A solution for Illinois incompetence: consolidation

I was a chief school district business official for 20 years. Throughout that time, politicians at all levels advocated for consolidating school districts. Recently there has been a move out of Springfield to consolidate other units of government. So far this has amounted to sound and fury, signifying nothing.

Consolidation could save some money and streamline some operations. It should be considered if it will improve services or lower costs to taxpayers. If there would be no or very small gains, why go through the bother?

There is one political institution in this state that is working badly and not providing proper services for the people of the state, and that is the state central government in Springfield. While school districts, villages, towns, cities, townships, and counties continue to provide services, the state government has gone off the rails.

I propose a fix: Consolidation! We, the citizens of the good state of Illinois deserve better. Our neighbor to the west, Iowa, appears to be operating efficiently. Therefore I propose that we consolidate with Iowa.

We could disband our nonfunctioning central government and rename the state "East Iowa." Problem solved!

Raymond L. Costa Jr.

Gurnee