It was good of Jim Edgar, the former governor, to say clearly that Gov. Bruce Rauner needs to stop holding the budget hostage to his demands, because damage is being done to the state. “We need a budget,” Edgar told the State Journal-Register. “These other issues, they’re important, some of them more important than others, but you don’t hold the budget hostage to get those. … It has been very destabilizing for state government. I think a lot of people have suffered.” We have been saying the same thing for months, but until Republicans break ranks, Rauner’s reckless game will continue. Too many Republicans who know better are hiding behind the fiction that both sides are equally to blame. Courage is rare in Springfield, but who will be next to say this emperor has no clothes? –Fletcher Farrar, editor and publisher
This article appears in Oct 22-28, 2015.
