Hastert, Poshard campaign for state roads With the political climate so highly charged in this presidential election year, with Democrats taking shots at Republicans and vice-versa, with the governor of Illinois reviled by as many friends as enemies, it’s hard to believe that anything can get done in our state, replete as it is with more units of government than any other. And, it seems, with the taxes to prove it. After all, we are the home of what Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass calls the “Democratic-Republican combine” that really runs the state. It’s sometimes hard to believe that the two major parties—at such odds nationally—could really “cooperate” in running the nation’s fifth most populous state. Then again, is it? We hear of Republicans and “Republican-oriented” companies that gave to Gov. Blagojevich’s campaigns and of lots of GOP-ers who supported Barack Obama in his Senate run against carpetbagger Alan Keyes. We remember Mayor Richard Daley and former Gov. George Ryan being “buddy-buddy” until the now-convicted Ryan’s troubles landed him in federal court. We remember former GOP Gov. Jim Thompson heading Blago’s transition team when he first took office. Heck, Daley and Blago have sometimes seemed to be friendlier with so-called political enemies than with supposed allies in their own party, e.g., Daley vs. Jane Byrne, Blago vs. Mike Madigan, father-in-law Ald. Dick Mell, or almost anyone. But the bottom line is that politicians usually can recognize the bottom line, and whether that means money or power or influence or votes, the bottom line is still an outstretched hand and a palm upward waiting for the just share of the take. Regardless of party, that’s the cynical and inevitable view of politics in our state. Of course, once in a great while, kind of like even a blind squirrel sometimes being able to find an acorn, what’s good for the “combine,” or whatever combination of politicians from either party really runs Illinois, is actually also good for the people of Illinois. One of those instances came into play recently in Naperville where former Speaker Dennis Hastert and former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Glenn Poshard, now president of Southern Illinois University, were the featured attractions as a “get out the roads funds” rally. Hastert, now back home in Yorkville, has immersed himself in the affairs of his home area and state—affairs that are surely much less newsworthy than his heady days as speaker, when every word he uttered could have national if not international repercussions. After all, lobbying for a Fox Valley Expressway, for example, seems just a tad bit less exciting than sitting down with the likes of Gordon Brown or Vladimir Putin. To his credit, he seems to have taken to it like a horse to water. But he always has seemed to really be just as happy being “Denny” or “Coach” as much as being “Mr. Speaker.” There’s a touch of the ordinary about him, which in these days of political grandstanding seems quite refreshing. So too with former Congressman Poshard, who has rebounded nicely from his disappointing loss to the now-disgraced Ryan in the 1998 gubernatorial race and seems to enjoy being back in his beloved southern Illinois and at his university. We could do worse—much worse—than having these two old friends as gubernatorial opponents in 2010, but for now we’ve got to be happy that they’re taking on the push for better roads, highways, bridges, infrastructure in Illinois. True to their stated belief that the members of the Illinois Congressional delegation—the senators and the representatives—always worked well with each other when it came to issues that would benefit the state, so also are Hastert and Poshard united in trying to make sure Illinois gets its just due in federal funding for roads. Asked by the governor to front his $25 billion public works program, they have embarked on a statewide series of “listening sessions” designed to engender support for a road and infrastructure program. Their targets: business leaders and, through public pressure, state legislators too, as evidenced by the Hastert-Poshard joint appearance before a multi-chamber group in Naperville as well as at different locations around the state. About $5 billion is needed annually here for a five-year plan, and that’s just to maintain what we have in conditions good enough that roads aren’t crumbling and bridges aren’t falling. The late Sen. Everett Dirksen once said, “A billion here, a billion there...pretty soon you’re talking real money” Well, it is real money, and there’s $10 billion in taxpayer money—our money—waiting to be spent. As Hastert noted, “It doesn’t make much sense to leave $10 billion on the table.” So, it’s another bottom line: If Illinois doesn’t match $10 billion in federal road funds with some dollars of its own, then the money is lost, to Michigan or Indiana or Wisconsin or someplace where the powers-that-be have done something for the good of their state rather than fighting with one another. After the terrible winter we’ve had, with potholes making their tire and alignment-ruing presence felt on just about every road, street, drive, lane, highway, boulevard or expressway, no one in this state should be against road repair. Contact editor Don Kopriva at dkopriva@thebusinessledger.com or at 630-428-8788.

Posted on Monday, May 19, 2008 (Archive on Monday, May 26, 2008) Posted by jstoltz  Contributed by jstoltz

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