If LeBron James missed a wide-open dunk, causing his team to lose, you’d shake your head in amazement and expect him to shoulder the blame. Why? Because he’s an NBA superstar and, arguably, the best player in professional basketball.
So, Illinois officials in St. Clair County, Springfield, Illinois and Washington, D.C. should feel a similar way in losing the NGA West project to North St. Louis in what should have been a political slam dunk, and for good reason.
Illinois lawmakers had the perfect scenario: a 382-acre site next to Scott Air Force Base (a perfectly secure military installation). The land for the proposed project was already owned by St. Clair County. And to make the deal even sweeter, Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner even offered $116 million in infrastructure enhancements.
Compare that to North St. Louis, which had 188 murders last year (not a very safe or secure site), and where dozens of residents must be relocated in order to develop the eventual location that, some say, is in need of extensive environmental remediation.
Yet St. Louis was chosen, over Illinois, to receive the NGA program with its potential of 1,500 construction jobs and 3,100 permanent jobs – good jobs. Recall that the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is an iconic agency, best known for pinpointing the location Osama Bin Laden’s compound.
Sure, Missouri offered $131 million in incentives, but the bad far outweighed the good for St. Louis – until Illinois was weighed in the balance.
Consider a state which is incapable of passing a budget due to a political standoff between its republican governor, Bruce Rauner, and its House speaker, Democrat Michael Madigan, not to mention the controversial mismanagement of the dysfunctional MidAmerica Airport in Mascoutah and a history of governors who have a tendency of ending their terms in federal prison.
So the NGA, in their infinite wisdom, may very well have selected North St. Louis, and taken their chances, versus gambling on the political drama and corruption inherent in dealing with the Illinois political climate.
And just as Illinois political leaders – like St. Clair County Board Chairman Mark Kern (D), U.S. Rep. Mike Bost (R), U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk (R), U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D), Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner (R) and others – would have been quick to take full credit if the NGA site had it been awarded to Illinois, they should be equally as quick to admit that they missed a wide-open political slam dunk and blew thousands of jobs for St. Clair County and the state of Illinois because of their reputation for political obstructionism and corruption.
But don’t hold your breath on that one, folks. Since when have politicians ever taken the blame for their failures, especially in Illinois?
Email: jtingram_1960@yahoo.com; Twitter@JamesTIngram.
