Gov. Jim Edgar on Wednesday made another pitch to be remembered as the education governor, using his final State of the State address to urge tomorrow’s lawmakers to fix the way Illinois finances public schools.
The Republican governor also warned GOP legislators that he would not accept politically motivated plans to use surplus state revenues to provide an election-year tax cut.
The 52-minute address to a joint session of the General Assembly was largely devoid of emotion, even though it represented the two-term chief executive’s last chance before the full legislature to recap his accomplishments and lay out plans for his final legislative session.
Afterward, Edgar talked of closing out his administration as a good steward, and of leaving a clean house for his successor.
“I feel it’s one of my responsibilities as a governor to leave this state in better shape than I found it when I became chief executive,” Edgar said. “Jan. 11, 1999, when I walk out the door, I still feel like I have a responsibility for what happens to the state.”
But with Edgar leaving office next year and lawmakers more concerned about their own re-election prospects than the message of a governor soon to be out of power, it is questionable whether any of Edgar’s initiatives will come to fruition.
Even if they did, he never would preside over many of the changes he called for, such as a revamp of the commission that hears complaints about the Illinois judiciary to include two non-judges. Another proposal would put the independent State Board of Education directly under the governor’s authority as a Cabinet-level Department of Education.
Both ideas would require amendments to the state constitution and Edgar proposed putting them before voters for ratification in the November election.
It was only two years ago that Edgar asked lawmakers for another constitutional amendment, one aimed at overhauling the state’s system of funding public schools through property taxes by increasing unspecified state taxes. The plan was quickly shot down, primarily by lawmakers of his own party.
Last year, Edgar dropped the constitutional amendment and asked lawmakers to approve a $1.6 billion plan to boost income taxes in exchange for a cut in property taxes and additional money for schools. That plan passed a Democratic-run House but failed in the Republican-controlled Senate.
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Finally, lawmakers voted last month to approve a much more modest $485 million proposal that helped raise funding for poorer schools but did not address the issue that huge differences in property values and real estate taxes play in creating large disparities among the state’s school districts.
Saying the school-funding issue represents unfinished business, Edgar announced he would appoint a blue-ribbon panel to study the idea of how to implement a tax swap. The panel will have until Dec. 31 to issue its recommendations, just days before he departs and a new governor and legislature is inaugurated.
“We’ve taken care of the poor schools,” Edgar said. “Now I’m saying we ought to turn our attention to the other part that we weren’t able to get done.”
Privately, some Republicans criticized Edgar’s attempt to resurrect the tax issue in an election year, worried that it could turn the fall campaigns into a referendum on a tax swap.
But George Ryan, the current secretary of state and the Republicans’ presumptive gubernatorial nominee, said he thinks Edgar’s bid to put the tax swap on the post-election year agenda might be successful.
“This is going to set the stage, probably, for the ability to do something about it,” Ryan said. “And we haven’t been able to do a whole lot about it in the past because it has been political.”
Three Democratic candidates–former Justice Department official John Schmidt, former U.S. Atty. Jim Burns and U.S. Rep. Glenn Poshard–said they would be willing to consider the idea. Former state Atty. Gen. Roland Burris, who has opposed the idea of higher state taxes, issued a statement accusing Edgar of a “lack of leadership in getting things done.”
At the same time, some members of Edgar’s own party were gearing up for a battle of wills with the governor over the budget. In his speech, Edgar warned lawmakers that they should not embark on a “spending binge” in the coming year, either for public works projects or to take money from the treasury for tax relief.
Moments later, though, House Republican leader Lee Daniels (R-Elmhurst) was promising to push for a measure that would grant Illinoisians income tax credits for some of the property taxes they pay.
Daniels pointed to new state figures that predict state revenues will grow by more than $1 billion this year, saying officials ought to return some of that to taxpayers.
“Clearly, the growth of government income has exceeded the growth of personal income,” Daniels said.
But aides to the governor say much of that new money is already earmarked.
Edgar also pushed for passage of a horse-racing industry relief package that includes tax cuts, but he ran into an immediate roadblock from Senate President James “Pate” Philip (R-Wood Dale). Aides to Philip contend a more comprehensive racing package is needed to help the entire industry.
In other highlights, Edgar renewed his call for a third major airport in south suburban Peotone, calling it “crucial to the economy of that area and the entire state.”
Edgar first proposed a new airport in 1992, but federal officials have withheld planning money until there is regional consensus on the project. Chicago Mayor Richard Daley is against the Peotone project.
Edgar also asked the legislature to permanently extend a food program for thousands of immigrant children and to elderly or disabled immigrants. Illinois began the temporary program last year after Congress cut those legal immigrants off from food stamps.
The governor sought to remove any tarnish from his legacy as a result of the ongoing investigation into the state’s contract with Management Services of Illinois Inc., a political heavyweight firm that was convicted last year of bribing state workers to pad its contract.
The governor once again called on lawmakers to enact ethics legislation that would prohibit all state workers from accepting gifts valued at more than $50 from companies and individuals with whom they have dealings. He also asked for a state ethics commission to oversee potential conflicts of interest.