In the year since this website was established, state and national political changes have occurred that will have important effects on the ill-conceived Peoria to Macomb freeway project. Possibly the most important change is that the word “earmark” is now part of the everyday vocabulary of American voters. Thanks to crooks like lobbyist Jack Abramoff and more than usually corrupt politicians like Randy “Duke” Cunningham, Bob Ney, and Illinois’ own Denny Hastert, voters have finally learned a dirty little secret: “Earmark” funding for politicians’ pet projects exists for the purposes of enriching and insuring the re-election of incumbent politicians. Earmarked projects are exempted from the normal scrutiny given to spending bills by congressional committees tasked with preventing waste and corrupt use of taxpayer dollars.

Although politicians of every persuasion have used and continue to use taxpayer money for their own interests, the end of Republican rule in the U.S. House of Representatives brought about by the 2006 elections threatens to derail the “earmark” gravy train. Democratic leaders have indicated that in the near future, all “earmarks” will have to be defended before the appropriate House committees, and the names of all sponsors will have to be prominently affixed to each earmark. Politicians who actually believe in fiscal responsibility support this effort to reform or eliminate earmark funding, regardless of their party affiliation.

Some may ask,“What does this have to do with Illinois 336 ?”  “Everything,” is the answer. The unfortunate truth is that many people in west-central Illinois are unaware that the entire Illinois 336 project is and has been dependent on “earmarks.” This is the reason the Quincy to Macomb section of 336 has taken over 30 years (and isn’t complete yet.) Projects funded in the normal way must be defended on their merits before congressional committees. Committee members ask questions like: “Is this project really needed ?” and, ”Is there any good reason to believe this project will actually produce the benefits its sponsors promise ?” and, “Is there a less expensive way to accomplish the desired results ?” and, “Is the project going to have destructive consequences its sponsors would prefer not to discuss ?” A congressional committee whose members asked questions like these about Illinois 336 thirty years ago would have turned thumbs down in a heartbeat. Any committee that asks the same questions about the Peoria to Macomb freeway will do exactly the same. The project’s sponsors are well aware of this.

Even the most corrupt and self-serving politicians insist, sometimes right up to the doors of their jail cells, that their every action has been done in the interests of their constituents. The fact that congressional approval ratings have been hovering around twenty percent for months (not quite an all-time low) shows that Americans think otherwise. It is no coincidence that those who think they have most to gain from unneeded government makework projects are the same people (and groups) who contribute most heavily to politicians’ campaign funds: banks, real restate and construction companies, and construction unions. It is also no coincidence that politicians want to spent taxpayers’ money rewarding those who make their re-election financially possible. This is political corruption at nearly its most basic level: funneling government money into the pockets of those people and organizations who finance your election campaigns.

Despite the brave rhetoric and misleading agitprop of its supporters, the Peoria to Macomb freeway project remains exactly what it has always been: unnecessary, destructive, and unaffordable. State and national finances have gotten wildly beyond ordinary conceptions of bankruptcy. The country is fighting a war costing between one and two billion dollars a week, and is not even admitting that the war is part of the federal budget. The State of Illinois takes over a year to pay its medical providers and has an unfunded pension liability of forty-two billion dollars, making it the international poster child for fiscally irresponsible pension systems.  Meanwhile, Congressman LaHood, Governor Blagojevich, and local chamber of commerce types blather on about “jobs bills” and “vital transportation improvements.” Hogwash. Time to get real. Illinois 336 is about paying off campaign debts and putting money in the hands of real estate developers. The money should be spent on things the people of Illinois and the nation actually need.   

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