Opinions

News-Gazette Editorials

Is Illinois ready to go straight?

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

The idea of honest government in Illinois may seem like a pipe dream. But Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn would like to give it a try.

With time quickly running out for Rod Blagojevich, his successor, Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, is laying the groundwork for a new administration.

Richardson pulls plug on himself

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

How did a federal criminal investigation escape the attention of those who were vetting Cabinet choices for the new administration?

The weekend announcement that New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson dropped his bid to join the White House Cabinet of President-elect Barack Obama proves, if it was really in doubt, that Republicans don't have a monopoly on ineptitude.

Go easy on the governor?

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

A little story out of North Carolina caught our attention last week. It was about the retiring governor of that fine state, Democrat Mike Easley, who said that newspapers should be nice to him. Can you imagine the reaction if Rod Blagojevich said something like that?

In North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley, who is leaving office after two full terms as the state's chief executive, complained that the state's newspapers, particularly those in Charlotte and in the Raleigh-Durham area, had been unkind to him.

Set a high standard for stimulus spending

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

The headline on the Associated Press story caused a shudder: "Can Uncle Sam spend cash fast enough?" The answer is of course he can. But the question ought to be: "Can Uncle Sam invest cash wisely enough?"

It turns out, thankfully, that the federal government really can't spend money fast enough. A federal stimulus package that was supposed to be ready for President-elect Obama on the day he took office apparently won't be ready until mid-February at the earliest. There's even some indication that the $700 billion or so in spending and tax cuts might be done judiciously, or at least with what passes for judiciousness in Washington.

The real challenge facing Illinois government

Monday, January 5, 2009

The impeachment process will occupy the time of Illinois lawmakers for the next two to three weeks, but right after that they face as big a challenge: how to manage state government through its worst financial crisis in at least a quarter-century.

The likely impeachment of Gov. Rod Blagojevich is getting all the headlines out of Springfield these days, but a longer-term problem – the state's financial welfare – is being ignored by the self-indulgent man who is still the state's chief executive.

New year brings tougher DUI law

Monday, January 5, 2009

Driving under the influence is a dangerous and ever-more-costly offense.

The costs of being arrested and/or being convicted of driving under the influence keep going up.

Reading FutureGen's tea leaves

Sunday, January 4, 2009

The effort to resurrect the FutureGen clean-coal energy project, orphaned last year by the Bush administration, resumes Wednesday with an important meeting between Dr. Steven Chu, the secretary-designate of the Energy Department, and Sen. Dick Durbin and other members of the Illinois congressional delegation. It's unclear so far where Chu will come down on the FutureGen plan.

The proposed $1.8 billion FutureGen clean-coal power plant, which was to have been built near Mattoon, was killed last year by the Bush administration. But U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and other members of the Illinois congressional delegation said they would resume their quest to develop FutureGen and its promise of a coal-fired power plant with zero carbon emissions after a new administration was sworn in.

No bailout for failing in NFL

Friday, January 2, 2009

There's a lesson to be learned from the series of sudden vacancies among the ranks of head coaches in the National Football League.

It didn't take long after the NFL's regular season ended for the hammers to start to fall.

The Legislature's predicament

Friday, January 2, 2009

Here's the predicament Democratic Illinois legislators find themselves in as they try to one-up a discredited governor – they've got to get down and dirty with him in a costly, politically humiliating sandbox fight.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich has proven time and again that he doesn't care how much money he wastes or how much he soils the state's reputation. To him, state government is a game and he just wants to win as much as possible. How else do you explain his bizarre decision – opposed by both President-elect Obama and Richard Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat in the U.S. Senate – to appoint perennial hanger-on Roland Burris to be Obama's Senate successor?

A subdued welcome to 2009

Thursday, January 1, 2009

There doesn't seem to be a lot of reason to be optimistic about the new year – but the American people are, a poll found.

It's hard to feel good about what lies ahead in 2009. Everyone from respected economists to "futurist" Faith Popcorn say it will be a difficult year. Popcorn, in fact, says it's "the end of the world as we know it."

Governor got off to an early start

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Federal subpoenas raise the possibility that Gov. Blagojevich started bending the rules even before he took office.

It's probably impossible for the hole Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is in to get much deeper, even though he, for reasons known only to him, keeps trying to dig deeper.

Caroline Kennedy's bid for Senate seat no sure thing

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Caroline Kennedy is learning the hard way that there's a difference between being a celebrity and being a politician.

The Kennedy name still carries a lot of political heft, so much so that Caroline Kennedy may yet end up as a U.S. senator from New York.

Blagojevich's latest embarrassment

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

It's a tough call about which is more shameful: Gov. Rod Blagojevich's pointless appointment of Roland Burris to the U.S. Senate or sad sack Burris' willingness to accept the tainted appointment.

Just when you thought he might be going away quietly, Gov. Rod Blagojevich rises from the political critical care unit to embarrass himself and the state of Illinois again with the futile appointment of Roland Burris to the vacant U.S. Senate seat most recently occupied by President-elect Barack Obama.