Illinois Politics Is Like A Box Of Chocolates...
By vouchey in News on Feb 18, 2005 4:55PM
Illinois state politics is a continuing marvel. Three powerful positions, three Democrats, no agreement, and the budget annually amplifies those differences.
The Three Tops, (in order of appearance, above) House Speaker Mike Madigan, Governor Rod Blagojevich, and Senate President Emil Jones. Last year Madigan staked out the no taxes territory and hammered the governor with calls for paring down state spending. Meanwhile, Jones repeatedly called for increased education spending and the need for education funding reform. Ultimately Jones and Blagojevich pared up to increase education spending, change state employee pension funding to close the budget deficit, push for a new casino and continue the march towards creating an airport in Peotone.
This year all bets are off, as the Blago-Jones partnership seems to be fading. Already Jones has proposed tax and funding systems different from the Governor's, but that could just be part of initial posturing.
Probably more significant is the governor's repeated allegance to not raising taxes and a refutation of a one-time promise for the state to cover 51% of education costs.
The 51% number is a big deal for suburban districts, which are going broke trying to cover exploding student populations with local property taxes, Illinois' traditional method of paying for education. Jones has made education funding a centerpiece of his time as Senate President, and has even flirted with support of hugely controversial legislation, the so-called "HB 750" (case for, case against), which promises to reduce property taxes -- at the price of increasing income and sales tax by billions -- to more equally fund burgeoning school districts.
Income taxes and the way education is funded in Illinois are probably the two biggest issues Illinois state government has to deal with in the next two years, and it seems that Gov. Blagojevich is trying to kick it as far into the future as possible. At least until after the 2006 elections.