Illinois Government Among the Worst in Nation

Report Says Illinois Government Among the Worst

SPRINGFIELD -- A messy state budget picture and constant fighting at the state Capitol have earned Illinois poor marks for governmental management and performance from a public interest watchdog group.

The Washington, D.C.-based Pew Center on the States put Illinois near the bottom of its rankings in the report released Monday covering how well the 50 states manage their money, people, information and infrastructure.

Illinois received an overall grade of C, but that's only better than New Hampshire and Rhode Island and tied with six other states in the ratings basement. Illinois also scored worse than the B grades received by each of its five neighboring states.

The governor's office says the report mistakenly focuses more on politics than policy. But an Illinois-based watchdog group praised the report for vindicating its past warnings about an assortment of state government problems.

"At a C, we're overrated," said Ralph Martire, executive director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability. "We just haven't gotten it right."

The Pew Center determined Illinois has weaknesses in nine of the 20 areas in which it was judged. It found a strength in only one category: the state's online services and information available to the public.

Weaknesses included the state's budget process, long-term money outlook, training and development for workers and lack of a statewide program for road, school and other construction projects.

The group noted the acrimony between state lawmakers and Gov. Rod Blagojevich that dominated last year and cautioned that officials must clear a "poisoned political atmosphere" to take care of its government problems -- especially "in a state where long-term financial prospects are a bit frightening."

"It can't be easy to manage a state such as Illinois, with huge outstanding bills and troubled revenue streams," the center wrote in its report. "But when the state's leaders are effectively stuck in the mud, the difficult becomes all but impossible."

The Blagojevich administration said the report missed the mark by not reflecting progress made in recent years, such as reducing government employee headcount and improving the budget deficit and overall efficiency.

"We respect the Pew Center's commitment to this project, but unfortunately, the Pew Center chose to focus on politics instead of fiscal facts," said Kelley Quinn, a spokeswoman for the governor's budget office.

Martire said the report hopefully will help persuade officials to do more to deal with budget deficits, construction needs and other nagging structural problems.

"It's time that we've got to deal with the facts," Martire said. "Reality is good. Let's deal with reality."