Former governor Jim Edgar made an appearance in Carbondale Thursday night, helping to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute.

Edgar took questions from the crowd, most of them concerning the nearly two years the state has gone without a budget.

At one point, the Republican said that Democratic Speaker of the House Mike Madigan is not the only one to blame for the standoff, adding that even a somewhat incompetent governor has more power in Illinois than Madigan.