Nice try, Denny, but they won’t pass a capital bill next week

3 comments May 23rd, 2008

The futility of it all! That sums up the collective feeling at Giovanni’s Friday after former U.S. House Speaker Denny Hastert made an impassioned plea for Illinois lawmakers to pass a $31 billion capital bill before they adjourn May 31.

If they don’t, he said, the state risks losing $9.3 billion in federal transportation funds.

But Illinois probably won’t pass a capital bill for one reason: No one trusts Gov. Rod Blagojevich. His word is no good in Springpatch. Lawmakers haven’t been able to pass a to pass a capital bill since he took office in 2003.

Leasing the lottery, even 80 percent  of it, is a non-starter to many lawmakers. Selling off state assets is like selling your house, room by room, to pay the mortgage on it. Pretty soon you’re living in a pup tent in the back yard, and your mortgage still isn’t paid.

As for gambling expansion, that’s been tried numerous times in Springfield, and they’ve never been able to do it because nobody can agree on  how much more gambling there should be, or whether there should be more gambling at all.

State Sen. Dave Syverson, R-Rockford, had it right when he said the responsible approach would be to increase the state’s 3 percent  income tax by three/quarters of a percent.

But Blagojevich maintains he won’t support income tax or sales tax increases. And Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan doesn’t seem inclined to support anything the governor wants to do. They’e at loggerheads.

So, I don’t think we’ll see a capital bill anytime soon.