Springfield . . . One year ago, history was made in Illinois when an Illinois Senate Tribunal voted on January 29 to make Gov. Rod Blagojevich the first Illinois governor to be impeached and removed from office.

“I had high hopes for Governor Quinn.  He had the opportunity to be the reform governor when he took over,” said State Senator Kyle McCarter (R-Lebanon).  “Unfortunately, he’s proven to be in the same vein as the governor who was impeached a year ago.”

Senator McCarter said although many hoped the former governor’s removal would make way for positive change in Illinois, the state continues to suffer due to the ongoing impact of Blagojevich’s poor choices, coupled with continued lack of leadership and fiscal mismanagement.

In fact, the state’s situation is as bad or worse as it was when Blagojevich left office.  Illinois still boasts massive state debt and a budget crisis that has placed state services in jeopardy.  Additionally, Gov. Pat Quinn has come under fire for continuing to employ many of the Blagojevich administration’s top employees and for retaining, and in some cases expanding, most of the former governor’s programs, some of which played a role in his removal from office.

However, a year after Blagojevich’s removal from office following evidence of his engagement in pervasive and widespread corruption and blatant abuse of his power as governor, Republicans are still pushing for true campaign finance reform.

On Jan. 26, Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno (R-Lemont) and House Republican Leader Tom Cross (R-Oswego) advocated for legislation that McCarter said is necessary to close significant loopholes in the ethics law that was approved last fall.

While the campaign-contribution measure passed by lawmakers in October imposed Illinois’ first-ever limits on contributions, Republicans said then the measure didn’t go far enough, as it exempted legislative leaders and political parties from the contribution law during the general election.  The Radogno-Cross proposal (House Bill 5008) would extend the contribution limits established by the plan approved last year to the general election.

Although McCarter expressed support for the contribution limits included in the initial bill, as well as more stringent transparency and disclosure measures, the measure will have limited impact without capping contributions limits for legislative leaders and political parties during the general election.  A majority of contribution money is spent during the general elections—not the primary—thus reducing the overall effectiveness of the legislation.

Also making news is a report issued by Illinois’ respected Civic Federation.  The analysis, compiled by the organization’s Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability, highlighted the state’s current fiscal crisis, and provided detailed information on how Illinois reached this point.

The Federation confirmed what other respected groups and individuals have advanced: lower than anticipated revenues, coupled with the loss of one-time revenue sources and an increase in state spending have only exacerbated Illinois’ financial problems.

According to the report, years of fiscal mismanagement led to a “longstanding structural deficit,” as government growth continued to outpace available revenue.  As a result, Illinois is in serious financial trouble, with a budget deficit exceeding $10 billion and a multi-billion dollar backlog in obligations to state vendors, service providers and health care providers, which continues to grow.

Illinois’ budget mess has been scrutinized by a number of respected organizations over the last few months.  The Pew Center for the States ranked Illinois’ budget among the nation’s ten worst, highlighting the substantial difference between the amount Illinois takes in and the large amount the state spends. 

Additionally, all three major credit agencies have now officially cautioned Illinois to get its financial house in order. Fitch Ratings confirmed in late December that Illinois is on negative watch relating to its general obligation bonds.  Now the state is on negative outlook—and ripe for rating downgrades—with all three national credit rating agencies: Fitch, Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s.

Not all the financial news this week was negative, according to Senator McCarter.  The 51st District lawmaker met with Farm Bureau members in Fayette and Clinton Counties.

“I was please to learn about the generally good financial shape the local farmers and agri-businesses were in,” said McCarter.  “They’ve gone through the same recession we all have, but the difference is they made changes to their operation plans early in reaction to what they were seeing happening to the economy.”

“In addition to their great work ethic, they are savers not just spenders, and they cut back on their spending when it was appropriate,” said McCarter.  “Fiscal conservatism is a good philosophy and it has helped them maintain financial solvency in a difficult time.  They can’t understand how state government can’t make its budget work out.  Well, given the financial facts of the past six years, it’s obvious fiscally smart decisions were not part of the budget process in Springfield.”

51st District activities this week also included meetings with the Kiwanis in Decatur, Rotary members in O’Fallon and a business summit and program in Mt. Zion.