Chicago Sun-Times Editorial - Legislators good at doing nothing

Chicago Sun-Times Editorial - Legislators good at doing nothing
Copyright byh The Chicago Sun-Times
July 1, 2007

State government won't shut down this month. Workers will get their checks, and vendors will be paid. Road projects won't be disrupted, and payments to the state's Medicaid providers won't fall any further behind than they already are. All of this is made possible not by a miraculous deal in Springfield but by the passage of a one-month, status quo budget -- or, as Sen. Matt Murphy (R-Palatine) appropriately called it, the "Political Cover for Obstinate Leaders Act."

This year's session went into overtime at the end of May, when state government's Democratic majority failed to agree on a budget. Looking back at June -- when the minority Republicans finally got a seat at the table -- it's hard to see what our leaders accomplished other than making themselves look bad. At the top of the list is Gov. Blagojevich, who demanded lawmakers work in Springfield five days a week, something he's never managed to do, and then added to his image problems by spending thousands of taxpayers dollars to fly back and forth to Springfield nearly every work day. Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) also deserves criticism for repeatedly insisting that "the House has passed a budget," when he knows full well the budget it passed is full of holes.

Now they've bought themselves a month. They won't return to work, however, until after they march in hometown Fourth of July parades. Here's hoping citizens will remind them why they were sent to Springfield, so they'll come back, put their egos aside and get something done.