IN SPRINGFIELD, A FAILURE SAFEGUARDING THE PUBLIC

The spring session of the Illinois General Assembly was a record-setting endeavor. Few, however, are bragging about this distinction. Lawmakers went 19 days into the fiscal year before passing a budget agreement. Their tardiness was costly to state taxpayers and unnecessarily disruptive to the lives of state employees. The Springfield assembly pursued an ambitious agenda and achieved a great deal. Their failing, however, was more dramatic and, beyond that, symptomatic of politics that shortchanges the public interest.

There was no honeymoon for Gov. Jim Edgar, or perhaps he expected too much of one. Taking over the chief executive's office following the 14-year tenure of Jim Thompson, Edgar might have anticipated a more amenable legislature. It was not to be: Edgar hung tough on his promise to keep the lawmakers in session until a budget was reached to his liking. Lawmakers, drawing a $77 per diem while cooling their heels in Springfield and waiting for their leadership to act, saw state employees suffer a payless payday as the fiscal stalemate dragged on.

The deadlock was broken early Friday morning when a $26 billion spending plan was approved. State officials and Illinois taxpayers alike breathed a sigh of relief.

It should not be said that the session was a full-blown failure. Important strides were made in providing money and mandating accountability for education, in holding back the tide of Chicago-area property taxes and in granting assistance to the coal industry in meeting federal air-pollution standards. Nor should it be said that Illinois has been blessed with plentiful financial resources to address all citizen needs: the new budget includes cuts in every state agency and executive branch office of at least 5 percent, and 3,000 state jobs will be eliminated.

What can not be ignored, however, was the inability of Gov. Edgar and the lawmakers to reach their ultimate compromise in a manner that displayed more of a sense of the situation's urgency. The Illinois fiscal condition did not change significantly in those first 19 days of July, only the will of politicians to produce a resolution.

In the Missouri General Assembly, lawmakers can cheat the clock by minutes at best. As the last moments of a session tick away, hurried actions sometimes turn into careless laws. In Springfield, the session was allowed to proceed for almost three weeks, but there is no evidence that the result was any more painstakingly deliberated: at a briefing on the final budget package, the chief Senate negotiator was hard-pressed to describe what was actually left and cut in the document.

In Illinois, in Missouri, at any level of government, we ask for accountability. At the same time, we ask that the work of government be carried on in a way that will fortify not weaken the public good. We don't think the Illinois legislature met this modest ~latter goal.