Governor Deadbeat of Illinois

Tribune on Illinois, the Deadbeat State, this time stiffing the disabled:

You do, though, if you're trying to keep KCCDD afloat, have Hynes in your corner.

He'd like to legislatively end a massive loophole that lets lawmakers avoid balancing the state's budget: the ability to delay payment of one year's Medicaid bills into the next year. "When we don't pay providers on time," he says, "they stop taking patients. Or they tell their assistants to only book a couple of Medicaid patients a week. If their reimbursement is low and we can't pay them on time, what do we expect them to do?"

The companion problem is that Gov. Rod Blagojevich's self-declared expansion of medical care puts more demands on many of the same health providers that his state government won't pay in a reasonable amount of time. Hynes again: "You can increase eligibility for care, but if people can't get an appointment to see a doctor with their new eligibility card, what good is it?"

It's gotten so bad in Illinois we're having to rely on Democrats to reform Democrats.

Free-market grassroots group Americans for Prosperity has been working to improve Illinois, unveiling its legislative agenda in Springfield this last week, in Chicago on Friday, where I met with them, and making these key points:

In Illinois, nearly one out of four students fails to complete high school. Of students that earn a high school degree, 40 percent don'’t have a basic understanding of mathematics. The Illinois public school system spends roughly $9,900 for every child.

Illinois state and local governments owe $8,330 for every man, woman, and child in the state.

Illinoisans have the seventh-highest property tax burden as a percentage of home values in the country.

For the full picture, including ominous but illuminating graphs, their Keeping Illinois Competitive Booklet is available by clicking here.

UPDATE: Blago hitting churches in hopes for his transit tax deal.

Related posts: Madigan-Blago-Rezko, Governor Napoleon