PARDON ME FOR LAUGHING!

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn gave his State of the State Address on Wednesday afternoon.After reading what he said, I laughed so hard I spit up Diet Coke through my nose!

I actually started laughing before the Governor even opened his mouth. Twenty minutes prior to the start of the Governor’s speech, State Rep. Jack Franks (D-Marengo) committed an unusual breach of speech-day protocol by standing in the House Chambers and castigating the Governor for not having immediately fired Department of Children and Family Services director Erwin McEwen last year. I wrote a two part series about that probe earlier this week.

Dave McKinney wrote in the Sun-Times, Franks “...stood and ripped him for not firing former DCFS director Erwin McEwen last May when it was apparent he was not cooperating with an inspector general probe of contract fraud and apparent ghost-pay rolling in his department. McEwen left his job last September.”

Franks said,” I don’t know why the governor didn’t tell the General Assembly the truth. And I want to know why the governor tried to sweep under the rug corruption within his administration.”

In response, Quinn spokeswoman Brooke Anderson declined to comment saying, “We’re focused on the State of the State right now.”

What brought my loudest laughter was Quinn’s child tax credit that would save a family of four an extra $100 a year. Or to make that huge number easier to understand, that calculates into a savings of SIX CENTS A DAY per family member. I probably lose more change than that daily!

How did lawmakers react to that announcement? There was no clapping and one almost expected boos.

Quinn also talked about ending the state’s tax on natural gas. That levy currently contributes about $164 million a year to the state’s coffers.

Let’s compare. Families can save six cents a day with their tax credit and the elimination of natural gas industry’s tax will save them $457,354/day in unpaid taxes. Anything seem out of skew here?

Quinn’s spokeswoman, who said the Governor is focusing on the State of the State, must not understand that to focus one must first be seeing clearly. The Governor is clearly myopic with no long-range perspective in thinking or planning. His budget address in a few weeks will probably bring down the house. I will finish my Diet Coke before he starts speaking.