Yeah, this wasn't thought out very well as a political tactic.
Ghost
· 1 year ago
Word, you say that like the Gov has a reputation for well thought out political tactics.
VanillaMan
· 1 year ago
This is going to hurt his popularity polls.
BandCamp
· 1 year ago
I want to make a comment about all this, and try and bring in yesterday's post about saying something nice about Illinois.
I recently made a drive south over the weekend, hitting four different states. Now, I am not going to assume all is good in other states, but I will tell you this: the condition of the highways, roads, rest areas, litter control, etc...general aesthetics of these other states...compared to Illinois, these states were head and shoulders above what I encounter driving around Illinois. When you are traveling down a highway or interstate and you can't even see traffic in the opposite lanes, there's a safety issue. Animals springing from the side/middle of the highway...safety issue.
All I'm saying is this, I don't hate Illinois, but it's hard to be proud of our State today. I was paying fifty cents less a gallon in gas as well. Illinois doesn't have a fifty cent tax on gas.
I don't have anything nice to say about Illinois, yesterday...or today.
That bumper sticker you see that many people associate with fanatics and the such: I love my country but I fear my governent...maybe everything we thought we knew is wrong.
Bass Man
· 1 year ago
What is still amazing to me is that there have been new hires at various state agencies...there continue to be contracts to take on work various state agencies use to do. If every agency is getting cut, albiet sometimes a cut in the increase, then where has all the money gone? If say IDNR is down almost 500 employees since wonderboy became governor, then where has all the money gone? If state payroll is where its at in the 1970's, then where has all the money gone? Mr. Holland, please strike up the audit pen!
Captain America
· 1 year ago
These cuts were calculated to create the maximum possible pain and political pressure. I think the Governor's plan to blame Madigan for this mess has clearly backfired given these sories appearing across the state. Clearly, the Governor's failures as a leader are responsible for the current impasse.
Targeted funds sweeps to restore funding to selected human service programs seem like a valid rebuttal to the Blago blame game. It is amazing to me that Senators continue to tolerate Senate President Jones' intransigence. His avowal not to consder veto overrides is unconscionable.
Ghost
· 1 year ago
Band which 4 states did you travel through?
IL has more miles of interstate then many of our neighboring States combined. its easy to maintain an interstate when you have only a few and they are not heavily traveled. IL is a hub State passing large numbers of traffic. Sometimes being in the middle is a bad thing
BandCamp
· 1 year ago
Ghost, MO is as well traveled as any state. And I-55, not matter what state you are in, is a major artery. I understand Illinois is big, but what's the point? Since we are a bigger state we get sympathy for not being able to maintain our roads and highways? No.
Plutocrat03
· 1 year ago
It is too bad that the heart tugging articles do not also include coverage of the overburdened Illinois taxpayer. They are being injured by the excessive taxes in Illinois.
The structure of taxation in Illinois provides for more taxing bodies than any other state in the union. This provides cover for the politicians because they can point to a given tax and say it is nowhere near the highest tax of its kind in the country. Unfortunately the aggregate tax, when you figure in all the taxes Illinoians have to pay is among the highest in the country.
We tolerate an immense amount of inefficiency in the operations of the state. This is where the dollars go. Before foster children are taken care of, before the poor are ministered to before a child is educated, the professional politician pays for his or her patronage army and financial supporters.
This tax burden is an issue for individuals and businesses who operate in this state. It is a damper on economic development. The question is what will be done about it.
Rich Miller
· 1 year ago
MO saves money by not paving country roads that we routinely pave. I grew up in the middle of nowhere, but we had paved roads. In Missouri, those roads would be gravel.
Anon
· 1 year ago
None of the roads where I grew up were paved. They still arent.
Ivote
· 1 year ago
Rich -- You ought to do a contest. In the next "x" months, how low can the Governor's approval rating go? It's already in the teens, right? Can it go to the low teens? Below the teens? Under 10? How low does it have to go before the impeachment trigger will be pulled? How low before the Senate Dems abandaon Rod (with or without Emil's agreement)? At this point does Rod have ANY friends other than Emil? Is Emil's power and ability to lead or be taken seriously being seriously damaged yet? I'd love to hear the bloggers take on these questions. . .
anon
· 1 year ago
I am baffled by the lack of attention paid to the more FY09 austere budgets that were passed by the House and languish in the Senate. Even the Speaker's people seem to ignore that. I realize that the press largely ignores things that are not dropped on its plate that splatter the gravy, but why aren't these budgets given more attention? I guess it is too late now, but why weren't they publicized more before the current budget was passed? It would seem the Senate could take some heat for sitting on them.
Lee
· 1 year ago
This budget mess is starting to impact Blogojevich's friend and confident Jay Hoffman. Hoffman had campaign workers in all precincts in his district in late June. They were asking voters how they felt about Hoffman at the same time a robo call poll was being done on the Governor. Hoffman must be feeling the affects of his Governor's bungling. Hoffman has never campaigned this early. Hoffman's opponent, Republican, Dwight Kay, is methodically walking the district day by day. Kay must be a smiles.
Rich Miller
· 1 year ago
===why weren’t they publicized more before the current budget was passed?===
Too many editors think their readers are stupid.
Muskrat
· 1 year ago
I think the issue is not who wears the jacket, but who looks best in it. Madigan is clearly a suit-and-tie man, and this jacket is really more a white leather, Vegas style thing... I think the Governor was just taken in by the sequins.....
anon
· 1 year ago
== Too many editors think their readers are stupid. ==
. . . and a lot editors are finding their newspapers going under. Maybe their readers are looking for news sources that are more than just headlines and the rumors behind them (ack. to Firesign Theatre for that phrase).
Cassandra
· 1 year ago
I'm sure that some substance abuse counselors will lose their jobs if the cuts actually occur but wlll that make any difference to actual patients. We don't create substance abuse programs to employ people, we create them to cure individuals addicted to substances. And many substance abuse programs, despite massive influxes of cash, have below-par success rates.
Now would be a good time to look at some of the below-par programs and see if they could be eliminated or merged with programs that are being run more successfully, with lower recidivism rates.It's easy to hang up a sign and say we cure addictions. But where are the numbers and how do they compare with the numbers in the best programs nationally.
Alas, this is Illinois. Money pours forth from the taxpayers without cease for social programs, no matter how badly run they are and how little good they do (or how much harm they do--think Howe Developmental Center). Agencies don't have to be competent or have stellar outcomes. They just have to exist, and the money comes. You'd think they would be advertising their outcomes in order to persuade Illinoisians to give them yet more money. But emotion and chest-beating are easier, and Illinois taxpayers are, well, pretty clueless. And maybe some of those outcomes aren't that great.
steve schnorf
· 1 year ago
And what comes next is going to be really fun to watch
piper
· 1 year ago
Where can you find a complete list of the cuts?
Rich Miller
· 1 year ago
Cassandra, we're talking a $100+ million cut to the FY 08 base (half state, half federal). That's a lot of dough.
Ghost
· 1 year ago
Cassandra I disagree that they programs have massive amounts of cash. The problem continues to be mnassive funding short falls. The best way to treat omone with substance abuse problems is to place them in a controlled environment, aka Betty Ford Clinic, which keeps them from having access to the substance and proivdes them lots of counseling, support servuces and programs to develope coping mechanisms and other outlets.
But their is not enough money to fund the type of effective treatments, so the programs get by with substantialy paired down treatment programs. The best success rates come from changing the environment.
This is not unlike the Lincoln;s Challange program which removes kids headed down the wrong path from their environment to get them back on track.
Capitol View
· 1 year ago
where is the money going? Look at pie charts of spending by IL state government, ten or twelve years ago compared to today.
Education gets roughly the same percentage. Social services are down 10% of total state spending. Health care is up that entire 10%.
Captain America
· 1 year ago
With respect to I Vote's speculation concerning "how-low, the Governor's public approval rating might go," I don't think it is possible for the Governor's approval rating to get much lower than 13% unless/until he is indicted.
Anonymous45
· 1 year ago
the pay raise issue is just too much to handle for me--I hope some legs have the decency to turn it over to the social service agencies/public schools that need it should it pass by the ability to do nothing and get rewarded for it...you can take my last phrase any which way you like...I can't wait for 2010...time for a generational wholesale change in leadership in Springpatch...
steve schnorf
· 1 year ago
I speculate that the battle, as it is progressing, is not so much about forcing passage of the capital bill, but more about who is going to wear the jacket for failure of the capital bill and the cuts the Governor has made.
Cassandra
· 1 year ago
Ghost--
You may be right, but I'd like to see the individual agency outcomes, compared with best nationally ranked programs.
And does it make sense to pour taxpayer money into "half-baked" programs that don't work; why not fund programs that do work or not at all, even if that means fewer programs. After all, I suspect that many of these programs deal with people who have relapsed; a reduction in relapse would mean fewer users in more successful programs.
Anyway, social programs are always standing there with their hands out but they rarely provide any comparative outcome data without significant prodding. Taxpayers should demand facts, not emotions, and we should always demand outcome measures, not just, for example, numbers of patients treated. Sub-par programs should be cut or be put on a very short term improvement plan. When money is flowing without accountability, quality goes out the window.
university guy
· 1 year ago
Does anyone know what's happened to specific university budgets?
Ghost
· 1 year ago
The current programs are not omplet failures, they just are not as successful as they could be or we would like them to be.
I absolutly agree that theri needs to be better auditing and tracking of social programs and results. I would go further and say we need to provide grants which encourage the creation of new programs seeking to find new solutions if current models are not working.
But we also need a more detailed look at the huge amounts of money going to State universities for exhorbitant salaries etc.
Education gets roughly the same percentage. Social services are down 10% of total state spending. Health care is up that entire 10%.===
When you talk about education in terms of funding, you are talking P-12 education. Higher education funding--especially for community colleges--has been flat, and the governor's cuts basically eliminated the small increase slated for community colleges this year. Community colleges educate 64% of all higher ed. students but receive only 14% of higher ed. funding.
Dan S, a voter and Cubs Fan
· 1 year ago
The powers that be need to start from scratch. Everyone gets a zero budget and they must justify what they want to spend. Then find a way to pay for and go from there.
Yellow Dog Democrat
· 1 year ago
I don't know if ANY and ALL governors get the blame for budget cuts.
But I am pretty sure that when you're job approval is already at 15%, you're going to be blamed for pretty much everything. Even the lack of rain. Or too much rain.
Rich Miller
· 1 year ago
13 percent, YDD. 13
Kevin Fanning
· 1 year ago
lol. That is an unlucky number...
Mr. Wizard
· 1 year ago
The solution seems to me to be simple: The House restores cuts important to the Leg. and those for const. officers, and finally a few for Social services. They then pass an amended fund sweep of about $300 m. This puts a lot of pressure on Emil and the Gov.
the Other Anonymous
· 1 year ago
Score this as a win for Madigan. All along he has wanted to put the burden of making tough, unpopular decisions on the Governor and/or the Senate.
Separately, Plutocrat03 wrote: Unfortunately the aggregate tax, when you figure in all the taxes Illinoians have to pay is among the highest in the country.
This is simply untrue. The Tax Foundation estimates the total state/local tax burden in Illinois at 10.8%, just below the national average of 11%. This ranks Illinois as 22 of 51, right about in the middle. Illinois does pay a slightly higher share of federal taxes, but that is mostly tied to Illinois' higher than average per capita income.
The point is, that Illinois is about average in its level of taxation, even including local (i.e., property) taxes. Cook County may be an exception with its recent tax increases, but that does not affect the other 101 counties in Illinois.
Rich Miller
· 1 year ago
===Score this as a win for Madigan===
Just remember that this is one day.
Little Egypt
· 1 year ago
With all of the budget cuts, will someone please explain to me how POA has the coconuts and audacity to uproot families, move them to Harrisburg, reimburse those employees for their moving expenses, BUY HALF A BUILDING in Harrisburg and renovate it to the tune of $1.5M, and if some of those employees don't want to move he has promised them jobs in Springfield at the same salary, benefits, etc. I would much rather the substance abuse agencies be able to stay open than for Blago to penalize Rep. Bradley in Marion for voting for a recall amendment. This guy is certifiably nuts - he just doesn't have the papers yet to prove it.
Levois
· 1 year ago
Hardball politics putting only one person on the spot, the governor himself!
ivoted4judy
· 1 year ago
When Joe Public cant take his kids on vacation because of a bad economy and outragous gas prices, do you think he cares if G ROD is on TV telling him he has to cut the state budget?? HELL NO!! The only ones who care are the pigs at the trough..
How Ironic
· 1 year ago
The problem is "judy" is that some of these cuts are very deep. It's not pork projects, it's real cuts to agencies that provide valuable services.
Elderly voters care when their Dr. begins to demand payment before service because the state is paying 120 days late.
Taxpayers care when federal funding is lost for substance abuse recovery efforts, and family memebers are incarcerated versus getting treatment.
Your pig at the trough comment only showcases your ignorance in the cuts.
Cassandra
· 1 year ago
Well ivoted4judy has a point. Of course, we all know that if there are cuts, they will not be as draconian as the pols and the happy recipients of endless state cash who are out there weeping and wailing claim. But we taxpayers are having to cut too in order to deal not only with food and gas prices but with the shrinking value of our houses and 401k's and, increasingly, with inflation, which is not galloping yet but is stepping up to a nice trot.
Our mostly well off politicans are mostly insulated from all this; after all, they can always beat inflation by giving themselves a nice raise, which they have done repeatedly in recent years and are likely to do again shortly.
So, in exchange for that raise, which seems inevitable, back off the middle class taxpayer and make the cuts and the sweeps. This year, of all years, is no time to get greedy.
I voted for Judy too, by the way. And I am 100% certain that were she governor, we would not be in this mess today.
Anon
· 1 year ago
===With all of the budget cuts, will someone please explain to me how POA has the coconuts and audacity to uproot families, move them to Harrisburg, reimburse those employees for their moving expenses, BUY HALF A BUILDING in Harrisburg and renovate it to the tune of $1.5M, and if some of those employees don’t want to move he has promised them jobs in Springfield at the same salary, benefits, etc. ===
You gotta spend money to save money!
And to judy and Cassandra, the problem with the Governor's approach is that it has nothing to do with performance or value of the programs being cut. Unless you think all government programs are equally bad, it would be in your interest as a taxpayer to have the Governor cut the bad and spare the good (or, for you real cynics, cut the worst and spare the merely bad.)
How Ironic
· 1 year ago
Cassandara-
Your over the top statements only showcase your inablity to grasp the issue at hand.
Since you seem to feel qualified to spout such nonsense as "the happy recipients of endless state cash who are out there weeping and wailing claim...". Please....expand your arguement.
What programs specifically do you feel that are weeping and wailing needlessly? Tell us where the "pork" is exactly. Where is all this pork that you are talking about?
And the pay of the politicians while high, is really a non-issue in the budget crisis. Other than a public relations disaster, it's a drop in the bucket compared to the rest of the state budget.
If you want to be angry at the politicians, then be angry. But don't try and equate cutting programs as a direct result of pay raises. They are not related.
Little Egypt
· 1 year ago
Anon 12:04. Well that was not the answer I was looking for. "You gotta spend money to make money" is BS. This is wasteful spending at its worst. All Blago has to do is put those Traffic Safety employees back into the Hanley building and give up the fight. Who are the advisors for this guy? Boy he sure can find them, can't he? Just remember - FIGURES LIE AND LIARS FIGURE.
Heartless Libertarian
· 1 year ago
What you don't understand, "How Ironic," is that most of the cuts to the budget were proposed increases. So, in this case, it is pigs at the trough that are suffering. And what pork is in the Illinois state budget? Oh I don't know... wealth transfer payments (i.e. welfare, healthcare, subsidies). Maybe we should be cutting those programs and actually funding our state parks and universities... or maybe IDOT would have enough cash to pick up the dead deer along the roads... just a thought.
Cassandra
· 1 year ago
Well, I may not be able to grasp the issues at hand but I can read my paycheck, my 401k statement, and the prices of the food and gas I buy every day.
I didn't say that the politicians' raises were a major component of the state budget; I said that legislators and and high-level state officials are as a group, well insulated from the financial concerns of middle and working class taxpayers, and that these continuing, large raises insulate them from inflation...on our dime. That is why higher taxes on the middle class (or the selling of valuable state assets) appeal to so many of them.It simply doesn't affect them.
I didn't say anything about pork. I said that the a common approach of social service agencies which rely heavily on infusions of state cash is to cry doomsday when in fact many of them could be run better and more efficiently. Before we give them whatever they want, we should take a closer look at their outcomes with respect to national norms, as well as looking at their staffing, executive salaries, perks, and fundraising efforts where applicable. Let me point out, for example, that I believe that Illinois has had to pick up the entire tab for the Howe Developmental Center since early 2007 because they lost their federal certification and, therefore, federal matching funds. They are by no means the only poorly performing social service agency in Illinois but they are emblematic of the dangers of pouring cash into social services without adequate controls.
Anon
· 1 year ago
===Anon 12:04. Well that was not the answer I was looking for. “You gotta spend money to make money†is BS. ===
It was supposed to be funny. I even winked while I was typing it!
How Ironic
· 1 year ago
Cassandara-
Please enlighten us with your suggestions. Here is your quote "I said that the a common approach of social service agencies which rely heavily on infusions of state cash is to cry doomsday when in fact many of them could be run better and more efficiently."
Ok, please list an agency, and explain how it can be run better/more efficiently.
Not anecdotal either. I don't care if you once saw a guy in an IDOT truck sitting on the side of the road one time, so therefore IDOT is paying lazy workers. That ain't gonna cut it.
If you have a real problem and a real solution, please present it. Otherwise you are just bloviating, and not making a point.
-Heartless Libertarian-
While I understand that many of the "cuts" are not "cuts" in the sense that they go below the FY08 level, they are cuts nonetheless. Just because an agency doesn't get an increase, doesn't mean they are sitting pretty.
For example, if an agency doesn't see an increase in say...fuel expenditures (IDOT)...in reality, they have taken a "cut". The money given last year will not go nearly as far.
In other cases, agencies HAVE seen cuts below FY08. Extending payment times for Medicare is only going to work so long. Private providers are already not accepting it.
Also, keep in mind that FY08 budget wasn't much of an increase from FY07 on many agencies/programs. Inflation however wasn't so kind as to stay put.
Am I so niave to suggest that there isn't some fat in the Illinois budget anywhere? No. But I'm also not going to swallow the line that the Illinois budget is so packed with fat that it's dripping off agency budgets like a waterfall.
Cassandra
· 1 year ago
I'm over my allowed posts on this topic but I hope Rich will be merciful.
Ironic--I just gave you an example, Howe Developmental Center. Tens of millions in federal funding lost (and ongoing) because they couldn't meet basic federal standards--and they are basic. Not to mention the terrible effects on the residents.
the Other Anonymous
· 1 year ago
In response to my suggestions to "score this as a win for Madigan," Rich notes:
Just remember that this is one day.
Yup. That's what keeps it interesting.
But it also goes back to something Rich has been saying for years now: Madigan is playing chess, Blagojevich is playing checkers.
Mixing metaphors, if you keep score by Blagojevich's method, each day you start fresh. If you keep score by Madigan's rules, each day builds on each other. So, I am certain that Blagojevich and friends will try something else to put the jacket on Madigan. But right now, it looks to me as if Madigan's in a much better position than Blagojevich -- Madigan can survive a bad press day or two and recover. Blagojevich, not so much; he has to come up with something new all the time.
Rich Miller
· 1 year ago
Cassandra, I'll be plenty merciful, but what you've got there is an extreme. Not all government is that bad. Even you could admit that.
Plus, I would point to the outstanding work done by groups like Lutheran Social Servicees by underpaid frontline staff. Let's not just dismiss everyone as a freeloading bum. The competent, decent, honest, hardworking employees out there vastly outnumber the deadbeats.
Try a day in their shoes. Go work at an LSS youth home in Chicago for less money than many are paying on their mortgages, for example. Then tell me those people don't care.
Ivote
· 1 year ago
Some good (well, at least interesting) discussions on what should/should not be cut or increasd. What all that fails to recognize, however, is that the Governor neither knows nor cares about any of it, except for the PR effect and the ability to punish his perceived enemies. The Governor has shown throughout his tenure that he knows little and cares less about the nuts and bolts of state government operations. What state government does or doesn't do is irrelevant in Rod's world. Unfortunately, Emil has so dirtied the waters by reneging on his promise last year to override Guv's vetos that Madigan no longer finds it useful to negotiate with him on anything. Madigan wrote off the Guv a long time ago as a know-nothing, lazy suit who sees no reason to keep his word on anything, and doesn't begin to fathom how "negotiating" works.
What needs to happen is for the two people that DO know state government and what it can/should do, to sit down like adults and negotiate. Emil should realize by now that his chances of getting (some of) what he wants by negotiating with Madigan are FAR greater than by trusting the totally un-trustworthy Governor. Emil is the key here--and if anything is going to get resolved he has to get out of Rod's pocket and be his own man. Then he and Madigan--working together, and giving the Repubs a little--can run the state and make Rod even more irrelevant than he already is.
cover
· 1 year ago
Cassandra, your choice of Howe as an example of a "poorly performing social service agency" doesn't work, Howe is a state-operated facility within the Department of Human Services.
While I certainly agree with your concern that private social service agencies may not always make the best use of state $, to the extent that the Governor's reductions lead to fewer services, that just puts more pressure on the state to fill the gap. If Howe is an indicator of the state's capacity, whether in Human Services or DCFS or elsewhere, we're in real trouble.
Little Egypt
· 1 year ago
OK, some of you want an example of waste. Here's a really good one. I was driving a few weeks ago from Springfield out to Petersburg on Rte. 97. At about the intesection of 97 and 123 (Talulla turnoff), there were two (2) IDOT tractors pulling mowers just tooling down the road towards Petersburg. The mowers were not down cutting the extremely tall growth on the side of the road. They were in an up position. All along that stretch of road there is not one good area to pass any kind of vehicle so I was stuck behind these two tractors/mowers until they turned onto the Athens Blacktop. I decided I didn't have anything else to do and was willing to sacrifice a couple of gallons of gas to see just where these two guys were going. They went all the way into Athens, out again, came out on Rte. 29 and only then did they drop their mowers. Now I ask anyone reading this. Why in the world could they not have dropped those mowers and accomplished something along the way. The general public has no perception of why this was not done but all we see is a couple of mowers going down the road, passing up areas that need to be taken care of and instantly think this is a huge waste of taxpayers money for the gas it is taking. Perhaps the Athens Blacktop is the county's responsibility but Rte. 97 is certainly the State's. Someone at IDOT maintenance needs to coordinate things a lot better than this. And this was after IDOT suddenly found money to go back out and begin mowing.
How Ironic
· 1 year ago
Little Egypt-
Anecdotal. If you were really concerned perhaps you could have asked the workers what they were doing/why they were doing it.
All you have done is post a story about a situation you don't understand, nor took action to figure out.
Maybe it was a waste. Maybe it wasn't. But it doesn't further the discussion either way.
Capitol View
· 1 year ago
Community based human services are on the verge of colapse in Illinois today, due to state underfunding. Not every state delegates its social services to the private sector; California and some other states give that responsibility to the counties, as Illinois does for court probation - and the state rate is close to actual cost. Some smallest of states do it all themselves. But when the responsibility gets outsourced to the private sector, there is always the risk of fiscal abuse. Many community based non profits are paid 70% for their services to state agency clients, and now the governor is proposing that all IDOA Community Care Program providers get paid their 12th month in the next fiscal year -- the stretching out of reimbursements already an abuse of commmunity hospitals. It's all on the verge of collapse, and state officials have been told this in recent years.Higher ed is similarly in crisis, but endowment funds have helped some of the public universities avoid fiscal disaster - as some non-profits have endowment funds and annual donor campaigns. But donations are being challenged by major donors to human services agencies, as the books of the requesting local organizations clearly show that the reason for their need for their outside funding is overcoming the budget deficit caused by State underfunding. It makes for a lousy fund raising campaign -- "give to us because the State is killing us on the clients that they refer to us". Or, "give to us and help us subsidize state government services."
Every few months. another hadful of agencies shut their doors in Illinois. Every fiscal year, local agencies have to end their grants and contracts with state government just so the rest of their local organization and their other functions can survive. Volunteers on non-profit boards are expected to run their organizations in a feduciarily sound manner - contracting with the state for health and human services conflicts with that responsibility.
Waant to compare state to private agency management, as to cost and effectiveness? Each year, the state inches closer to running its own CILAs in Lincoln or elsewhere - residential group homes for DD clients. If these ever get of the ground, watch how their annual costs compare with the state rate for CILAs.
Sheryl
· 1 year ago
Blago wears the jacket alright, the strait jacket.
All Comments
I recently made a drive south over the weekend, hitting four different states. Now, I am not going to assume all is good in other states, but I will tell you this: the condition of the highways, roads, rest areas, litter control, etc...general aesthetics of these other states...compared to Illinois, these states were head and shoulders above what I encounter driving around Illinois. When you are traveling down a highway or interstate and you can't even see traffic in the opposite lanes, there's a safety issue. Animals springing from the side/middle of the highway...safety issue.
All I'm saying is this, I don't hate Illinois, but it's hard to be proud of our State today. I was paying fifty cents less a gallon in gas as well. Illinois doesn't have a fifty cent tax on gas.
I don't have anything nice to say about Illinois, yesterday...or today.
That bumper sticker you see that many people associate with fanatics and the such: I love my country but I fear my governent...maybe everything we thought we knew is wrong.
Targeted funds sweeps to restore funding to selected human service programs seem like a valid rebuttal to the Blago blame game. It is amazing to me that Senators continue to tolerate Senate President Jones' intransigence. His avowal not to consder veto overrides is unconscionable.
IL has more miles of interstate then many of our neighboring States combined. its easy to maintain an interstate when you have only a few and they are not heavily traveled. IL is a hub State passing large numbers of traffic. Sometimes being in the middle is a bad thing
The structure of taxation in Illinois provides for more taxing bodies than any other state in the union. This provides cover for the politicians because they can point to a given tax and say it is nowhere near the highest tax of its kind in the country. Unfortunately the aggregate tax, when you figure in all the taxes Illinoians have to pay is among the highest in the country.
We tolerate an immense amount of inefficiency in the operations of the state. This is where the dollars go. Before foster children are taken care of, before the poor are ministered to before a child is educated, the professional politician pays for his or her patronage army and financial supporters.
This tax burden is an issue for individuals and businesses who operate in this state. It is a damper on economic development. The question is what will be done about it.
Too many editors think their readers are stupid.
. . . and a lot editors are finding their newspapers going under. Maybe their readers are looking for news sources that are more than just headlines and the rumors behind them (ack. to Firesign Theatre for that phrase).
wlll that make any difference to actual patients.
We don't create substance abuse programs to employ people, we create them to cure individuals addicted to substances. And many substance abuse programs, despite massive influxes of cash, have
below-par success rates.
Now would be a good time to look at some of the below-par programs and see if they could be eliminated or merged with programs that are being run more successfully, with lower recidivism rates.It's easy to hang up a sign and say we cure addictions. But where are the numbers and how do they compare with the numbers in the best programs nationally.
Alas, this is Illinois. Money pours forth from the taxpayers without cease for social programs, no matter how badly run they are and how little good they do (or how much harm they do--think Howe Developmental Center). Agencies don't have to be competent or have stellar outcomes. They just have to exist, and the money comes. You'd think they would be advertising their outcomes in order to persuade Illinoisians to give them yet more money.
But emotion and chest-beating are easier, and Illinois taxpayers are, well, pretty clueless.
And maybe some of those outcomes aren't that great.
But their is not enough money to fund the type of effective treatments, so the programs get by with substantialy paired down treatment programs. The best success rates come from changing the environment.
This is not unlike the Lincoln;s Challange program which removes kids headed down the wrong path from their environment to get them back on track.
Education gets roughly the same percentage. Social services are down 10% of total state spending. Health care is up that entire 10%.
You may be right, but I'd like to see the individual agency outcomes,
compared with best nationally ranked programs.
And does it make sense to pour taxpayer money into
"half-baked" programs that don't work; why not
fund programs that do work or not at all, even if that means fewer programs. After all, I suspect that many of these programs deal with people who have relapsed; a reduction in relapse would mean
fewer users in more successful programs.
Anyway, social programs are always standing there with their hands out but they rarely provide any comparative outcome data without significant prodding. Taxpayers should demand facts, not emotions, and we should always demand outcome measures, not just, for example, numbers of patients treated. Sub-par programs should be cut or be put on a very short term improvement plan.
When money is flowing without accountability, quality goes out the window.
I absolutly agree that theri needs to be better auditing and tracking of social programs and results. I would go further and say we need to provide grants which encourage the creation of new programs seeking to find new solutions if current models are not working.
But we also need a more detailed look at the huge amounts of money going to State universities for exhorbitant salaries etc.
Education gets roughly the same percentage. Social services are down 10% of total state spending. Health care is up that entire 10%.===
When you talk about education in terms of funding, you are talking P-12 education. Higher education funding--especially for community colleges--has been flat, and the governor's cuts basically eliminated the small increase slated for community colleges this year. Community colleges educate 64% of all higher ed. students but receive only 14% of higher ed. funding.
But I am pretty sure that when you're job approval is already at 15%, you're going to be blamed for pretty much everything. Even the lack of rain. Or too much rain.
Separately, Plutocrat03 wrote:
Unfortunately the aggregate tax, when you figure in all the taxes Illinoians have to pay is among the highest in the country.
This is simply untrue. The Tax Foundation estimates the total state/local tax burden in Illinois at 10.8%, just below the national average of 11%. This ranks Illinois as 22 of 51, right about in the middle. Illinois does pay a slightly higher share of federal taxes, but that is mostly tied to Illinois' higher than average per capita income.
The point is, that Illinois is about average in its level of taxation, even including local (i.e., property) taxes. Cook County may be an exception with its recent tax increases, but that does not affect the other 101 counties in Illinois.
Just remember that this is one day.
Elderly voters care when their Dr. begins to demand payment before service because the state is paying 120 days late.
Taxpayers care when federal funding is lost for substance abuse recovery efforts, and family memebers are incarcerated versus getting treatment.
Your pig at the trough comment only showcases your ignorance in the cuts.
Our mostly well off politicans are mostly insulated from all this; after all, they can always beat inflation by giving themselves a nice raise, which they have done repeatedly in recent years and are likely to do again shortly.
So, in exchange for that raise, which seems inevitable, back off the middle class taxpayer
and make the cuts and the sweeps. This year, of all years, is no time to get greedy.
I voted for Judy too, by the way. And I am 100% certain that were she governor, we would not be in this mess today.
You gotta spend money to save money!
And to judy and Cassandra, the problem with the Governor's approach is that it has nothing to do with performance or value of the programs being cut. Unless you think all government programs are equally bad, it would be in your interest as a taxpayer to have the Governor cut the bad and spare the good (or, for you real cynics, cut the worst and spare the merely bad.)
Your over the top statements only showcase your inablity to grasp the issue at hand.
Since you seem to feel qualified to spout such nonsense as "the happy recipients of endless state cash who are out there weeping and wailing claim...". Please....expand your arguement.
What programs specifically do you feel that are weeping and wailing needlessly? Tell us where the "pork" is exactly. Where is all this pork that you are talking about?
And the pay of the politicians while high, is really a non-issue in the budget crisis. Other than a public relations disaster, it's a drop in the bucket compared to the rest of the state budget.
If you want to be angry at the politicians, then be angry. But don't try and equate cutting programs as a direct result of pay raises. They are not related.
I didn't say that the politicians' raises were a major component of the state budget; I said that legislators and and high-level state officials are as a group, well insulated from the financial concerns of middle and working class taxpayers, and that these continuing, large raises insulate them from inflation...on our dime. That is why higher taxes on the middle class (or the selling of valuable state assets) appeal to so many of them.It simply doesn't affect them.
I didn't say anything about pork. I said that the
a common approach of social service agencies which rely heavily on infusions of state cash is to cry doomsday when in fact many of them could be run better and more efficiently. Before we give them whatever they want, we should take a closer look at their outcomes with respect to national norms, as well as looking at their staffing, executive salaries, perks, and fundraising efforts where applicable. Let me point out, for example, that I believe that Illinois has had to pick up the entire tab for the Howe Developmental Center since
early 2007 because they lost their federal certification and, therefore, federal matching funds. They are by no means the only poorly performing social service agency in Illinois but they are emblematic of the dangers of pouring cash into social services without adequate controls.
It was supposed to be funny. I even winked while I was typing it!
Please enlighten us with your suggestions. Here is your quote "I said that the a common approach of social service agencies which rely heavily on infusions of state cash is to cry doomsday when in fact many of them could be run better and more efficiently."
Ok, please list an agency, and explain how it can be run better/more efficiently.
Not anecdotal either. I don't care if you once saw a guy in an IDOT truck sitting on the side of the road one time, so therefore IDOT is paying lazy workers. That ain't gonna cut it.
If you have a real problem and a real solution, please present it. Otherwise you are just bloviating, and not making a point.
-Heartless Libertarian-
While I understand that many of the "cuts" are not "cuts" in the sense that they go below the FY08 level, they are cuts nonetheless. Just because an agency doesn't get an increase, doesn't mean they are sitting pretty.
For example, if an agency doesn't see an increase in say...fuel expenditures (IDOT)...in reality, they have taken a "cut". The money given last year will not go nearly as far.
In other cases, agencies HAVE seen cuts below FY08. Extending payment times for Medicare is only going to work so long. Private providers are already not accepting it.
Also, keep in mind that FY08 budget wasn't much of an increase from FY07 on many agencies/programs. Inflation however wasn't so kind as to stay put.
Am I so niave to suggest that there isn't some fat in the Illinois budget anywhere? No. But I'm also not going to swallow the line that the Illinois budget is so packed with fat that it's dripping off agency budgets like a waterfall.
Rich will be merciful.
Ironic--I just gave you an example, Howe Developmental Center. Tens of millions in federal funding lost (and ongoing) because they couldn't meet basic federal standards--and they are basic. Not to mention the terrible effects on the residents.
Just remember that this is one day.
Yup. That's what keeps it interesting.
But it also goes back to something Rich has been saying for years now: Madigan is playing chess, Blagojevich is playing checkers.
Mixing metaphors, if you keep score by Blagojevich's method, each day you start fresh. If you keep score by Madigan's rules, each day builds on each other. So, I am certain that Blagojevich and friends will try something else to put the jacket on Madigan. But right now, it looks to me as if Madigan's in a much better position than Blagojevich -- Madigan can survive a bad press day or two and recover. Blagojevich, not so much; he has to come up with something new all the time.
Plus, I would point to the outstanding work done by groups like Lutheran Social Servicees by underpaid frontline staff. Let's not just dismiss everyone as a freeloading bum. The competent, decent, honest, hardworking employees out there vastly outnumber the deadbeats.
Try a day in their shoes. Go work at an LSS youth home in Chicago for less money than many are paying on their mortgages, for example. Then tell me those people don't care.
What needs to happen is for the two people that DO know state government and what it can/should do, to sit down like adults and negotiate. Emil should realize by now that his chances of getting (some of) what he wants by negotiating with Madigan are FAR greater than by trusting the totally un-trustworthy Governor. Emil is the key here--and if anything is going to get resolved he has to get out of Rod's pocket and be his own man. Then he and Madigan--working together, and giving the Repubs a little--can run the state and make Rod even more irrelevant than he already is.
While I certainly agree with your concern that private social service agencies may not always make the best use of state $, to the extent that the Governor's reductions lead to fewer services, that just puts more pressure on the state to fill the gap. If Howe is an indicator of the state's capacity, whether in Human Services or DCFS or elsewhere, we're in real trouble.
Anecdotal. If you were really concerned perhaps you could have asked the workers what they were doing/why they were doing it.
All you have done is post a story about a situation you don't understand, nor took action to figure out.
Maybe it was a waste. Maybe it wasn't. But it doesn't further the discussion either way.
Every few months. another hadful of agencies shut their doors in Illinois. Every fiscal year, local agencies have to end their grants and contracts with state government just so the rest of their local organization and their other functions can survive. Volunteers on non-profit boards are expected to run their organizations in a feduciarily sound manner - contracting with the state for health and human services conflicts with that responsibility.
Waant to compare state to private agency management, as to cost and effectiveness? Each year, the state inches closer to running its own CILAs in Lincoln or elsewhere - residential group homes for DD clients. If these ever get of the ground, watch how their annual costs compare with the state rate for CILAs.