Insanity? I think so!

Residents of Illinois have sadly become used to seeing their great state lampooned on late night comedy shows about the rampant corruption, abuse of power and total mismanagement of state funds.

It goes without saying anymore that Illinois is the poster child across the nation for political corruption at the state level.  With the past two governors in prison and four of the last seven governors serving jail time and with three current members of the General Assembly under indictment I would dare anybody to argue with the previous sentence.

It would be very easy to say that what we see daily in Springfield is a ‘joke’ but a ‘joke’ is supposed to be funny, and clearly this is no laughing matter.

Illinois has the most underfunded pension system in the nation that now totals close to $100 billion and more than $6.5 billion in unpaid bills.  I find it mind-boggling that the state has more than 200,000 pay vounchers that go unpaid day after day.

With those numbers in mind and with countless people’s lives literally hanging in the balance, how totally incompetent is it that Gov. Pat Quinn and the General Assembly are fiddling over issues like driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants and gay marriage — while the state burns down around them.

But, Illinois voters must like what they are getting because they continue to send the same people back to Springfield, somehow believing that things will change.  As I have said often when referring to state government in Illinois, it fits the precise definition of the word ‘insanity’ — which of course is to keep doing the same thing over and over and over again while expecting a different result.

In short, we are sending the same people back to Springfield expecting them to fix the problems they created and the end result is that the situation gets worse every day.  Insanity?  I think so!

I saw a segment on the local news within the past 24 hours that I think shows that neither party really wants any substantial change in Springfield.  Oh, they give us lip service about change but really it’s a ‘Good Ol’ Boy’s Club’ and that’s how it’s designed to stay.

Let me explain.

The news segment I’m referring to was on WSIL and it was about legislation introduced by newly-elected state Rep. Charlie Meier (R-Okawville) that says (in a nutshell) that state office holders and members of the General Assembly won’t get paid until vendors, doctors, pharmacies, etc. that the state owes money does gets paid. Remember that $6.5 billion and those 200,000-plus unpaid vendors?  That’s what Rep. Meier is referring to.

I talked about this last week on my Wednesday night radio show Sound Off (WQRL 106.3 or wqrlradio.com) and Rep. Meier will be my guest this week.
I love the idea and applaud the effort of a freshman state legislator who is not afraid to rock the political boat in Springfield.  At least Rep. Meier is attempting to do something to change the climate and to draw attention to the fact that the state is on a fiscal cliff and path that cannot be sustained.

As I watched the WSIL segment I found the comments of two longtime members of the General Assembly both interesting and disappointing.

State Rep. Mike Bost (R-Murphysboro) said the amount of money being paid to lawmakers and office holders is only a fraction of the amount owed so he didn’t support the legislation. It seems to me that Rep. Bost is missing the point.  In my conversation with Rep. Meier this week he is quite aware that the amount of money being paid to elected officials is a mere drop-in-the-bucket to the billions owed.  The point of Rep. Meier’s legislation is that it is not fair that a do-nothing General Assembly continues to draw a hefty paycheck every two weeks — for a part-time job — while businesses are going unpaid month after month after month.

I’m betting that state lawmakers missing a few paychecks would expedite the situation.

During the segment state Rep. Brandon Phelps said he didn’t think the legislation was constitutional because the Illinois Constitution sets the pay for state office holders and for elected officials.

I heard those comments and it immediately came to me that I believe the Constitution also requires that the state of Illinois will have a balanced budget each year … and when was the last time that happened in Illinois.

Rep. Meier is exactly what we need more of in Springfield – somebody who is not afraid to speak up and change the current badly broken system.  Somebody who is not afraid to say that the status quo is not working and things have to change, sooner rather than later.  Somebody who will call out every member of the General Assembly and say ‘you shouldn’t get a paycheck, you don’t deserve a paycheck until you do the job you were elected to do.’

Rep. Meier might be the new kid on the block in Springfield but I believe he ‘gets it.’  He understands that Illinois residents are worn out with politics as usual and the public be damned.  And before the partisan police start squawking … I’m referring to both Democrats and Republicans, period.

Every lawmaker in Springfield who is truly tired of the daily embarrassment that is called Illinois politics should embrace the efforts of Rep. Meier.