Special-fund raids are unethical, if not illegal

Bloomington Pantagraph

07/08/2006

Pantagraph Editorial

The state of Illinois may be next in need of a gambling license. It is gambling that transferring $97 million from special-purpose funds to pay the state's day-to-day operating expenses is legal.

The governor's office has already transferred more than $1.2 billion from those funds in the past two years and no one has stopped it.

So, it is obvious the governor's office thinks what it is doing is proper.

Some Republican legislators have said the transfers are unconstitutional.

The treasurer's office thinks the transfers are illegal.

We think the transfers are unethical, if not illegal. It is taking money under false pretenses.

And a court may get a chance to decide in a pivotal case in Sangamon County.

The motorcycle group ABATE has a court order keeping the state from transferring $296,000 from its cycle safety training program and $48,600 from its off-road vehicle trails fund into the state's general operating fund. The funds receive money from motorcycle licenses, titles and registration fees.

ABATE, which stands for A Brotherhood Aimed Toward Education, wanted to represent the approximately 400 special-purpose funds that the Blagojevich administration has "swept" - we think "raided" is a more appropriate description. Unfortunately, Sangamon County Circuit Judge Leo Zappa would not permit ABATE to represent all funds.

That means every special interest group has to fight its own battle against taxpayer-paid attorneys. Not many have the financial wherewithal for a prolonged court battle.

And some of groups that could afford a court battle will not. Some have been offered "settlements." In other words, don't fight the transfers and you won't lose as much - or maybe none at all.

So the annual raid on special-purpose funds continues. This administration has been doing it for at least three years, and says that previous administrations did the same thing.

There is no way the Legislature is doing its job if it allows governors to use special-purpose funds as piggy banks to finance pet projects and ignore the wishes of people who are contributing to the special funds. The governor's office has said the money represents surplus funds that are not needed to sustain the programs. If that's the case, quit collecting the money.

Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka originally questioned the transfers and to support her right to look at the legal issues Comptroller Dan Hynes went along, according to Hynes' office. When no court decisions were rendered and the Legislature last spring reaffirmed that money from the funds was to be transferred, Hynes' office dropped its objections.

Topinka's office notified groups three weeks ago that their special-purpose funds were being tapped.

Deputy Treasurer Martin Noven said they still think the transfers are illegal. But, he said, Topinka's office was told the comptroller's office was going to write checks as if the transfers were made. "We weren't going to let $97 million worth of checks bounce," said Noven. Letting checks bounce might be unethical. But it might produce some interesting questions during an election year for the governor to explain why he would take $12.3 million from DCFS Children's Services, or $5.7 million from the Illinois Affordable Housing Trust, or $11 million from the toll highway revenue, or $5.7 million from the Downstate Public Transportation Fund, or $16.7 million from the state's Health Insurance Reserve.

If those are "unneeded funds," voters should make candidates explain this fall why the state is still assessing fees to build these monstrous surpluses?

Stop the fees, or stop the transfers. Quit taking money under false pretenses. Balance the budget to revenue, not by raiding special-purpose funds.