Thompson: Illinois government a mess

2 comments August 21st, 2008

James R. “Big Jim” Thompson came to Rockford Wednesday to stump for Republican state’s attorney candidate Chuck Prorok. In a news conference at Cliffbreakers, he talked about the state of state politics and government. The state’s longest-serving governor — 14 years — said he is not amused.

“The current situation in Springfield is one of the most distressing I’ve ever seen. Certainly waht I hear on the streets from Democrats and Republicans alike is that there’s plenty of blame to go around,” Thompson said. “There’s an inability to agree on most challenging problems. We haven’t had a construction program since Gov. George Ryan,” he added.

“There’s failure to agree on how to finance a program, failure of Democratic legislators to trust the governor to fairly appropriate money for programs; that’s something I’ve not seen before,” he said.

By way of contrast, Thompson, a moderate Republican and Chicagoan who worked with mostly Democratic majorities in one or both houses of the General Assembly, said he got everything he wanted from lawmakers “except a World’s Fair. I wanted to have a 1992 World’s Fair in Chicago, and they said no.”

Thompson, a supporter and campaigner for John McCain, conceded the Arizona senator won’t win Illinois — Barack Obama’s home state — “but I think McCain has a good chance to win the presidency. The polls I’ve seen have McCain ahead. The electoral count is very close,” said Thompson, who said Iowa, Michigan, Missouri and Colorado are some swing states where “McCain has a decent shot.”