Editorial: State government's low ranking not surprising at all
No one in Illinois who pays a modicum of attention to state government should be surprised we are at the bottom of a national research group's rankings of states for government performance.
A deadlocked legislature, a major corruption trial threatening to engulf the current governor, pension debt that no one wants to deal with and a governor who is in court seeking to circumvent the legislative branch are just some of the lowlights in Illinois government of late.
"It can't be easy to manage a state such as Illinois, with huge outstanding bills and troubled revenue streams," writes the Washington-based Pew Center on the States in its report "Grading the States," released Monday. "But when the state's leaders are effectively stuck in the mud, the difficult becomes all but impossible."
Illinois got a C from the study, which sounds a lot better than it is. That was better than only two states (Rhode Island and New Hampshire), and the report noted that Illinois had problems in nine of the 20 areas in which it was judged.
The reaction of the governor's office to the report may provide a partial explanation of why Illinois scored so poorly.
"We respect the Pew Center's commitment to this project, but unfortunately, the Pew Center chose to focus on politics instead of fiscal facts," said the governor's budget spokeswoman, Kelley Quinn.
We believe politics is the foundation of some of the Pew Center's findings.
"The Blagojevich administration has been troubled from the start, and the consequences for Illinois government have been serious," the report states. Some of the things for which Illinois loses points - like a heavy pension debt and lack of a capital improvement plan - have stagnated as a direct result of the political standoff between Blagojevich and the General Assembly.
In fairness to Blagojevich, we note here that the Pew report points out some of his recent proposals for addressing pensions and a capital plan. It notes that Blagojevich in his first administration had success in some of its initiatives - like his initiative to expand pre-kindergarten education in the state and his All Kids insurance program.
But it also says, as we and Blagojevich critics across the state have said often, that nothing will change in the state's fiscal prognosis as things stand now between the state's executive and legislative branches.
"Before (Blagojevich's) plans bear any fruit - before any significant fiscal improvement can take place, for that matter - the administration and the legislature need to restore a working relationship," the report says.
In other words, politics and fiscal health are intertwined.
The Blagojevich administration has long made it a point of honor that it doesn't listen to pundits and prefers the voice of "the people" instead.
Perhaps the voice of a respected Washington think tank like the Pew Center will get its attention.
State Journal-Register