Chambana Sun

Illinois Channel TV executive director Terry Martin didn’t mince words in expressing his thoughts about the state’s new $42 billion state budget during a recent segment with public affairs host Jeff Berkowitz.

“It was a big bill, but the point is they didn’t look at it carefully enough in their rush and they found out that the effective date of the budget under law wouldn’t have started until next year,” Martin said in a video posted to You Tube. “The governor had to do an amendatory veto and the lawmakers had to support that so the budget passed would start in July.”

Martin said he is in complete agreement with GOP state Rep. Mike Marron (R-Danville) and the way he argues ushering through an out-of-balance state budget only opens the door to more problems.

“It’s not just the budget that gets screwed up, there are a whole lot of things that are just not working right in the state government,” he said. “It makes the point Democrats don’t want transparency because it makes it easier for them to pass bills that would be otherwise unpopular.”

Marron also argues he thinks voters may have finally reached their breaking point.

“Every day, I talk to a lot of people,” Marron said in a video posted to YouTube. “I talk to my constituents; people who visit me in the office, people at public events, people that call me on the phone and an overwhelming large portion of the people I talk to are mad as hell,” he said. “They’ve lost faith in this body; they’ve lost faith in you, faith in me. They don’t believe in the system anymore.”

Marron argues the way the new budget was forced through serves as the latest example of how voters are used and abused.

“I think if we evaluate where we’re at, we need to take a long look in the mirror about how we conduct business,” he said. “This budget process is ridiculous. I was a county board chairman for four years. There is no government entity in this nation that conducts business like this. We had to put our budget on display for 30 days. If you’re on the city council you have to put the budget on display for two week so the public, the media and the other party can vet it. It’s a pretty good process. You meet the needs of your constituents doing it that way.”

Marron said he is now working on a bill that he is hoping will have the same effect in Springfield.

“It will require the General Assembly to put the proposed state budget on display for 30 days prior to passage,” he said. “For my three-year tenure here, I’ve been calling out the ridiculous process that plays out every year. Every year, the process is the same; the budget is crafted behind closed doors by the governor and the legislative leaders while appropriation committees meet mainly for show and have no influence on final product.”