Recall Elected Officials in Illinois?

There is a bi-partisan effort growing in Illinois to establish a law that would allow residents to recall certain elected officials. This is a law that is needed – now. Some states already have such a law, but I think only about eight of the 50.

For starters, the first target would probably Gov. Blagojevich. And worthy target he is.

What we have is a Governor who thumbs his nose at Springfield and refuses to live in the State Capital. Instead, he commutes from his home in Chicago to Springfield. And back.

Does he drive, as most of us do, to work? No way. His State Police driver chauffeurs him to the airport, where a State plane transports him to Springfield. Then the pilots kill a day waiting for the governor to do whatever he does there, and then they fly him home. At what cost? I believe a newspaper reported the daily cost at $5,800, but I draw this from memory. Is this the right number? Does anyone know?

Of course, then you must add in the cost of ground transportation, security on both ends, and other expenses.

Frankly, the legislature ought to just cut off his funding for commuting, but he seems to have his slush fund that he can spend any way that he wants. Must be nice, eh?

Should Blago pay this expense himself? Absolutely. He ought to reimburse the State of Illinois out of his net income. Commuting expense is not deductible.

Another way to get Blago to pay for the cost of commuting is to add it to his income and let him pay the income taxes on it. But, no, that doesn’t work, either.

Some legislators thought that they would just ask the Treasurer to issue a Form 1099 to the gov for the “incidental income” (commuting expense), but that didn’t work, either.

Maybe the legislature should just sell the State airplanes. What are they really needed for? Are they fully utilized? Are they necessary? Are they efficiently scheduled? Are they used only for official State business?

I hate to think of all the questions that go unanswered about this waste.