Dan Rutherford

"ROD IS NOT GREAT at process, but I think he’s pretty good at results.”

So said then-Deputy Gov. Bradley Tusk in a Chicago Tribune editorial on Feb. 2, 2005. We agree fully with the first part of Tusk’s statement. It’s more accurate today than it was three years ago. It’s also why the second part of the statement is flat wrong.

BECAUSE Gov. Rod Blagojevich has shown such blatant disdain for the lawmaking process, we witnessed one of the most arduous, acrimonious and unproductive legislative sessions in recent memory.

In his State of the State address last week, Blagojevich showed no sign of changing his ways. As he had done in his five previous budget addresses, Blagojevich used his speech to trumpet grand visions rather than to dwell on petty details — like how the state will pay for his grand visions. We wanted to hear a little pragmatism in this year’s speech, which follows a dire report from Comptroller Dan Hynes about the state’s finances. We wanted to hear that Blagojevich had learned that divisiveness is a hindrance to progress, that he would seek to build bridges with his legislative colleagues rather than destroy them.

Instead, we received more fodder for our suspicion that this legislative session will be a repeat of last year.

BLAGOJEVICH'S call for a $25 billion construction plan for schools, infrastructure, roads and other public projects was encouraging. That he pegged it to Chicago securing the 2016 Olympics was also good — this can’t be a Chicago vs. downstate issue, as it became in 2007. But financing it by leasing the Illinois State Lottery revives a concept that already has been a failure twice. We see no inclination in the Capitol or in Illinois, for that matter, toward selling off assets — or leasing them — for one-time revenue bursts.

The same goes for “securitizing” the state’s national tobacco lawsuit money. The logic here is that the amount Illinois and other states collect from the tobacco settlement is based on tobacco consumption, which is declining steadily. Basically, securitizing means selling Illinois’ part of the settlement for a lump sum — $1.2 billion, according to Blagojevich. That’s a big burst of money, but it also would mean steady money from the tobacco settlement that now goes to health programs would be gone.

The governor’s call for a special tax on certain businesses that don’t spend at least 4 percent of their payroll on employee health insurance is another idea that lawmakers rejected last year. With talk of a recession in the air, we doubt there will be any greater appetite for a tax on business this year.

We love the idea of getting even more tax money back from the government, so the governor’s proposal to match the federal government’s $300 child tax credit sounds great. But it will cost $900 million. Two weeks ago, the comptroller’s office warned that revenue growth for the state in fiscal 2009 would barely cover projected costs without new programs. Where will the extra $900 million come from?

We anticipate the debate on this issue will mirror that of Blagojevich’s All Kids insurance plans, in which anyone opposed will be accused of being anti-family. That is, if the idea ever makes it to the floor for debate.

Members of the General Assembly seemed almost unanimously skeptical following the governor’s brief address.

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