how we are affected by lawmakers' actions, you'll find that only one place. Here.

And believe me, now is the time you will want to be paying attention, whatever your opinion of the relative appeal or lack of it in political stories.

Jim Slusher, jslusher@dailyherald.com, is an assistant managing editor at the Daily Herald. Follow him on Facebook at facebook.com/jim.slusher1 and on Twitter at @JimSlusher.