Wednesday, November 12, 2008 3:21 PM CST
Edgar's senior adviser denounces current leadership, calls Ill. 'shameless deadbeat'
Lawrence touts 'significant' tax increase and spending cuts to solve budget crisis
By NATHANIEL WEST, Staff Writer
nwest@jg-tc.com
CHARLESTON — Politicians, journalists and Illinois residents all must demonstrate a new level of courage to solve the state’s monumental budget crisis, said Mike Lawrence, a veteran reporter, educator and senior adviser to former Gov. Jim Edgar.
Speaking to a group Tuesday at Eastern Illinois University, Edgar’s alma mater, Lawrence laid out the severity of the problem and the drastic measures required to solve it — namely, unpopular cuts and “significant” tax increases.
However, “We have a crisis of leadership,” said Lawrence. “The state of the state is not good.
“Our leaders have failed us, and so have many in the media, but we have also failed ourselves. We have allowed political pandering to trump” responsible policy-making.
Following last week’s election, in which there were few contested races for seats in the General Assembly, “We are left to rely principally on those who have let us down,” Lawrence said.
In addition to what he said is Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s abuse of the state constitution, Lawrence took to task Speaker of the House Michael Madigan for maintaining “animosity” toward the governor, a fellow Democrat, as well as a continued “distrust” of House Minority Leader Tom Cross.
He also decried an erosion of the public pension system; using one-time revenues to fund ongoing expenses; and delays in healthcare reimbursements — “all because the state of Illinois is a shameless deadbeat.”
Lawrence lamented that state spending is outstripping income by $2.5 billion annually, despite yearly revenue increases. To put this in perspective, Lawrence said Illinois could shut down many of its key departments, such as public health and the state police, and also cut all funding to universities like EIU, but still not close the budget deficit.
Matters are only going to get worse as revenues decline in tandem with the shrinking U.S. economy, said Lawrence, adding that “budgetary gimmicks” normally reserved for times of economic woe have already been squandered.
“It would have been better if we had raised revenue before we came to this critical juncture,” Lawrence said.
And he is now advocating exactly that.
Lawrence touted a recent study by a civic committee of corporate leaders with the Commercial Club in Chicago, which recommended a “significant” increase in the state income tax rate, as well as a broadening of the state sales tax to cover more businesses in the service sector, to solve the budget crisis.
“We must reform and recharge Illinois’ tax structure,” he said, claiming that the current system still reflects the economy of the 1960s.
But Lawrence also said some programs must not be harmed: Providing educational resources for young minorities; making college and job training affordable for everyone; providing inexpensive and accessible healthcare; teaching children about civic responsibility; reinforcing services for people with disabilities and victims of abuse; responsibly funding the public pension system; and expanding the state’s infrastructure to lure new businesses to Illinois.
Such measures will necessitate “more investment and require sacrifices” as well as “prudent yet painful reforms,” said Lawrence.
This applies especially to education. He advocated wide-ranging consolidation of school districts.
“We have too many school districts,” said Lawrence, who also criticized a seniority systems that places “the newest teachers in the most challenging situations.”
He said leaders are needed “to challenge the status quo (and confront) those who want services but aren’t willing to pay for them.”
To implement such measures, “It will take guts,” Lawrence said.
He also called journalists to the mat for focusing more on political “horse races” and strategies, instead of demanding and investigating politicians’ details about spending and generating revenue.
After a quarter-century in newspaper journalism, Lawrence teamed with Edgar while the latter was still Illinois Secretary of State. Lawrence stayed with Edgar when he moved to the governor’s mansion in 1991.
“Everyone knew Mike Lawrence was the senior advisor to the governor,” Edgar said Tuesday while introducing Lawrence, whom he called a “key player” in policy-making during Edgar’s tenure as governor.
“Every governor, every president needed a Mike Lawrence to keep you on the straight-and-narrow,” said Edgar.
Lawrence exchanged politics for academia in 1996, working with the late Sen. Paul Simon at his Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University. Lawrence retired as director of the institute in October.
On Tuesday, he recalled the tough choices made by “Edgar Scissorhands” and his administration, including the elimination of a state-funded dental program in order to preserve healthcare for low-income children.
“We didn’t enjoy making them, but we had to make them,” said Lawrence.
He noted that Edgar campaigned partly on making the state income tax permanent, while his opponent called for tax cuts. Edgar won because “he told people what they needed to hear, not what they wanted to hear,” said Lawrence.
He said current politicians who are unafraid to deliver bad news also should be “appreciated.”
Lawrence was the third speaker in the Edgar Lecture Series, established last year by the former governor and his wife, Brenda, also a graduate of EIU.
Contact Nathaniel West at nwest@jg-tc.com or 238-6860.
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Becky wrote on Nov 12, 2008 9:48 AM: