It’ll Be Just Like “Mad Max”

11:12 pm, 7/30/07

It'll Be Just Like "Mad Max"

The State of Illinois prepares for a miniature apocalyspe.

"It's frustrating. It's perplexing. It's embarrassing. And it's inexplicable," [State Comptroller Dan] Hynes[, a Chicago Democrat] said. He was referring to the inability of House Speaker Michael Madigan, Senate President Emil Jones and Blagojevich, all Democrats from Chicago, to agree on a budget.

Legislative leaders remained mostly quiet on the budget negotiations. After a negotiation session Monday evening, both Jones and House Minority Leader Tom Cross, R-Oswego, said they felt progress had been made.

Blagojevich was left out of those talks. He spent part of his day at a coal mine in Farmersville, touting the incentive package he signed to lure the Department of Energy's experimental clean coal power plant to Illinois.

You might say he was out on a snow job day.

Blagojevich's absence from the budget negotiations emphasized the thoughts that some lawmakers expressed over the weekend that the governor has become irrelevant.

Madigan and Jones have differences between themselves, and they've also disagreed with the governor on some issues. While Jones remains one of the governor's key allies, fewer than 20 out of 59 senators showed up for the governor's special legislative session on Saturday.

Similarly, when the House met early Monday afternoon, less than 30 were present for another special session called by the governor. The House met again early Monday evening, but adjourned after little debate.

The Senate also met briefly Monday with the same outcome.

Rep. Jay Hoffman, D-Collinsville, defended the governor and said the budget was the Legislature's responsibility. Hoffman also filed a measure that would extend the temporary budget through August.

Of course, it was Blagojevich who simultaneously insulted the entire legislative body and ordered them to stay in Springfield, at a cost of $42,000 a day, until they give him the budget meeting the criteria which he hath ordained. They have now conducted the longest overtime session in the history of Illinois, and Rod, unbelievably, says he's proud of it, because, he says, he's "not interested in settling for any old budget that doesn't do anything for people". Apparently, his office is also oblivious to the impending disaster, with spokeswoman Rebecca Rausch having stated she "had no knowledge of agencies issuing directives about what will happen in the event of a shutdown in August", even as state agencies freak out like it's Y2K, because the whole idiotic situation is so unprecedented that nobody knows what they're supposed to do if it happens.

Governor Corruptevich has even gone so far as to declare that the problem is that he sees the glass as half full, and Madigan sees it as half empty.

No, seriously. That's what he said, despite the fact that to virtually everyone else, it seems that the problem is that the glass is in the hands of a bunch of complete non-competents. Hynes is left in the awkward position of asking state leaders to "sign an agreement" to finish the budget by August 8th, while Blagojevich, who previously claimed he would oppose another temporary budget, is now a bit more receptive, given the failure of his strongarming of the legislature. Now, it's lawmakers who have lost interest in the arrangement. If things continue at this rate, the State of Illinois eventually won't be doing anything for anybody at all.

The mood in the capital remained uncertain about when a budget resolution might come. Although some officials predicted that the Legislature would be done by this weekend, Madigan scheduled a committee of the whole meeting for Aug. 8.

If the state goes without a budget, some state employees may have to decide whether to show up for work. Also, the fate of the Illinois State Fair seemed more uncertain. Both Hynes and Jeff Squibb, spokesman for the Department of Agriculture, said they were unsure of what would happen to the annual exposition, set to begin Aug. 10.

If a budget is not passed by Aug. 8, schools will likely be the biggest loser, missing that $170 million in aid. Matt Vanover, spokesman for the Illinois State Board of Education, said some school districts might have to dip into cash reserves or even borrow against future payments.

The funniest thing of all is that a mailing list I still follow covering Illinois politics featured an advertisement for a rally to demand the legislature pass a budget immediately, to prevent the closure of state government.

The unanimous, half-joking response?

"Why on Earth would we want to keep it open?"

Somehow, I doubt that the government's failure to provide services would relieve the people of Illinois of any part of their tax burden.