Mayor’s Row………………by Ned Mitchell

            The “something for nothing crowd” are now appearing in Springfield and no, that is not a rock and roll or country band, it is the Illinois House of Representatives.   Speaker of the House, Mike Madigan has called his cohorts back into special session to consider another go at the capital bill.  Madigan has been under intense pressure from labor union big wigs with dollar signs in their eyes to get with the program and put their restless workers back on the job.  School superintendents are getting very tired of being put off by this bunch of public servants.  Local government officials need fire trucks, police cars, new buildings etc.  So, yes, the pressure is great.

            If you will recall Madigan in the spring session agreed that a capital bill was needed as there were many projects that needed funding.  Madigan went on to say that even though the need was great, there would have to be some “pain” for the taxpayers to fund this bill.  Madigan pointed out that previous governors had capital projects funded by increased taxes, license plate fees and other charges that were paid for by the taxpayers.  Madigan figured that if we were to have a capital plan we would need to pay for it. 

            Now Madigan appears to have done an about face and is proposing a sale or lease of the lottery to pay for the capital bill.  This is bogus and government at its worst!  Why would the powers that be in this state propose to sell or lease a valuable asset to pay for a capital bill?  It would be similar for Sesser to sell our city utility department to find money to pay for the new baseball complex and city park.  Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face, this bunch has found a new way to prove just how incompetent they really are.

            One reader last week responded to the situation in Illinois as actually calling for a tax increase to help Illinois get out of the hole they have dug for themselves.  I agree; we need to have someone in a leadership position to step up to the plate and call for a modest tax increase.  We could either have a sales or income tax increase and even put a sunset clause in it so that it will expire on a set date.  We could use this money to pay past due bills, get the pension plan back on solid footing and pay for a capital plan. 

            Of course the reformer/unreformer Governor has vowed to not approve a tax increase but at this point what on earth has this guy got to lose?  He is the laughing stock of the nation and has the lowest approval rating of any Governor anywhere.  Governor Blagojevich has consistently put forth a budget that is at least a billion dollars higher than the previous year without sufficient revenue to pay for it.  He has without fail instituted new programs every year even though the previous year’s bills remain unpaid.

            I figure Blagojevich has got to be lower than a snake’s belly as he has watched his presidential aspirations go out the window in a hurry.  A couple of years ago Blagojevich was on a record fund raising pace and made it known that he was looking at the White House.  Along comes an unknown State Senator by the name of Barack Obama who delivered a rousing speech at the Democratic National Convention 4 years ago and presto, the limelight disappeared overnight for Blagojevich.  Then came all of the indictments of pals of the Governor and more are coming with the Governor himself being interviewed numerous times by the feds.

            Now a commoner, a former Mayor of a small town is running on the Republican ticket for Vice President.  The nomination of Governor Sarah Palin on one side and Barack Obama for President on the other side has got to have the Illinois Governor depressed to beat the band.  Not only has Obama pulled the political rug out from under Blagojevich but now a fellow Governor has been tapped to run for Vice President.  It gets better though; Governor Palin enjoys an 80% approval rating of her constituents and well, Governor Blagojevich has over 80% of his constituents that disapprove of the job he is doing.

            So yes, Blagojevich has the opportunity here to do the right thing.  Whether or not we have a capital bill in Illinois right now does not concern me that much.  The fact that we have become the dead beat dad of all states in the country bothers me.

            If we had any real leadership in this state we would see Governor Blagojevich, Speaker Madigan and Senate President Emil Jones join forces and call for a modest tax increase to do nothing but pay our bills in a timely manner and put our fiscal house in order.  Don’t do anything with new revenue other than pay the bills that are due.  No new programs guys just pay the fiddler so we can keep dancing. 

            Madigan is right about the pain thing, we must be willing to pay up if we want to continue providing goods and services.  We have all been taught that there is no free lunch and it is impossible to get something for nothing.  It is about time our leadership in Springfield went back to school and learned these same lessons.

            Condolences go out to the families of Amos Irvin and Betty Isom.  Amos was a regular at the coffee shops, a retired miner and an expert on tractors.  He enjoyed life and was one of us!  Betty spent a long time in the hospital recovering from surgery.  She was a wife, mother, grandmother, sister and just a real nice lady who just last year gave me a box of Iris bulbs for planting.  Those bulbs have now taken on a special meaning and will always remind me of not only Betty’s generosity but also her caring that Sesser be colorful and look nice.  She had a lot of pride in Sesser!