Springfield Democrats can't make trains run on time

Normally, I don't care much about posturing and bluster in Springfield. Governor Rod Blagojevich, Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President Emil Jones do their stuff, and I do my stuff.

If the three of them want to jerk around a bunch of state legislators and journalists because they didn't pass a budget on time. Oh, well. I figure the inconvenience goes with the beat and the paycheck.

But now it seems like the Chicago area is going to experience cuts and public transportation services and increases in fares because Blagojevich, Madigan and Jones aren't doing their jobs.

RTA, CTA, Metra and PACE have sponsored a website to build support for public transportation. See Moving Beyond Congestion. It also has a feature for contacting legislators.

I can accept that the legislature would criticize the management of the CTA and RTA. I can accept that there will need to be adjustments in routes and perhaps modest fare increases.

I cannot accept that CTA, RTA and PACE will have to implement drastic cuts and huge fare increases because Blagojevich, Madigan and Jones are not passing legislation. This is a core duty. It's why they get elected. It's what they get paid to do.

You can see Capitol Fax Blog (Rich Miller) for more info. It sounds like the "doomsday" scenario is gonna happen. See Hiram Wurf (WurfWhile) for more commentary.