(Joe Lewnard/Daily Herald)
By Daily Herald Editorial Board
There was a lot of hand wringing and brow mopping last week over whether or how the state Senate should sign on to somewhat problematic legislation the House has approved to try to keep the Chicago Bears in Illinois.
Gov. JB Pritzker offered the politically non-committal “(The goal) is what’s good for the taxpayers. Second is, we want the Bears to stay in Illinois.”
Des Plaines Democratic Sen. Laura Murphy, the assistant majority party leader, added, “There’s lots of work to be done. We’re going to take our time and analyze everything that’s in the bill. We have one chance to get this right.”
And there was more in that vein, from both chambers and both parties, all of it fine insofar as things go. But it was a House Republican whose remarks provided the most acute assessment of the situation facing the Senate — and for that matter, the whole state.
In an interview with our Marni Pyke, Barrington Hills state Rep. Martin McLaughlin observed, “Without politicians fumbling this deal locally, then in the city of Chicago, and now in Springfield for the past three years, the Chicago Bears stadium project would be roughly 80% complete by now at one-third of the price today. We would be looking at a stadium opening probably next fall. The broader $8 billion regional development would be at least halfway complete.”
The details of McLaughlin’s optimistic predictions may be argued, but his fundamental premise cannot. Lawmakers have dithered on this deal for far too long out of an inability to find a political position that accommodates both criticism of providing development assistance to a multi-billion-dollar business and enabling a transformative project that can reap millions of dollars for the state and the Chicago region.
Editorial continues here.
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