Editorial: Shameful show at Capitol

Illinois is a solidly blue state - Democrats hold every constitutional office plus majorities in the state House and Senate. But the Democrats seem to be doing their darndest this year to give Republicans hope of an eventual comeback.

The 2007 legislative session should have been wrapped up months ago with a pretty bow on top - especially given the ability for Democrats to do everything themselves without the help of their partisan rivals.

But it sure didn't happen that way. Senate President Emil Jones, House Speaker Michael Madigan and Gov. Rod Blagojevich have acted like three cats in a closet with their tails tied together. The Republicans might even enjoy all the caterwauling if the infighting wasn't putting so much at risk.

Thanks to this dysfunctional Democratic team even the budget that was passed cannot be fully implemented. The House has refused to approve the technical bill that would allow the increased funding for schools and other important needs to begin flowing.

We also learned from the governor's budget office last week that without this additional House action, Blagojevich believes he will have no choice but to lay off 1,800 of the state's approximate 2,000 Illinois State Police in January.

Likewise, thanks to Blagojevich's budget vetoes and Jones' willingness to stand with the governor and prohibit his chamber from overriding those vetoes (as many senators would like to do) many other programs and people are at risk.

The approximately $400 million vetoed by Blagojevich with the intention of using it to fund his version of universal health care puts in jeopardy funding for hospitals, money to assist with overcrowded schools, funding for more state prison guards and many other items that no rational person would classify as pork or government waste.

So why has it come to this? The short answer is ego-driven idiocy and a basic dislike between Blagojevich and Madigan.

But we'll attempt a slightly longer explanation. After a ridiculous amount of backbiting during the regular legislative session, the four legislative leaders finally managed to arrive at a budget deal deep into overtime. That deal passed over the objections of Blagojevich, who remained wedded to his universal health-care plan - which had about zero legislative support - but it passed with a veto-proof majority.

That didn't stop Blagojevich - the Energizer Bunny Governor. He vetoed more than $400 million to fund his health-care initiative. Those vetoes were easily overridden in the House and would be in the Senate, except that Jones won't allow a vote on the override. He and Madigan had a tiff over Madigan supposedly pulling votes off the mega infrastructure improvement bill, so now he's solidly with the governor and opposing Madigan. For his part, Madigan says Jones broke his word on the budget agreement, so now there is no agreement.

That leaves us with Jones not allowing a veto override vote, and Madigan not allowing a vote on the bills needed to implement the already-passed budget. While over in the executive office, Blagojevich is railing about calling yet another special session in December. Stupid, unnecessary gridlock foisted on us by people who have lost sight of what public service really means.

If this were a third-grade playground, it would be expected. But this is about billions of our tax dollars not going to care for school kids, the disabled and old, sick people. In a word - shameful.

- State Journal Register, Springfield, Ill.