The downtown block on which stands the old YWCA and little else could become another TIF district. Would that rob Springfield schools, or support them in the long run? Photo BY DAVID HINE This caught my attention while reading the paper the other day – caught my attention in the same way that swallowing something […]
government
Posted inOpinion
Promises, promises
Michael Carrigan, president of the Illinois AFL-CIO The headlines all say that the General Assembly has reformed Illinois’ public employee pension system. The headlines lie. Legislators didn’t reform what has become an unworkable system, although they did change it – or try to. Their ingenious fix is likely to prove futile; the courts will have […]
Posted inOpinion
Taxing work
In 2011, the General Assembly, kicking and screaming, did what was good for it and ate its spinach. Members raised the rate at which the State of Illinois taxes the income of its citizens, thus forestalling a revenue crisis. That tasted so bad that they could not swallow it; the rate will have to be […]
Posted inOpinion
A matter of degree
Baptists have had more success against sin in Illinois than merit-hiring advocates have had against patronage. As I noted the other day, political patronage has been a factor in hiring in State of Illinois agencies since they unloaded the wagons from Vandalia. (“The arts of the patron,” Jan. 3). At hearings of the Illinois Reform […]
Posted inOpinion
Hard times on Civvy Street
Illinois legislators and governors have a soft spot for heroes. I know that because they do so much to create them. The administrators of adoption agencies that find ways to keep going when the state doesn’t pay its bills are heroes. So are schoolteachers who must buy their kids books with their own money because […]
Posted inOpinion
Draining the pool
Making one’s address a condition of employment is one of those latent viruses that reside in the American body politic, and which flares up in full-blown symptoms every few decades. Residency requirements were first imposed by big-city political machines; if you wanted the alderman to give you a city job, you and your family had […]
Posted inOpinion
Diagnosing the cost disease
Find a cure for Baumol’s Disease and you will be hailed as the benefactor of millions, even though the only people it harms are politicians. Baumol’s Disease strikes the body politic, specifically the tendency of government costs to so outpace the cost of everything else. Right-thinking commentators liken them to a cancer, in spite of […]
Posted inOpinion
Mud and money
CORRECTION (10/04/12): An earlier version of this article indicated Republican Congressional candidate Rodney Davis fully supports the budget plan created by Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. That is incorrect. While Davis has said he likes parts of the Ryan budget plan, he does not support it in its entirety. We apologize for the mischaracterization. David […]
Posted inNews
No jackpot
The best way to curb gambling might be for the state of Illinois to legalize it. The going has been slow since lawmakers more than three years ago approved video gambling outside casinos. Only last spring did the state gaming board start accepting applications from businesses, fraternal organizations and veterans groups for licenses to have […]
Posted inNews
Ag experts: Farm bill delay endangers food supply
As Congress wrestles over an agriculture bill that will set policy for the next five years, local farmers and ag experts worry the delay could endanger a variety of important programs when the current bill expires at the end of September. The Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate passed a so-called “Farm Bill” in June, while the Republican-controlled […]
Posted inNews
AFSCME under siege
What would drive a crowd of unionized state employees to boo the very governor they helped elect? The answer is about $83 billion of pension underfunding, a broken labor contract and a lot of jobs in jeopardy. When Gov. Pat Quinn stood before a crowd of fellow Democrats and union members on Governor’s Day at […]
Posted inOpinion
Fiscalizing land use policy
“People,” goes an old political adage, “vote their pocketbooks.” That goes for people in elected office too. A diligent reader attended a Springfield Park Board meeting at which the Griffin Woods decision was discussed. She noted that none of the officials involved seemed to want to stand in the way of the new Schnucks store […]
