Excerpts from recent editorials in newspapers in Illinois

May 8, 2017

The (Champaign) News-Gazette

Puerto Illinois?

Puerto Rico, an American territory, last week came face to face with the reality of which Hertbert Stein spoke.

Facing billions of dollars in debt, it filed for the equivalence of bankruptcy in federal court, the first time an American state or territory has ever taken such action.

What's bad for Puerto Rico, the complete collapse of its finances due to years of financial mismanagement, is a warning for Illinois. That's because even as Puerto Rico has gone over the cliff, Illinois' leaders are speeding toward the edge of that same cliff while showing no inclination of slowing down.

Puerto Rico listed $123 billion in debt and pensions obligations, way beyond the $18 billion in Detroit reported when it filed for bankruptcy protection in 2013. But Puerto Rico's staggering numbers still are far less than the debts Illinois acknowledges - $130 billion in underfunded pensions, $12 billion-plus in unpaid bills and another roughly $8 billion in deficits run up in the absence of a state budget over the past two years.

The federal board that has supervised the island's financial affairs reports that, as a consequence of its dire financial state, Puerto Rico is "unable to provide its citizens effective services."

That's another way of saying that Puerto Rico is unable to perform the duty for which it was created.

As a consequence, pensions earned over a lifetime of work will be lost, public safety will be endangered, infrastructure will be neglected, and health and human services will not be available. Ultimately, the island's best people will opt to move somewhere else because there will be no reason to say in such a deplorable situation.

Puerto Rico's immediate future could be Illinois' near future. Our state already spends so much money on Medicaid and pension for retirees that its core duties - K-12 schools, higher education, roads, law enforcement, social and mental health services - are being starved of resources.

Some may wonder how it is that Puerto Rico ended up in bankruptcy court, given the prohibition on territories and states filing for bankruptcy.

As the New York Times explained it, "financial reality trumped the statutes." Puerto Rico's circumstances became so dire that Congress enacted a law establishing a bankruptcy-like option that is still denied to states.

Under the current arrangement, U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts will appoint a bankruptcy judge to oversee the process.

The good news for Puerto Rico is that, as awful as filing for bankruptcy is, it eventually will be relieved of its debts and allowed a fresh start. But what Puerto Rico doesn't have to pay will represent losses to its creditors, who will howl in justifiable pain over their losses.

How did Puerto Rico end up in such a mess? Obviously, the Great Recession put it behind the eight ball. But the bigger problem was its long-standing practice - like in Illinois - of spending far more than it collected in revenues, and then resorting to financial gimmicks - like in Illinois - to paper over the problems.

Some must have thought Puerto Rico could go on that way forever, and not without reason. It can take a long while for a state to bury itself in self-destructive debts, and Puerto Rico's downfall hardly came over night. But it came nonetheless - the bankruptcy filing is available for all to see.

No one wants to see what happened in Puerto Rico happen in Illinois. So why are Gov. Bruce Rauner and House Speaker Michael Madigan locked in a struggle that has more to do with the 2018 gubernatorial election than it does with the people of Illinois?

The answer, of course, is that politics always trumps policy in this sorry state, and it will until the day comes when financial reality trumps all.

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May 5, 2017

(Arlington Heights) Daily Herald

State mandate not necessary, but teach cursive writing

Does the General Assembly have bigger fish to fry than naming a new state wildflower or requiring that cursive writing be taught in Illinois schools? You bet.

There is at the top of the list the issue of adopting the first state budget in three years, of course.

Still, we can appreciate the motivation of state Rep. Emanuel "Chris" Welch of Westchester in floating a bill that would force Illinois kids to put down the keyboard, grab a No. 2 pencil and learn all about descenders and joins.

There is a certain emotional quality in cursive writing that is watered down in block lettering and missing altogether in something spit out by a computer printer. Cursive lends texture to words.

Of course, learning to use a keyboard effectively is paramount in society today, more so than ever before, in both work and home life.

Several decades ago, cursive was the gold standard in school and typing was an elective. While keyboard skills are more important than cursive today, why throw the baby out with the bathwater?

Here are some of the many benefits of learning cursive:

. It helps youngsters with fine motor control.

. Writing cursive -- in which you spend significantly less time lifting and putting down your pen or pencil -- should be faster than printing, especially if you're one of those people who normally prints in ALL CAPS.

. We learn better and faster when we take notes, and because we can write in cursive faster than in printing, then cursive should assist in the learning process.

. A knowledge of reading cursive allows greater access to historical documents, many of which were handwritten in cursive. Try to read the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution if you don't know cursive.

. Imagine receiving a love letter printed out from a Microsoft Word document. Or a mushy thank you card printed in block lettering. It all feels pretty soulless in comparison to cursive, doesn't it?

. What if Josephine couldn't read Napoleon's love letters because she couldn't read cursive? Or if Fanny Brawne couldn't read Keats' mash notes? Or if we couldn't share the joy in reading them today?

. What if, after Grandma or Grandpa dies, you can't read their letters?

. The imperfection of cursive and the inevitable personalization one attains in everyday use imparts a closeness and elegance that printing cannot.

While schools clearly don't need more unfunded mandates, we encourage them to teach cursive. What'll we give up next, poetry?

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May 2, 2017

Belleville News-Democrat

Unqualified? Unreasonable salary expectations? You're hired in Illinois

You are a government worker making $11,000 as a clerk in Washington Park. You want to make more.

You could go to school and improve your job skills, or you could call your political patron, state Sen. James Clayborne, and demand a state job.

When the $55,000 state offer comes, even though you have none of the qualifications, you double down on your weak hand and ask for $75,000. The Illinois Department of Transportation guy doing the hiring writes: "I don't trust this guy at all."

Unqualified. Demanding. Untrustworthy. The political juice is so strong with this one you'd think he was one of Clayborne's female friends getting a state job. Plus Mr. Untrustworthy is hired to buy land for the state - no possibility of corruption there, right?

Three more instances of Clayborne pushing people on IDOT came out as the result of an investigation ordered by a federal judge overseeing a lawsuit to expose Illinois patronage hiring at IDOT. Clerks became engineers. Cell phone salesmen became emergency hires. Required competition for jobs was quashed.

State Rep. Jay Hoffman did the same thing, dumping his intern on IDOT. "Her resume does not reflect qualifications to fulfill the stated duties of the staff assistant position description," the report said.

And when both Clayborne and Hoffman were called for comment on creating patronage jobs where none should exist, neither thought the public deserved any answers or denials. Silence, just like we get on any issue from cursive handwriting to where they stand on a balanced state budget.

Rod Blagojevich was pretty open about his view on patronage hires and power politics, even trying to sell Barack Obama's vacated U.S. Senate seat. But it appears "the reformer" administration of Gov. Pat Quinn raised it to a fine art, with 70 IDOT jobs going to the politically connected.

IDOT is supposed to be engineers building transportation networks and improving safety on them. Giving some village clerk a jackpot job buying land with tax dollars is not supposed to be in the equation.

Gov. Bruce Rauner cleaned out a bunch of the IDOT patronage hires, but 36 improperly hired folks remain and are protected by unions. Here's hoping this lawsuit keeps creating a harsh glare that sends at least some cockroaches scurrying.

We're starting to think some cockroaches could survive a nuclear disaster, or re-election.