Where is the Thompson road program?

By ROBERT KIECKHEFER

LET'S take a little history lesson.

When Gov. James R. Thompson took office, what was one of his first suggestions for the state? Well, fiscal conservatism was high on the list as the new governor tried to bring the state back from four years of steady spending. In many ways, that goal was an overriding one.

But from the very beginning, Thompson has been talking about a specific program — a goal that he has consistently set for Illinois, one that he has described as vital to the overall well-being of the state.

Give up?

The answer is improvement in the state transportation system, including hikes in the gasoline tax to fund road and bridge repairs. There have been trial balloons and dire warnings. There have been suggestions and supplications to the legislature, to the business community, and to the news media and to civic groups.

The only thing Thompson hasn't pulled out of his hat is the one thing that might have made a difference — a "Thompson plan" for funding transportation programs.

True, the governor has put forward bits and pieces of programs. He has suggested switching the gas tax from a flat rate per gallon to a percentage of the sale price. And he has suggested increases in the so-called "sin taxes" to help provide money for roads and mass transit. His transportation secretaries — Langhorne M. Bond and John D. Kramer — have added some details.

But never has there been a comprehensive identifiable, packaged "Thompson program."

And that leads to a lot of questions about responsibility for taking the lead in government. Does the governor bear the responsiblity for putting together a total program — complete with the notoriety he would get for sponsoring a tax hike? Or is it more important to insist on legislative sponsorship of the specific program, so lawmakers are more motivated to work for its passage? On one side of the coin is Thompson's role as the state's chief executive. The very name implies responsibility for leading the state to solutions of pending problems. And, like it or not, no other office provides the forum or the resources to develop and pursue a specific program like the governor's office does.

Despite the vast increase in staffing of the legislature, despite the increasing visibility of such offices as the comptroller's, only the governor has a budget bureau. Only the governor can draw the consistent media attention that will carry a program from conception to the passage stage in the legislature.

To put it bluntly — if the governor isn't willing to put his reputation and future on the line for a major program, the odds of that program becoming law are seriously reduced. And if the program in question involves a major tax increase, the active sponsorship of the governor becomes almost mandatory for passage.

On the other hand, a governor is a politician before he is a governor. He must consider what sponsorship of a tax increase might do to his career, And in Illinois, that chain of thought produces some real horror stories.

Paul Simon could tell a story about suggesting in 1972 that the state's tax structure be made more equitable. Dan Walker played up the tax increase part of that proposal, flayed the political flesh from Simon's not so political bones and beat him in the Democratic primary. Dick Ogilvie could tell about virtually hiding from the voters as he ran for reelection in the fall of 1972, knowing that everytime a voter saw him, the voter thought, "He sponsored the income tax." Even though Ogilvie's willingness to back the income tax saved the state from insolvency, he knew it ended his career.

So what's the answer?

Thompson will tell you he has done his job by urging others to get behind a gas tax hike. And there can be no doubt that he has been tireless in his effort to get others to line up behind the unpopular step.

What's more, you can sympathize with the governor's argument that no gas tax increase will pass if the key elements of the legislature are not involved in it from the beginning.

Still — Thompson has been governor four years now. And the roads, by his own admission, are still disintegrating. The RTA is still teetering on the brink of financial collapse.

The battle is between leadership and political pragmatism.

So far, pragmatism has won.

March 1981/Illinois Issues/40