Progress Illinois

Following the abrupt announcement that Senate President Emil Jones plans to retire at the end of the year, editorial boards and columnists around the state are grappling with the Chicago senator's legacy. The consensus? Jones missed his grand opportunity to bring progressive change to Springfield.

The Tribune remarks that more strident leadership is needed:

Emil Jones never was what his successor desperately needs to be. He has led the Senate in an era of Springfield dysfunction that has misserved and angered citizens by the millions. The damage as measured in problems unsolved, reforms unseized and innocents victimized -- this state can't even pay promptly for the medical care of its poor people -- is incalculable.

Phil Kadner of the Southtown Star wrote that when the chips were down, Jones never delivered on the issue that he ostensibly valued over all others: education funding reform.

When it comes to hypocrisy and double-talk, Jones may be the undisputed champion.

Asked if his endorsement of Blagojevich's gross receipts tax meant that the income tax hike for school funding was dead, Jones smiled and said that bill was in "Hospice Committee."

Very clever. Very funny.

I hope those underprivileged children Jones always talked about appreciated the humor.

Meanwhile, the Sun-Times turns on the sarcasm in response to Jones' effort to have his son succeed him in the Senate.

In this cruel world, we find nothing more heartening than when the mediocre catch a break.

Why can't the D student graduate summa cum laude? Or the tone deaf play Tchaikovsky?

Why must the crippled gazelle fall prey to the tiger?

You can get hung up on how clout in this town can take a nobody from nowhere and set him up for life with money, prestige and a cushy job, based solely on blood.

Or you can learn to respect an old Chicago tradition:

Some folks -- but not you -- are special.

The State Journal-Register wastes no time looking forward, suggesting that with the right choice, the next Senate president could break the Springfield gridlock and forge a more productive future:

The next person to hold that job need not test the limits of that power by waging a pointless war with Madigan that would probably extend the Democrats’ record of failure.

The next Senate president, if he or she and Madigan work together, also could render the unpopular Gov. Rod Blagojevich mostly irrelevant. In his nearly six years in office, the governor has shown little inclination to work with legislators or govern responsibly. Jones has enabled such bad behavior.

With their complete control of state government, Democrats should have made progress on a whole host of issues from education funding to much-needed state construction money. Jones’ retirement is their second chance.

While less enthusiastic, the Peoria Journal-Star also argues that the exit of Jones -- "who turned state government into something of a personal plaything" -- presents an opportunity for government reform:

That said, Jones is not the fundamental problem here. That would be a system that invests far too much power and money in too few hands - the legislative leaders' - making rank-and-file members all but irrelevant. It's true no matter which party is in charge. Jones' predecessor in the Senate's top spot, Republican Pate Philip, had his bouts with becoming too big for his britches, too.

Experience makes us realists and keeps us from getting our hopes up that state government will get better anytime soon, but this impending change at the top of the Senate does present an opportunity for reform.