Getting Down To Business: Some Say He's A Hack, But George Ryan Could Surprise

December 14, 1998|By John McCarron.

Your name is George Homer Ryan and you have been elected governor of Illinois with only 51 percent of the vote . . . not exactly a mandate. If the campaign had gone another week you might have lost, so damning were the daily revelations of illegal politicking and license-selling by employees of your Secretary of State's office.

But you won. And now, many of the 1.6 million Illinoisans who voted for the other guy are expecting the worst. They think you're a hack. Maybe they know you came up through one of those Downstate Republican organizations where it didn't hurt to buy a car from the county chairman if you wanted a job at the state mental hospital. No doubt some women remember you once led the battle against the Equal Rights Amendment and have been down on abortion rights.

The doubters probably don't remember that, over the years, you've also been the deep voice of common sense in a Springfield scene increasingly given over to shrill partisanship. A lot of people don't know that, unlike the present governor, you are a pragmatist, a vote-counter and a dealmaker. You understand that politics is a game of addition, not division. If different factions have different needs, you know the leader's job is to make sure enough of those factions get enough of their needs so that something actually gets done.

And Illinois has a lot of things that need doing.

Don't be lulled into complacency, Mr. Ryan. It's the still-booming U.S. economy that has put the state budget in surplus, lowered the unemployment rate and pared the welfare rolls. The next recession, now overdue, will show that Illinois still has serious structural problems that need mending.

You may not be glamorous, Mr. Govervor-elect, but you have the right stuff for this job. Here's a partial list of what needs doing, offered free of charge and worth every penny:

Legislative politics: This is key to everything else you need to accomplish, so listen up. Make it clear to Senate President James "Pate" Philip and House Minority Leader Lee Daniels that you want equal say over the Republican legislative apparatus and agenda. In return, don't go around, like your predecessor, making promises to Chicago Democrats that Philip and Daniels haven't agreed to. If House Speaker Michael Madigan reverts to his obstructionist ways, marginalize him by dealing directly with Mayor Richard Daley, who is a get-it-done guy like yourself. If Daley can't sway Madigan, that's Daley's problem, not yours.

School funding: We both know your campaign pledge to devote 51 percent of all new state revenues to schools isn't going to cut it. The next recession will mean less state aid, not more. And even if the boom lingers, pouring more bucks through the present state aid formula won't fix the fundamental problem, which is that the schools are too reliant on the property tax. The new property tax caps, fixed at the rate of inflation, are beginning to squeeze wealthier schools districts, and a lack of taxable property is forcing poorer districts to jack up tax rates to confiscatory levels. Study after study shows an income tax/property tax substitution is the way to go, but this time make sure renters get some relief and that the entire business community is on board.

Gambling and stadiums: The state's premier horse track is closed, the Chicago Bears' lease is running out at creaky Soldier Field and Illinois' riverboat casinos are getting clobbered by out-of-state boats that are closer to our population center and don't have to leave the dock. The makings exist for a megadeal involving race-day slot machines at the tracks, a casino for Chicago and/or Rosemont and a domed football stadium at McCormick Place. Make it so everybody wins.

Transportation: Illinois has 2,600 miles of highways and 1,100 bridges in serious need of repair. That doesn't include Wacker Drive, the repair money for which was just grabbed to expedite the Stevenson Expressway redo. Some federal funds are available but Illinois doesn't have enough local matching dollars to draw down our due. Now that gasoline is cheaper than bottled water, it may be time to raise the state gas tax. No? OK then, double the license plate renewal fee to $96 and let Jesse White, the Democrat taking over your old job, deliver the bad news.

Smart growth: This would be a new long-range initiative for Illinois, the nation's leading "dumb growth" state. It means we would slow down the paving and sub-dividing of northeastern Illinois and stop discarding older communities like yesterday's newspaper. It means investing more in existing schools and junior colleges and less in new beltways and prisons. It means taking seriously the recommendations contained in the Commercial Club of Chicago's recent Metropolis 2020 report.

Third airport: Talk Mayor Daley into lifting the federal brick off the state's application for an environmental OK of the Peotone site. In return, get Philip, Daniels and U.S. Rep. Henry Hyde (when he's done with that other nonsense) to stop ranting about jet noise at O'Hare International Airport, a problem that will ease when noisier jets are grounded at the end of next year. If no major airline comes forward to help build Peotone, push for a new western gate on the DuPage County side of O'Hare. Start talking up Bensenville as the next Rosemont.

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This is a lot to tackle, Mr. Ryan, but the effort would establish you as one of our state's greatest governors . . . and certainly no hack.