The SouthtownStar's Phil Kadner once again devotes a column to State Sen. James Meeks' latest reflections on the budget battle in Springfield. He echoes some of the frustrations voiced by Senate President John Cullerton at a press conference yesterday:

"You know what they want to do now? They (legislative leaders) want to hand the governor a month-by-month budget and let the state operate that way. That's unfair to social service providers who have to sign leases and hire employees. It's unfair to the governor to make him come back to us each month for money to run the state."

Meeks is the chief sponsor of a Senate bill that would have raised the state income tax from 3 percent to 5 percent. The measure passed the Senate this spring but never made it out of House committee. [...]

"The governor is still trying to pass his 1.5 percent income tax hike as a two-year temporary measure, but the House doesn't even want to vote on that. They need Republicans to support it at this point and the Republicans aren't going to do it.

"As far as Cullerton and the Senate Democrats are concerned that doesn't do enough. It doesn't provide enough money for all the things this state needs to do. If we're going to pass an income tax hike, if we're going to take the heat from voters, let's pass something we can be proud of and defend."

Read the whole thing. Meeks goes on to call the current morass the "best argument ever for term limits" and suggests that perhaps Gov. Quinn should just let the government collapse in order to wake everyone up.  Kadner responds: "I'm not sure I want to see the 'whole thing collapse.' But maybe that's what it will take to really bring about change in government." 

(One correction to Kadner's column: Meeks' bill did pass out of the House Education Committee on May 31.  It never came up for a vote in the full House.)