A Mt. Everest mountain of state debt
With the holidays over, many central Illinoisans are staring down a mountain of bills. So, too, is their state government -- about $1.7 billion worth.
That's how much Illinois owed at the end of December, according to Comptroller Dan Hynes, a record even in a state accustomed to carrying a backlog.
Also a record is the repayment delay, at 34 business days, which means the state is essentially borrowing from the private parties who do business with it: office suppliers, landlords, vendors and, of course, health-care providers.
"It creates pressure," says comptroller's office spokeswoman Carol Knowles, "particularly for small businesses." Indeed, the longer businesses wait for reimbursement, the more strain it puts on their bottom line.
Inevitably this will put the hurt on the state's -- read taxpayers' -- bottom line, especially when there's no solution in sight.
Destructive governor
How much more of this can Illinois citizens take? Maybe the better question is, how much more will they take?
After legislators finally agreed to a vitally important Chicago-area mass transit funding plan, Gov. Rod Blagojevich had to insert himself into the settlement with a divisive, delaying and ultimately costly appendix to the deal.
Bringing up an issue that he had never raised before in the negotiations -- remember, the transit issue has been clanging around since last spring -- Blagojevich said he would OK legislation implementing a regional sales tax increase to pay for transit aid only if it included, literally, a free ride for senior citizens.
It's part of a destructive method of governing by a destructive governor: one who single-handedly starts an expensive health care plan without legislative approval, one who pledges to increase school funding but delays signing the implementing legislation until the fiscal year is half over, one who says he's for a downstate construction program but does nothing to implement it.
Rod Blagojevich just might be the most pernicious governor in the history of Illinois, and in this state that is saying a lot.