From one R.B. scandal to another.

So it's been a month since Rod Blagojevich was kicked out of the governor's office. Pat Quinn and state lawmakers made a big show of promising bipartisan cooperation to clean up state government, but the cleanup effort isn't exactly an overnight job. And bipartisan cooperation? That didn't last very long at all. As for any hopes of the attention in Springfield returning to legislating, the past month has been almost non-stop Roland Burris updates. The GOP is slamming Democrats at every turn over the Burris issue. Leading Illinois Republicans are accusing Democrats of delaying proposals to hold a special election that could oust U-S Sen. Roland Burris until it is too late. Whether or not you agree with concerns among some that lawmakers can't just change the rules and hold a special election now that Burris is seated, he's made it abundantly clear he won't go down without a fight. If lawmakers did try and set a special election, Burris would certainly sue and drag out a the process for as long as he can, so who knows if it would ever happen. But the argument that it would cost too much money? As always, that depends on whose figures you believe. Republicans say the state has enough money in its current budget to pay for a special election to replace Burris, but the Democrats obviously disagree.

Granted, Burris has offered at least four different versions of what contact he had with Blagojevich and his allies before he was appointed to the U.S. Senate, but the state has much bigger problems. Considering Illinois has a deficit approaching $9 billion, lawmakers seem to be taking their time getting down to brass tacks. It's pretty clear Burris won't be resigning and Democrats have no desire to let the G.O.P. have a shot at the Senate seat until the 2010 election. The Dems certainly deserve to take some heat for flip-flopping about a special election, but there are a lot of other ethics issues out there they can tackle right now.

There has been some good news for Illinois in the past month. President Obama and the Democrats followed through on the stimulus plan. Whether or not you agree with all of its provisions or some of the other programs Obama has been touting, it's obvious Illinois badly needs the infrastructure money it's getting from the stimulus package. Illinois is getting about $1.5 billion in federal funding for transportation project, but the state has several billion dollars more in infrastructure needs. That means officials are faced with the daunting task of deciding which projects go froward and which are left out. So, the big question now is where to start?