Open Illinois.org

This should be shocking…and yet… nothing shocks me these days.

Blagojevich also wants the federal government to put Illinois on the list of states seeking relief under any kind of economic stimulus package. Specifically, the governor wants more than $1 billion annually from Washington over the next three years.

So what is the punishment for a state functioning beyond its means for years?  Oh right…this is the era of the bailout.  No punishment…just federal funds to prop up a government that has been spending recklessly for years on end.

Love it.  And there’s more!

“Illinois’ finances, like many other states across the nation, have felt consequences of the poor national economy,” he said. “And like a family who has seen their income cut dramatically, we need to take fiscally responsible action to ensure the state can pay all of our bills and provide the core services that Illinoisans need.”

Oh Blago… what are you saying?

Here’s a thought… why doesn’t Illinois become FULLY TRANSPARENT?  This would be (as Kate, our director of transparency policy, is always saying) like an Xray machine–which would allow the taxpayers, and even policy makers, to look into Illinois’s books, and diagnose the problem.  The problem, of course, would be areas of wasteful spending.  Check out the 2008 Illinois Piglet Book for more on that.

I just do not believe the state has done everything it can to eliminate wasteful spending.  If we did cut it out…maybe we could actually pay our bills for these core services that the Governor believes we need federal funds to provide.

Last thought: This doesn’t make sense on so many fronts.  One of them being that regardless of who pays for government services in Illinois (federal or state government), there isn’t just some bottomless fund out there to draw from.  The taxpayers will pay. Why should the whole nation go farther into debt for the services of one state? The STATE needs to get its books in order.  This is ridiculous. Transparency is necessary. There is no viable reason not to implement it.

We need to know exactly what is happening with our money that is going to require more federal aid.