Illinois in 1980 — heaven it's not

THE STATE of the state as the new decade dawns: "This isn't heaven; it's Illinois," according to Gov. James R. Thompson. It was a clever, if relatively ineffective departure from the prepared text of his annual address to the General Assembly. (He had set up critics by quoting Robert Browning: "Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp/or what's a heaven for?") The lines said a lot about Thompson the governor, the chief executive of the Midwest's leading industrial state, and Thompson the politician, the man courted by Republicans as a presidential running mate.

Thompson the governor longs to leave behind a record of achievements: "I want to be able to point to concrete achievements ... in social services, in conservation, in transportation, that people will remember this administration for in the years to come." (See "Gov. Thompson Talks About His Administration," January 1980.) Thompson spent his first three years putting the state's fiscal books in order. He wants to spend the next three on the kind of programs that will produce such achievements. But fiscal problems, such as the crisis that threatened to close Chicago schools, keep popping up.

Whether governor or politician, Thompson's record is one of fiscal restraint and he's not about to throw it away. Nor should he. Thompson's the first to admit that three years of fiscal restraint have not solved Illinois' problems. But even his critics agree that this restraint has put the state in the position to solve its problems. That doesn't mean Illinois can yet afford programs of achievement-producing proportions. Fiscal problems will always be with us. Illinois may have resolved its decade-old dilemma of how to replace the corporate personal property tax. It may have sold its first four-year road program. It may even have solved the Chicago school problem. But Illinois is still plagued by the question of tax relief.

Thompson the politician, knows that for vice presidential contenders — or future presidential contenders — of the 1980's, there is no better record than one for fiscal restraint, especially if it produces significant tax relief. So, if Thompson is forced to mark time in order to maintain that record, rather than move toward one of "concrete achievements," he knows he will still chalk up points. If Illinois is not heaven, neither is Detroit. But Detroit is the site of the Republican national convention in August. And Thompson, thanks to Illinois' new "blind primary" law, will presumably head the nation's only uncommitted delegation when the elephants lumber toward Michigan this summer.

With the GOP convention on the near horizon, much of Thompson's fourth state of the state address seemed devoted to that convention staple, "the record.'' Little time was wasted on new programs, because there were very few new programs, few grand enough to describe the goals of a decade.

Thompson did announce plans to convert all state facilities, including universities, from oil and natural gas to coal — high-sulfur, high-pollution Illinois coal. The fiscal 1981 budget will "get these conversions underway through up-front capital investments that will be repaid by future savings on energy costs." This kind of outlay could run into the hundreds of millions of dollars and require a massive bond sale, on the scale of that approved for the four-year road program. Given Thompson's hard-line on credit, such a bond sale presumably would not threaten Illinois' AAA bond rating.

The desired effect, a similar private sector investment, will depend on the success of the public sector experiment. But, by setting the example, the state will at least learn how effective the increased use of Illinois coal will be in improving the state's business climate. Given Thompson's soft-line on clean air, a reasonable compromise could relax pollution rules, at least for established industry. That would make the difference.

But the best/worst prediction for business was Thompson's promise to rewrite the unemployment insurance (UI) and workers' compensation (WC) laws, which are considered Illinois' biggest drawback to business growth. Labor and management co-wrote new UI laws last year, but the result pleased no one, least of all the General Assembly which had hoped for success by returning to the "agreed bill process." WC talks between the two special interests have already stalled in what some see as attempts to play politics in an election year. But Thompson warned: "This Assembly and I have been patient with the reinstituted agreed bill process. But if quick progress is not made here, those decisions will have to be carried immediately to the legislative and political arenas."

Most of the "State of the State"address was spent prodding the General Assembly to defuse the explosive Chicago school crisis and — immediately — roll back the windfall property tax revenues. Both are classic examples of the need for continued fiscal restraint. Thompson urged the General Assembly to enact some 18 bills, based on the Thompson Proposition, but dumped by the General Assembly last year (see "Legislative Action," p. 22). With those reforms on the books, Thompson promised the General Assembly, fiscal restraint would pay off before the November elections.

On the surface, it was an offer legislators could hardly refuse, the easiest chance ever for both Republicans and Democrats to pick up votes in an election year. (They might even redeem themselves in the eyes of the

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2/March 1980/Illinois Issues

The state of the State
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Heaven it's not

taxpayers who were outraged with last year's legislative pay raises.) But underneath, of course, property tax relief remains the political plum of the decade, an issue so big it represents an incalcuable advantage to the party which eventually pulls it off. The political stakes are very high in the next election; the winning party in the legislature will control reapportionment in 1981. With so much at stake, neither Republicans nor Democrats were about to obey Thompson on command. After all, he's not running this year.

That brought Thompson, inadvertantly, to the matter of governing the state, which, after all, determines the credibility of his record. He specifically praised legislators: "In my view, the 81st General Assembly has been the hardest working, most productive Assembly in the history of this State." But that's something he's said before, usually adding that he's the first Republican governor tied to a Democratic legislature. Despite the progress Thompson has made in three years, he still has serious problems in handling the General Assembly, not the least of which are his continuous calls for special sessions, so obviously designed to force immediate action. The General Assembly, as the bipartisan legislative branch, is not amused.

Thompson's record for fiscal restraint, especially if it is accompanied by significant tax relief (and there are no scandals) could look quite impressive in Detroit this summer. But the key still lies in his expertise, or the lack of it, in handling the Democratic General Assembly — and Chicago Mayor Jane Byrne.

6/March 1980/Illinois Issues