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rayiner implied Maryland is some kind of single-party Democratic hellscape, though I dispute his description of > Since 1969, we've had just two moderate Repub

rayiner implied Maryland is some kind of single-party Democratic hellscape, though I dispute his description of > Since 1969, we've had just two moderate Republican governors (who got elected to pump the breaks a bit on otherwise unbroken Democratic control). because the two Republican governors have been recent: after Glendening (D) from 1995-2003 there was Ehrlich (R), then O'Malley (D), and now Hogan (R). So I'd say it rather as Maryland voters have held the governor's party to account for over 25 years. It looks like Illinois has followed a similar pattern. Anyway I finished high school in Maryland before Glendening was out and it was almost embarrassingly good, though I didn't fully appreciate it at the time, despite my family being middle class at most. I don't remember any particular issues with other state-level public services. Some places have real challenges like parts of Baltimore and Prince George's County (near DC) and, I'm sure in different ways, the deeply rural areas out west and toward the Eastern Shore, but I don't see the state as some sort of self-evident cautionary tale of Democratic rule and I'd really like to hear what rayiner is basing that on. If you don't mind, could you summarize what you're unhappy with in Illinois? I know about Blagojevich, but other than that. Or just link to some long-form article if you have one handy.

tptacek 6y ago
I'd probably want to take more time to come up with a full answer to this question, which is "big". Also: I'm cautiously optimistic about Pritzker's administration, at least in terms of actually getting things done in the state. But examples of bad governance in Illinois would include: * Scandalous public pension liabilities * Patronage jobs at Metra run through speaker Madigan's office * ComEd being fined $200MM for a bribery scandal with Madigan's office * The financial debacle of the privatization of Chicago parking revenue Illinois is one of just 8 states with a flat state income tax, which is something that needs to change so we can get our financial house in order, but won't, because literally nobody trusts our state government. It's hard to lay the blame for that on anything other than the state Democratic party.
- 31cde6b92951440 6y ago
  The way you describe it, it sounds like the meta-problem is endemic corruption or incompetence in the Illinois Democratic party. That's a common failure mode for a complacent government/party. The Baltimore and DC city governments have struggled with that in recent years, and in a different way the U.S. nationally just got finished dealing with a cartoonishly corrupt and incompetent President given complete immunity by his party. I suppose you and I are both desperately hoping the Republicans can get their act together and make an effort to help govern responsibly. How far would you go though to put a Republican in state office? Maryland Governor Hogan (R) is wildly popular (70-80%) across party lines [1], but according to Wikipedia, though Hogan shuts down the really extreme conservative stuff, he's otherwise a normal reality-based non-MAGA Republican. He also seems to be corrupt or at least shady [2]. Hogan claimed he wrote in Ronald Reagan in his 2020 Presidential vote so I guess that's the bar here: if you'd vote for Reagan today in the name of party balance or whatever, then go ahead and vote for Hogan or his Illinois equivalent when they appear. (Also the fact that over 70% of Maryland Democrats support someone who looks back fondly to Reagan should put away any notion that Maryland is some out of control liberal state.) To your last point, as you know the GOP has played a long game since (here he is again) Reagan of sowing reflexive distrust in Democratic governments. Since you said it, I'll grant that the distrust here is justified due to Democratic misrule, but it's worth considering how much GOP fearmongering has made it so voters think the only solution is bringing in a Republican rather than attempting to fix the Democrats. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Hogan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Hogan [2] https://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/january-february-march-2020/who-does-marylands-governor-really-work-for/ https://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/january-february-marc...

tptacek 6y ago

I'd probably want to take more time to come up with a full answer to this question, which is "big". Also: I'm cautiously optimistic about Pritzker's administration, at least in terms of actually getting things done in the state. But examples of bad governance in Illinois would include: * Scandalous public pension liabilities * Patronage jobs at Metra run through speaker Madigan's office * ComEd being fined $200MM for a bribery scandal with Madigan's office * The financial debacle of the privatization of Chicago parking revenue Illinois is one of just 8 states with a flat state income tax, which is something that needs to change so we can get our financial house in order, but won't, because literally nobody trusts our state government. It's hard to lay the blame for that on anything other than the state Democratic party.

31cde6b92951440 6y ago
The way you describe it, it sounds like the meta-problem is endemic corruption or incompetence in the Illinois Democratic party. That's a common failure mode for a complacent government/party. The Baltimore and DC city governments have struggled with that in recent years, and in a different way the U.S. nationally just got finished dealing with a cartoonishly corrupt and incompetent President given complete immunity by his party. I suppose you and I are both desperately hoping the Republicans can get their act together and make an effort to help govern responsibly. How far would you go though to put a Republican in state office? Maryland Governor Hogan (R) is wildly popular (70-80%) across party lines [1], but according to Wikipedia, though Hogan shuts down the really extreme conservative stuff, he's otherwise a normal reality-based non-MAGA Republican. He also seems to be corrupt or at least shady [2]. Hogan claimed he wrote in Ronald Reagan in his 2020 Presidential vote so I guess that's the bar here: if you'd vote for Reagan today in the name of party balance or whatever, then go ahead and vote for Hogan or his Illinois equivalent when they appear. (Also the fact that over 70% of Maryland Democrats support someone who looks back fondly to Reagan should put away any notion that Maryland is some out of control liberal state.) To your last point, as you know the GOP has played a long game since (here he is again) Reagan of sowing reflexive distrust in Democratic governments. Since you said it, I'll grant that the distrust here is justified due to Democratic misrule, but it's worth considering how much GOP fearmongering has made it so voters think the only solution is bringing in a Republican rather than attempting to fix the Democrats. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Hogan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Hogan [2] https://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/january-february-march-2020/who-does-marylands-governor-really-work-for/ https://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/january-february-marc...