Under the ever floundering administration of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Homer Simpson's cry of "D'oh" would be just as home in Springfield, Illinois as it is in the fictional Springfield in which Homer and the rest of the Simpson's clan reside.
It's no secret that the state of Illinois, or heck, even Cook County if you're looking for something close to home, is in dire financial straights. Couple those budget woes with political infighting and ties to corruption, and it's evident that the mantra of President-Elect Barack Obama's call for change is needed in Springfield. But this time it's the Democrats who need to be targeted. And that's precisely the message the Illinois Republican Party is tapping into. A section on the party's web site is dedicated to a call for change in Illinois. The page lays out problems facing Illinois citizens, including the borrowing of millions of dollars to pay for Medicaid, and the corruption issues surrounding Gov. Blagojevich.
Some of the plans have merit and deserve implementation, particularly the calls for fiscal responsibility and the prevention of new taxation to pay for bloated state programs. These are the kinds of things Republicans and fiscally conservative Democrats need to work on together to implement within the next legislative cycle and hold the future gubernatorial candidates to in the 2010 elections.
But some of the calls for action, such as requiring voter referendum for state debt or $1 billion, or a referendum on binding state policy, are much trickier and could be seen as a circumvention of the electoral process.
The message may need to be honed, but the overall call for change is an excellent battle cry for Illinois Republicans.
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