Governor should do more than visit capitol

Governor should do more than 'visit' state capital

Friday, June 22, 2007 12:41 AM CDT

We were willing to give the governor the benefit of the doubt when he first indicated his intention to live in Chicago instead of the Governor's Mansion in Springfield.

Surely, we thought, he would spend time in both places even if he lived in Chicago. Surely, he would stay in Springfield during key points in the legislative session.

Well, it doesn't get more "key" than the final week before the end of the fiscal year when there is no budget in place. Yet, Gov. Rod Blagojevich is doing his best "Where's Waldo?" impersonation.

As the budget situation has come down to the wire, the governor has been traveling to Springfield more often than usual. But those visits generally last from about noon until early evening, at best. Then the governor flies back to Chicago.

With one 48-hour exception, May 30-June 1, Blagojevich hasn't spent a full day in the capital city since May 22.

Yet he has the audacity to complain that state lawmakers aren't working hard enough and should spend more time in Springfield. Even for that, Blagojevich sent his aides to do his talking.

Sorry, governor, "Do as I say, not as I do" won't cut it in this situation.

Blagojevich's flights to and from Chicago on a state plane cost Illinois nearly $6,000 a day, using a formula from the auditor general.

The expense might be small in an overall budget of nearly $60 billion. But the principle of the matter looms large, especially when the lawmakers criticized by Blagojevich receive no reimbursement from the state for their travel expenses during the overtime session.

We don't know whether greater progress could be made on resolving the budget stalemate if Blagojevich were in Springfield instead of Chicago.

However, it would make face-to-face communication easier and would show a greater commitment on Blagojevich's part. He might also get a better understanding of what's going on and what the mood in Springfield is.

The real value of spending more time in Springfield is building relationships.

But that's something the governor needed to do long before now.

This situation has been building through Blagojevich's first term and is coming to its perhaps inevitable, but ultimately undesirable, low point with the first budget of his second term.

The governor isn't just out of town or out of sight, he is out of touch.

The sooner that situation can be turned around, the better it will be for Illinois taxpayers.