NW Herald op-ed: ILL-inois a deadbeat state, Dem boss Madigan among those to blame

Madigan, courtesy of the
Illinois Policy Institue

Once a national powerhouse, Illinois is a failed state. It is about to enter a second year without a budget because state House speaker Michael Madigan of Chicago, who is also the chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party, wants to blame Republican reform governor Bruce Rauner for the Prairie State's financial cesspool even though because gerrymandering, the Democrats have supermajorities in both chambers of the General Assembly.

Once again I will explain how easy it is for Boss Madigan: His party can pass a budget. If Rauner vetoes it the Democrats have the votes to override. It's that easy. Really, it is.

More on ILL-inois from the Northwest Herald:

It's gone all of fiscal 2016 without a budget, yet is spending billions more than it's bringing in because the courts had to step in due to the incompetence of our state's elected leaders, present and past.

Illinois' five statewide pension systems are underfunded by more than $110 billion, the worst in the nation. It's a deadbeat state, with a backlog of bills nearing $10 billion. Its social service infrastructure is crumbling because of the lack of funding, and schools might not open in the fall because of the budget crisis.

All of these fiscal problems are occurring despite the fact Illinois homeowners pay the highest property taxes in the nation.

Why? Corruption. Waste. Speaker Michael Madigan. Lapdog Democratic representatives who will do whatever Madigan tells them. Weak or criminal former governors such as Pat Quinn and Rod Blagojevich.