by Diane Benjamin
- Democrats control the Illinois House
- Democrats control the Illinois Senate
- The Governor if a Democrat
. . . and they have been in the majority for a long time. But they can’t pass anything to fix the fiscal mess in Illinois because Republicans aren’t helping. Sure. In other words, the Republicans haven’t come riding in on some magical white horse and made the pension debt go away without hacking off the unions.
Watch Mike Madigan spin the issue:
The Republicans are acting like they don’t want control. They aren’t doing much to take control in Springfield, like supporting candidates. Did you hear Dan Brady on WJBC when asked if he is going to campaign for other Republicans since he doesn’t have an opponent? http://wjbc.com/dan-brady-special-session-a-political-sham/ Speak English Dan – just say you are too busy showing up at everything possible, except to help Republicans win Springfield!
Why would Republicans want to inherit a mess? Maybe they really don’t want to make the tough decisions. Of course, the President continues to blame Bush, maybe they can blame the Democrats instead of actually fixing anything.
The pensions will go bankrupt in only a few years, but the Democrats don’t want the unions to know they were deceived, the campaign contributions might dry up. The unions might trash the capital. Employees who believed in government won’t anymore. That’s not such a bad thing!
One Republican State Senator told me the Democrats only want the GOP involved if they need rescued, otherwise the R’s aren’t allowed to have opinions. I asked why they oblige. Evidently, at least some Republicans don’t want the state to collapse.
Is it too late for a fix? It’s getting close.
