Sooner or later Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey, the uber-underdog again in his second attempt to unseat Illinois’ uber-favorite two-term Democratic governor and likely 2028 presidential contender JB Pritzker, will hopefully get beyond lame references to Pritzker’s ancient high school yearbook entries.
I mean, a series of reliable studies and analyses have painted a picture of Illinois as dysfunctional in many ways because of way-too-high business and resident-unfriendly taxes, way too many anti-growth and anti-housing regulations, and way too much government spending and bureaucracy.
And Bailey is ridiculing Pritzker’s sophomoric teen angst. C’mon.
In his defense, the election is three months away, giving Bailey plenty of time, and maybe plenty of campaign cash, to tell voters about the side of Illinois that Pritzker would rather ignore, and to lay out his vision for a brighter future.
It would be especially commendable, albeit wishful thinking, if that vision included something that is desperately needed but rarely considered because it is extraordinarily challenging, complicated and politically risky: A long-term plan to eliminate hundreds, if not thousands, of the individual units of government — all of them taxing bodies — that make Illinois more bureaucratically bloated than most other states, and as a result, one of the country’s highest in property tax levies.
Illinois has between 7,000 and 9,000 of those public offices, depending on how they’re counted, and some examples of Illinois’ bloat include:
• 1,400 townships that provide little or no services our existing counties and municipalities already handle or should be able to with little fuss
• 250 school districts, or one-third of the statewide total, with only one school but each with its own extra layer of administration
• Around 800 park, library and sanitation districts, or one of each in most cities, towns and villages — even those right next door to one another
And my favorite example: Four separate tax-levying mosquito abatement districts in plain old Cook County.
If I’m a mosquito, I’m flattered to get so much attention. If I’m a taxpayer, I’m incensed by the excess.
But levity aside, all of these governmental entities have administrators and staffs that collect salaries, receive benefits and look forward to generous pensions when they retire.
Yet rarely do we hear our elected leaders call for a serious examination of how many of those are actually necessary, how many are outdated, duplicative, overlapping and simply wasteful, and how many hundreds of millions if not billions of tax dollars could be saved by a serious downsizing.
The reform process would require a comprehensive, county-by-county examination of governmental services, followed by a game plan for local residents to decide, usually by referenda, what units to keep, discard or consolidate.
There would have to be carefully and sensitively designed downsizing plans that included layoffs, buyouts, early retirements and new job placement counseling.
All of this would take time, money, manpower and — most importantly — a commitment to what would arguably be the state’s, if not the country’s, biggest politically risky bureaucratic reform effort.
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Several counties, led by DuPage, have made modest inroads. And Gov. Pritzker could have waded into these wonky, shark-infested waters in his nearly two terms in office, but he didn’t. And he’s shown no interest in his reelection campaign.
So that leaves an open field with plenty of running room for Bailey to at least express a commitment to bureaucratic reform.
It would clearly require a governor and state lawmakers to create and fund, for lack of a better term, a Streamlining Commission to get the ball rolling.
A dozen good government reform nonprofits, along with a smattering of Illinois lawmakers, stand ready to assist if called upon. I’m ready, willing and able to join the undertaking.
This is arguably the wonkiest of a plethora of good government issues. But arguably one of the most important if Illinois hopes to attract and keep families and businesses that are turned off by high taxes and a poor business climate.
So let’s get a Streamlining Commission going that can prescribe and implement a bureaucratic diet. A slim chance is better than none.
Andy Shaw is a semi-retired journalist and good government watchdog.
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