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What has been the most wasteful expense of state government money in the past 20 years?

(Suggested by a commenter.)

(UPDATE (Suggestion): Y’all need to try to dig a little deeper. The world wasn’t created two years ago.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Apr 5, 05 @ 5:15 am

Comments

The on-line ethics test?

Wasteful because now agencies are being told that their employees are skipping right to the quiz, answering questions, and getting perfect scores.

So there is now a “miniumum completion time”. If a test is taken in *less* time than the minimum completion time, you fail even if you passed.

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Apr 5, 05 @ 6:01 am
What ever Edger kicked in for the vacant Motorola factory in Harvard? I’m sure they’re bigger wastes but that one glistens on the road to Walworth for my powerball ticket.

Comment by Bill Baar Tuesday, Apr 5, 05 @ 6:10 am
Over the past years the greatest waste in state government comes from the regal treatment that state officials see as their right. Huge vehicles, entourages of security, wasteful travel at taxpayer expense. This list goes on and on. I will never forget several years ago viewing a three car security detail for the Comptroller, a person who most Illinoisans could not identify in a one person show up. The state could save millions by making elected officials justify their extravagant ways of spending our money for their comfort.

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Apr 5, 05 @ 7:58 am
The Jim Thompson Center.

Comment by Tom Joad Tuesday, Apr 5, 05 @ 8:13 am
$200 million to transform I-290 from the “Hillside Strangler” into the “Maywood Strangler.”

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Apr 5, 05 @ 9:04 am
Wow where to begin, some great suggestions from the previous posters!

I would have to say the Millions of dollars Blago wasted on attempting to conduct the mortaging of the Thompson Center.

At least building the actual building was a capitol project. Blagos shady dealings even though they didnt go through still wasted the state hundereds of thousands…. Way to go Rod!

Comment by PrairieStateDem Tuesday, Apr 5, 05 @ 9:30 am
I don’t believe in government waste.

One man’s waste is another man’s livelihood.

What would all these people do if they didn’t have jobs?

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Apr 5, 05 @ 9:56 am
Don’t forget the guv’s extravagant almost 2 year bodyguard/entourage a.k.a. personal fan club, speaking at Lynn Sweets alma mater and those damn flu shots!!

Does anyone know when Rod’s “Rock the System” plan is coming out…he said it would be out within 3 weeks but it’s been over four!! Also…what happened to Carl Nyberg’s Blogging Blago’s Blunders?

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Apr 5, 05 @ 10:07 am
Legislative salaries.

Comment by Ralph Tuesday, Apr 5, 05 @ 10:37 am
The governor’s office.

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Apr 5, 05 @ 11:53 am
The five Illinois pensions systems-specifically, the 2002 Early Retirement Initiative, the formula which allows teachers and administrators to make out like bandits starting a few years pre-retirement, the alternative formula that isn’t, and other outrageous scams. When are taxpayers going to wake up and at least raise the cost of participation for current employees (which the governor is apparently afraid to do) covered under the five plans–most state employees are overpaid anyway and wouldn’t feel it.

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Apr 5, 05 @ 11:54 am
Well, the Blagojevich bashers have certainly exposed their true colors on this one. It can now be said that any question will lead to BlagoBashing no matter what.

Does no one remember 2002 (with the exeption of the Maywood Strangler guy)?

A fancy rock and fountain sign reading “Welcome to Schaumburg…”

A statue of Benny Goodman in Waukegan…

Stained glass windows-on a parking garage in Naperville…

A speed boat race in Rend Lake…

You and I paid for all of these things (and hundreds more).

Does no one recall the great member initiative spree of 1998-2002?

Comment by BuckTurgidson Tuesday, Apr 5, 05 @ 12:04 pm
Minor League Waste: Higher Ed Administration. Check out an org chart of any “upper division” university and you’ll see what I mean. 11:54 anon, you would appreciate that all these folks then retire with enhanced pensions involving a little known codicil of the SURS statute.
Major League Waste: Illinois First.
Our kids will be paying off the bonds for Jack Benny’s statue etc.
Up and Coming Waste: Filan-driven “efficiency initiatives and consolidations” at CMS.

Comment by NumbersGuy Tuesday, Apr 5, 05 @ 1:23 pm
What’s the big deal about “Blago bashing?”

I voted for the guy once, so if anyone can “bash”, it’s someone who helped put him in office. (And isn’t “bashing” essentially democracy in action? FOX news is one long rant and bash from end-to-end — but that’s okay? Conservatives are allowed to bash and rant? But if you’re not a conservative, you’re expected to be quiet? Please.)

Anyway, I won’t vote for Blago again. That, too, is democracy in action. I gave the guy a chance, and according to my (rather low) standards — he blew it. Fair enough. My vote was his to lose, and he lost it.

Isn’t this how it’s supposed to work?

(And, yes, I actually like the stained glass window in the parking structure in Naperville. I’ve been in my share of parking garages — and the one in Naperville, as far as parking structures are concerned, is one of the better ones. Plus the town’s pretty nice, too.)

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Apr 5, 05 @ 1:36 pm
It ain’t here yet, but what about the payback for the doubling of the state’s bond debt last year? What ever happened to that $10 billion? I thought it was supposed to help balance the budget. Wow. The next generation(s) of Illinois residents are going to have one HUGE bill to pay someday.

“I didn’t raise taxes”, but another governor sure will be stuck with a mega-nasty budget problem in about 25-30 years due to a raise in debt.

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Apr 5, 05 @ 1:38 pm
The one time property tax “rebate” passed by the General Assembly and signed by George Ryan back in the late nineties, along with the temporary elimination of the sales tax on motor fuel in 2001. Both were passed in lieu of either funding a rainy day fund or paying off indebtedness.

As to the assertion by “11:54″ that most state employees are overpaid, I would disagree with the exception of some of the unqualified appointments that have been made by every administration over the past 20 years. (I’m not a state employee by the way.)

As to the greatest wasteful expense of state government money, the failure of the Edgar administration in guise of fiscal responsibility to address the state’s infrastructure during his 8 years in office. People seem to have forgotten the deplorable condition of the state’s highways, among other things, by the end of his administrative.

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Apr 5, 05 @ 1:47 pm
What’s the deal about the “I didn’t raise taxes” pledge anyway?

Is this just a way to get him into the race for president?

I always figured taxes were a part of democracy. No one likes taxes — and if it’s done, it should be done responsibly — but it’s a fair and equitable way to contribute to the “common good” (however one may define that these days.)

This slot machine stuff and the fee increases seem like a particularly slimy way to target special groups. He *is* raising taxes, but he’s not “raising taxes.”

It’s politico-double-talk at its worst, and it bugs me that no one is challenging Blago to lay out a more philosopical defense of his refusal to raise taxes. I don’t get it. All this “no raising taxes” does is buy him campaign commercials for the White House. I’m not sure it does the state a bit of good.

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Apr 5, 05 @ 1:47 pm
Oh, this is state wasted money…

The Iraq War, Medicare Bill, Star Wars and the S&L bailout were gonna be my answers.

Comment by Carl Nyberg Tuesday, Apr 5, 05 @ 1:52 pm
I’d love to say the $ spent by Brickhead Joe prosecuting R. Cruz and Associates, but….
That is too easy.
Instead I suggest the $1 billion plus lost every year since the late ‘70 when the pols decided to exempt food and medicine from the sales tax.
No one even knowa they get this tax break.

Comment by reddbyrd Tuesday, Apr 5, 05 @ 1:57 pm
My own pick would be the multitude of civic/convention centers and their authorities that were created in the mid-1980’s and built with state bonded money. Does anyone really believe that Effingham, Mt. Vernon, Decatur etc. are convention destinations? A close second would be township governments. They’re similar to the swine flu shots from the 70’s…a cure for no known disease.

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Apr 5, 05 @ 2:17 pm
White Sox stadium?

Bears stadium?

I was sure one of those would result in World Championships by now…

Moving Sears to Hoffman Estates?

State Fair?

Comment by Ralph Tuesday, Apr 5, 05 @ 3:56 pm
I’m following Rich’s admonition to reach back to the past. I see this King of Waste every time I drive the “double nickel” and see it along the eternal construction zone on the west side of Bloomington-Normal, That’s right-Diamond/Star. Wasted money, lousy cars, and the excuse for doing Sears, Motorola, and all the nonsense that followed.

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Apr 5, 05 @ 4:26 pm
Its good to see all the old economic development projects mentioned. Mitsu, Moto, Sears. Don’t forget Boeing. And I see the state is tossing another $1 million at Searle on top of the $4 million that is to come. How many “Tech Incubator Parks” have been funded and went nowhere? Northwestern Univ., DuPage Airport. Between the Gov’s office, past and present, and DCCA/DCEO the state has tossed a lot of cash at large corporations with no or little return. Corporate welfare? Get rid of both of those state entities, then the savings will come.

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Apr 5, 05 @ 4:44 pm
Sure, beat-up Blagojevich and talk about his salary being a “waste”…but what about the millions of dollars Judy Baar Topinka flushed down the toilet to bail-out a couple of crappy hotels for her GOP-connected downstate swells (and major donors, mind you) a few years back. Suuuure, Judy’s just the person to replace Rod “Reform/Renewal” Blagojevich!

Having said that, let’s include the Illinois Treasurer’s salary as a complete waste of taxdollars too!

Comment by lincoln would be ashamed Tuesday, Apr 5, 05 @ 4:47 pm
How much State money over the past 20 years has been poured into the Illinois Medical District? That little corporate park should be completely privately financed - but us taxpayers underwrite it. It’s corporate and health care welfare that takes care of a few little insiders. It’s also almost completely off the radar screen. What a joke.

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Apr 5, 05 @ 5:03 pm
I agree with Numbers Guy.

In terms of total cost, it’s got to be Illinois First (brought to you by Mike Madigan).

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Apr 5, 05 @ 6:26 pm
The brand new, state-of-the-art, 35 million dollar prision, sitting empty in Rep. Mike Boland’s House District has to be considered the biggest waste of our tax dollars yet.

Thompson Prision stands as a monument to poor planning and wastefull government spending.

Thanks Rep. Boland, I guess!

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Apr 5, 05 @ 6:45 pm
There were some good things about IL First, notwithstanding the “member pork” projects. Foe example, the IL interstate highway system was in its best overall shape in 30 years at the end of 2002.

It’s the things that had no tangible result after spending the money, or a poor choice of investment given several opportunities, that get my goat. How about the multitude of state office buildings that have been (and still are) leased instead of owned. They probably could’ve been built or bought by the state and paid off outright with 8 or so years worth of lease payments, and in many cases built on land the state already owned!

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Apr 5, 05 @ 7:32 pm
having both a comptroller and treasurer. big waste.

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Apr 5, 05 @ 8:32 pm
The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, aka Epcot North?

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Apr 5, 05 @ 8:49 pm
Rod’s legal team. They keep losing due to the curse of the jackass.

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Apr 5, 05 @ 9:54 pm
The hundreds of millions of dollars the U of I spent on UI-Integrate.

The $365 million spent on Chicago Bears rehab. Did the Bears bring $3.65 of joy to anyone last season?

And flu shots anyone?

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Apr 5, 05 @ 10:24 pm
How about:

The entire salary of the Illinois House and Senate?

I’m all for a massive “spring cleaning”

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Apr 5, 05 @ 10:27 pm
Forget big ones how about the hundreds of thousands being wasted by Blago’s new Directors on personal luxuries. Good example, Carol Adams Secretary of Human Services spent $27,000 on new carpeting for her office and purchased ten TV’s for her immediate staff. All the while planning lay-offs of essential staff. THIS IS BUSINESS AS USUAL GANG

Comment by ChicagoDog Wednesday, Apr 6, 05 @ 9:30 am