Editorial: Is Rauner setting the stage for change?

Bruce Rauner's December pronouncements about the state of the Illinois budget and its causes have not been all that surprising, but news from the Republican governor-elect last week offer tantalizing cause for optimism in the new year.

The first signal comes from a memo in which Rauner's transitional budget director, Tim Nuding, opens with the promise that the state's massive problems "can ultimately only be solved by implementing major, structural changes to the way state government operates."

Structural changes are indeed the key to reversing the state's financial fortunes. History has shown them to be very difficult to produce in Illinois, but the prospect of a new governor and a new approach offers at least the opportunity for a sincere effort, even considering the challenges posed by a House and Senate with leadership entrenched in the - to use Rauner's phrase - "sins of the past."

And, as if to fire an unmistakable shot across the bow of Illinois' corrupt political traditions, Rauner's forces sweetened the outlook with the infusion of $20 million - $10 million from Rauner himself and $10 million from two of his wealthy friends - into a Republican campaign fund, presumably established to assist legislators who take risky stances on behalf of whatever becomes the Rauner agenda.

It well may be that, in reiterating campaign themes describing the size of the state's debt-heavy expense sheet and the smoke-and-mirrors practices that produced it, the new governor is setting the table for serious revisions in the state's business model and demonstrating his commitment to backing them up.

Yet, just days away from Rauner's inauguration, we remain largely in the dark about specifically what the new model might look like. Whatever form they take, one Republican lawmaker offered sage advice with the suggestion that future budgets emphasize five priorities - the elderly, the young, the disabled, education and infrastructure.

If Rauner can keep his focus, "like a laser" as he likes to say, on those topics and can lay out an unambiguous multiyear plan of action - as many observers, including Arlington Heights Republican state Rep. David Harris, suggest - there may yet be hope. He'll need good skills of persuasion, to be sure, and perhaps some willingness from Democrats to eschew political games of the past and work with him. But at least he seems to be setting the stage for action.

Illinoisans have been hearing promises of an end to "business as usual" in Springfield since before Rod Blagojevich's first term more than a dozen years ago. So far, the vague Rauner rhetoric hasn't sounded all that different, but his transparent setup, along with the early display of his and his friends' financial might, does suggest that perhaps this time real change is afoot. For that, we watch closely with devout interest - and hope.