BUDGET GAMESMANSHIP CAN ONLY HELP SO MUCH

Like many things in life, governing is a matter of learning the right words and how to play the game. Master these aspects of public service, and legislating becomes a prettier, if not more productive, exercise. The recently concluded session of the Illinois legislature demonstrates how spin control, expertly executed, can put a good face on unsteady management; when it comes to cosmetic effect, Maybelline has nothing on lawmakers.

Most states have provisions in their constitutions that require their lawmaking bodies to adopt balanced budgets. Americans would be so lucky if the U.S. Congress became bound by such a requirement. In Illinois, legislators went 13 days past their deadline before coming up with a state budget that carried the stamp "balanced." Everyone left Springfield, nearly two weeks into the fiscal year, feeling good about this collective achievement.

Such feats usually summon someone with a wet blanket; in this case, skeptical notes were sounded by Jim Knowlan, head of the Illinois Taxpayers' Federation. Mr. Knowlan contends that the claim of balance is misleading since the state has a credit problem (borrowing against its own spending ways) that lawmakers adjust to suit their needs.

For example, of the $30 billion financial plan approved by legislators, $836 million has been earmarked for paying expenses incurred during the just-ended fiscal year. Vendors who get the state's business are less than enamored with this pattern of overdue payment. To resolve this conflict, however, the state gives itself leeway to borrow as much as $900 million to satisfy the debts more quickly ... except that Illinois taxpayers then assume another $14 million (give or take a million) in obligations for interest payments on the borrowing.

The stunning part of this is that officials generally see this as a resourceful maneuver. One bureaucrat who studies such things for the legislature said, "With interest rates as low as they are, that's a pretty good deal." In other words, why cut spending to the point of revenue collection when a bit of fiscal gamesmanship gets you to the same place without all the pain?

None of this is the type of budget balancing banks expect from their checking account customers, but we should have given up long ago on lawmaking bodies living by the rules their constituents abide by. If there is a brutal lesson in this, it is probably not that legislatures take occasional liberties with the public books ... rather, it is that the federal budget is so disheveled that Congress can't even fudge on the numbers and make it look good.