* Phil Kadner lays out where he thinks the governor’s proposed tax hike is going…
There is a hole in the state budget of about $13 billion.
But Quinn doesn’t have to cut the education budget.
He could cut anywhere he wants, including the jobs of all of his staff members.
However, in this game of pretend, we have to believe that the cuts must come from education, because that’s going to get a lot of people angry.
Teachers are already being notified that they might not have jobs next year.
The more people who are mad, the greater the pressure on legislators to pass a tax increase. That’s how democracy is supposed to work.
Close your eyes now, click your heels together and say, “I’m not in Illinois any more.”
Because public pressure doesn’t work in Springfield.
The lawmakers will ignore the governor, put together their own spending plan and pass a six-month budget to get through November.
Um, Phil, if public pressure didn’t work in Springfield, they’d double the income tax rate. Just saying, man. Also, Kadner skipped over the tax hike for education in the late 1980s in his history of education funding.
* The Southern says we need “leadership” without actually endorsing a specific idea…
We’re not budget experts. We don’t know if the Quinn tax-increase plan is the best way to go. It does seem unlikely a state with a total payroll of around $3 billion is going to simply cut its way into the black.
What we do know is that we are sick of politics trumping policy; incumbency trumping ideals; partisanship trumping planning.
There was a time, at least it seems, when we elected people to make hard decisions, to lead.
But something has changed. Everyone wants everything, but no one wants to pay for it … or even step forward and say no. As polling by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute shows, Illinoisans overwhelmingly favor cuts in state spending. But asked to identify what they’d accept in cuts, the numbers just don’t add up.
Illinois is in a sorry state. Some would say it is a sorry state.
Trouble is, you can’t lead if nobody will follow, and it’s pretty tough to lead if even the editorial boards with tons of state facilities, a huge university and a big community college in their coverage area are too timid to step up. Leadership isn’t just top down. While I am on record numerous times arguing for a tax hike, I can easily see why so few would want to vote for it this year.
The hard truth is that every major tax hike passed in this state for the past 40 years has been done in a bipartisan manner. Every, single one. If the minority party won’t play ball, then the issue becomes simply too hot to deal with for the majority. It’s as simple as that.
Several Republicans voted for the driver fee increases to fund the capital bill last year, and you barely hear a word about that these days. The reason is because it was passed on a bipartisan vote. Refusing to vote for an income tax hike on their own may make the Democrats cowards in some eyes, but to them they’re just being politically smart. Only people with some sort of mental issues want to commit suicide.
* The Southtown Star continues in this vein, sputtering about do-nothing legislators while the budget burns…
Sen. Maggie Crotty recently passed a vital bill - regulating funeral processions. A current Illinois ban on the slaughter of horses for human consumption would be lifted under a proposal from Rep. Jim Sacia. Another measure would allow active duty soldiers home on leave to hunt or fish without a license under a proposal by Rep. Jack Franks. Illinoisians under the age of 18 would be prohibited from buying caffeinated pop and other drinks containing taurine or guarana under a measure proposed by Rep. Louis Arroyo.
If the Dems have lost the Southtown, they are in big trouble.
* My syndicated newspaper column looks at the budget and ahead at November. The last section of the piece is something we haven’t really talked about here..
Like all of the budgets proposed by governors in the past few years, Gov. Pat Quinn’s spending outline last week was an almost complete fantasy. It has pretty much zero chance of surviving intact and will have to be tossed out and substantially reworked before the session ends.
Unless the school interests can pull off a legislative miracle during an anti-incumbent election year, Quinn’s proposed one percentage point tax increase to prevent $1.3 billion in school funding cuts and pay another $1.5 billion in overdue bills to schools and universities is deader than a rock on a stump. House Speaker Michael Madigan made that pretty darned clear right after the speech.
Asked what he would do if the Republicans refused to cooperate on the budget, Madigan said his Democratic majority would have to go it alone. Asked if that meant he’d go it alone on a tax hike, he pointedly said, “No.”
A few minutes later, appearing on public television’s “Illinois Lawmakers” program, Madigan said, “Let’s be straightforward about this. The people of America, the people of Illinois, they don’t want tax increases. They’re hurting.”
Madigan then praised the governor for having the courage to propose a tax hike in this climate, but quickly added: “That doesn’t mean it’s going to happen.”
Shortly afterward, Senate President John Cullerton made it crystal clear that his chamber would not take the lead on a tax hike. House GOP Leader Tom Cross indicated that he still has the hammer down on his members who might be amenable to a tax hike. “It’s not going to happen,” said Senate GOP Leader Christine Radogno.
Just like that, the whole thing was dead before Quinn’s voice had stopped echoing in the House chambers.
In a different year, the theory behind Quinn’s tax hike gambit wouldn’t be bad.
People despise Illinois government these days - for good reason - so a tax increase for state operations is pretty much out of the question. Most people do like their local schools, parents like their kids’ teachers, and property tax payers are fed up with constant increases. Using a tax hike to “save” the schools is far easier to do than justifying a tax hike to make more pension payments to state employees, or fund a state system widely derided as incompetent and corrupt.
But anybody who takes the time to look at this proposal knows it’s just too obvious of a setup. Gov. Quinn didn’t propose any cuts at all to the State Board of Education’s bureaucracy. Instead, the slashes were all classroom-related. And education took well over half of all the cuts Quinn proposed, despite being only about a third of the budget.
Rather than making a serious attempt to balance the budget in a reasonable, even-handed manner, the Quinn administration went far out of its way to strike maximum fear into the populace. The real motivation behind this gambit is just way too overt to be believable.
And does anybody really believe that Quinn will actually stick to his guns? Doubtful. The governor threatened a doomsday for social service providers last year and then blinked when his deadline approached. He’s an old-school, compassionate liberal. Everybody knows he doesn’t want to make these cuts and will do just about anything to avoid them.
There are those in the administration who say the tax-hike-for-schools template can be used after the November election (assuming Quinn wins), when legislators feel safer about voting for it. The proposal, the insiders say, is more of a road map for the future than a plan to be implemented this spring.
The schools tax hike, they say, is also a way to lessen the pain of the inevitable Republican charge that the Democrats are not-so-secretly planning to raise taxes once they’re reinstalled in power in November. But if the “secret” plan is to raise taxes for schools and local governments, that might mitigate the political damage by giving Quinn a way to dodge claims on the campaign trail that he wants to raise taxes to prop up the bureaucracy. The polling numbers are turning so bad on taxes right now that Quinn needed to do something to save his political skin without totally abandoning his principles.
That’s all well and good and a dandy little political theory. In the meantime, the state is $13 billion in the red and still lacking a real plan to tackle it.
* Related…
* Lawmakers get eviction notices: The state’s money problems are so bad that lawmakers are getting eviction notices and calls from collection agencies about their offices back home.
* Where can Quinn get $5B?
* Quinn’s budget plan requires legislative help
* Mayors say cut to income tax money would devastate local budgets
* Local villages feel impact of state budget crisis
* Put new spending plans on sideline
- Sue - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 9:25 am:
If the legislative leadership got together with the Governor and committed themselves to what was in the best interests of the State, they would agree to the Al Gore Lock Box approach and commit that all new revenues raised from any tax increase would go 100 percent to funding the pension deficit rather then continuing to use “borrowed” dollars for annual contributions and then agree to whatever cost reductions were required to balance the budget- Unfortunately that will never happen
- Michelle Flaherty - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 9:28 am:
Sue’s right, but a tax increase for government pensions doesn’t exactly sound like a political winner.
- Rich Miller - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 9:30 am:
===commit that all new revenues raised from any tax increase would go 100 percent to funding the pension deficit===
LOL. Yeah, that’ll work with the voters. I’m sure.
Not gonna happen. Get outta Springfield for a few days and ask around.
- Secret Square - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 9:45 am:
“Get outta Springfield for a few days and ask around”
I think Sue already has. Her very last sentence is “Unfortunately that will never happen.”
- GoldCoastConservative - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 9:49 am:
“refusing to vote for an income tax hike on their own may make the Democrats cowards in some eyes, but to them they’re just being politically smart. Only people with some sort of mental issues want to commit suicide.”
@ Rich, you appear to be asserting that it’s more important to get reelected than to do what is right for the state. Do you really beleive that?
- Rich Miller - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 9:52 am:
===Do you really beleive that? ===
I happen to believe it’s “right” to raise taxes, but I’d bet my house that the overwhelming majority of Illinoisans believes it’s wrong. So, who is actually right here?
- George - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 9:53 am:
Rich -
I think what is missing in all the talk of “I thought the lottery was supposed to pay for education” is how little the lottery raises compared to how much the state spends on education.
That is missing in Phil Kadner’s tax increase discussion, too.
The Lottery raises $600+ million annually. The State spends about $7.3 billion in GRF on education.
- shore - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 9:54 am:
you keep making the case that republicans have to go along with the tax increase and that it’s their fault for the mess.
the democrats ran the state. they mismanaged it and now have to pay the consequences. there is no law in Illinois that they have to have majorities in the house and the senate.
Also regulating soda and funeral processions? Did these legislators graduate from high school? can they read newspapers and know that there are actually more important things going on right now in the state.
- GoldCoastConservative - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 9:55 am:
I apprecaite your point. I would just offer that we live in a representative Democracy, and if our elected representatives beleive that a tax hike is in the best interest of the State, then they have a moral obligation to vote for one, Republicans and electoral consequences be damned.
- Deeo South - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 9:56 am:
Gold Coast:
The number one rule for any politician is to get re-elected. Always has been, always will be.
- George - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 9:57 am:
In fact -
If you add up the lottery ($600 million) and the 2.5% original income tax that Phil mentions ($7.5 million this year), you get about $8.1 billion that Phil says is supposed to be spent on education.
Well, the State spends $7.3 million GRF.
Isn’t that pretty close?
And even the $8.1 billion is high, because you must remember the original income tax was instituted in part to replace the personal property tax that had existed and was eliminated.
- OneMan - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 9:57 am:
Yes at the end of the day if they want to raise taxes they are going to need the Republicans.
They don’t have the will to do it without them.
That being said, the Republicans need to get something for any help they provide. Something that normally the Democrats would never move on.
- George - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 9:58 am:
ooops…. $7.3 billion GRF.
- just sayin' - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 10:16 am:
A Republican governor (Ogilvie) first instituted the income tax in Illinois, the next Republican governor (Thompson) was the first to raise it, and Edgar did too if you count making a “temporary” increase permanent.
It may well take a governor Bill Brady to be the patsy this time. Then governor Lisa Madigan can preside over us for the rest of our lives.
Does Quinn really want to be the first Democratic governor in Illinois history to raise the income tax? Is he that dumb?
- OneMan - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 10:19 am:
Well when parents find out their kids are going to be in classes of 40 students some one is going to hang from the highest yardarm in the fleet (figuratively).
I think Quinn will be able to say he tried.
- Robert - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 10:21 am:
Quinn isn’t that dumb but he actually may be one of the few politicians willing to try to do the right thing rather than the thing that will boost his electoral chances.
But with madigan not on board for a tax hike without republicans and with republicans not likely to vote for a tax hike (low taxes being a core value of republicans, deficits be damned), I guess Quinn is that dumb.
- VanillaMan - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 10:26 am:
This is not about an unwillingness to pay taxes due to an inability of tax payers to understand that their state and local governments are broke. This is about an unwillingness to pay taxes due to a perception of governmental incompetence and corruption that has dominated our state for over a decade.
Just as a marriage had been usually failing for years before a divorce is filed, the relationship between Illinois tax payers and their governments has been failing for years.
There is no reason to really believe that if Illinois state government was not bankrupted, Illinoisans would be contented with how their state government has been led, operated, and has functioned. Before the headlines began telling us about our fiscal doomsday, our headlines told us that voters were unhappy over corruption, inefficiencies, political partisanship, and an image that Illinois government was rotten to the core.
So, not only are these times the wrong time to ask for more taxes, the people asking are the wrong people to ask for more taxes.
The entire Ryan/Blagojevich disasters were handled so poorly it appeared to Illinoisans of both political parties that nothing mattered to our state leaders, except their own personal political survival. Both Illinois political parties made Faustian deals to gain state executive power and both political parties have been exposed as frauds disinterested or unwilling to throw out their own gubernatorial nominees after they had been exposed as corrupt and incompetent. Worse, both political parties went on after these public fiascos as though both Ryan and Blagojevich were one-off mistakes. Both political parties pretended that they did not owe Illinoisans any public apologies or discussions about how far they failed every Illinois citizen. Illinoisans did not witness any intraparty reforms designed to restore any faith in them.
The Illinois General Assembly has been unable to meet a budget deadline for five years, even though one party was in total control during those years. Voters saw that political squabbling wasn’t just a bipartisan drawback - it was a daily drawback within both parties.
Our political leaders have no reason to believe that Illinoisans believe a word they say. They have no reason to ask Illinois tax payers for more money to cover their mismanagement. They have enough conscience left within them to warn them of the political dangers of believing otherwise.
It doesn’t matter how bankrupted Illinois is. It doesn’t matter how much a tax increase would help pay the bills owed Illinois citizens right now. What matters is emotional. Illinoisans right now, hate their state government. They want a divorce.
- Louis Howe - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 10:38 am:
“The hard truth is that every major tax hike passed in this state for the past 40 years has been done in a bipartisan manner. Every, single one.”
Rich….Perhaps, a more valid conclusion from the last 40 years is that every significant tax increase was passed with a Republican governor and divided control of government. However, today democrats control all levels of government, and therefore, asking the minority party to vote for increased revenue is a prescription for stalemate.
Of course, voters will have something to say this fall and may very well answer the question….”Can Democrats be trusted to govern effectively? Democratic Party Chairman Madigan has already made his decision by demanding republican votes for any tax increase.
- Fed up - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 10:43 am:
Until taxpayers see real steps being taken to fix Ill. Goverment their will be no acceptance of a tax hike. Pension reform is a must, storys like the dept of ageing moving out of state owned offices for leased space at a cost of over 500k show that waste is still a part of I’ll goverment. Quinn just wants to hold education hostage instead of attacking corruption and waste. Just think of all the storys of wasted state money that will come out if the education cuts go through.
- Angry Chicagoan - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 10:46 am:
I think we’ve politically crossed a line into Orange County territory. I don’t expect either side to blink, and that basically leaves one option — default. Where we go from there, who knows?
- vole - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 10:50 am:
I am willing to pay more IL income taxes. But I am under no illusions that this tax would specifically address education funding. Although the tax might reduce or eliminate the draconian cuts to education in Quinn’s draft budget proposal, it would also ease stress on other sinks for general revenue.
Education, compared with agency spending, took it in the shorts in the draft budget proposal. General revenue funds to all of the governor’s agencies decreases by a mere 0.2% from 2010 to 2011. This does not represent to me that Quinn’s rhetoric about the dire financial condition matches the efforts to reduce agency spending.
There have to be programs that simply have not received adequate scrutiny and skepticism by the Quinn administration. I suspect too much bureaucratic and interest group protectionism and is at play in Springfield. Some programs simply have to fall if we are to gain long range on these budget deficits and debts. The very sustainability of state government is at issue.
- Loop Lady - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 11:15 am:
I’m disgusted with the Legslature in general…specifically, I am enraged that Michael Madigan is not going to entertain a discussion of the merits of a tax increase in the House…he basically is denying IL citizens their right to hear their duly elected Reps discuss this in open session and debate its merits and/or pitfalls and come to a reasonable compromise on spending, taxation, and government efficiencies…
I am also ready to call every Democratic State Rep a coward for not staging a coup and overthrowing the Speaker…what a bunch of self serving panty wastes…I don’t blame Cullerton and the Senate Dems for not wanting to move blink unless the House does first…
The Republicans are delusional idiots for thinking they can cut their way out of a $13 billion deficit with no tax increase…
I am trying to find a State to move to when I retire in a few years that isn’t as moronic politically as IL…wish me luck…cause I really, really am gonna need it…
- Loop Lady - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 11:19 am:
sorry for the I’m typing while I’m venting typos…
- Pot calling kettle - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 11:51 am:
Last year, the GA put off a tax increase because they were worried about who might file to run in the primary. Now, they have to put it off because it is an election year. In 2011, it will be put off as they fight over redistricting and after that another election year.
Every year will bring another perfectly good reason not to lead.
Quinn appears to be too soft to lead. We all assume he will back down as he did last year.
Brady is already showing his willingness to become the next non-leader by not putting up a bill. If it is sooooo simple, why not write up a bill over the weekend?
Maybe Dan Hynes could bring forth a bill. (I won’t hold my breath.) Maybe Cullerton? (Oh, yeah, he already did.) Perhaps Radogno, she’s supposed to be a budget expert? (Funny, no help there.) Maybe Cross? (Why should he, he’s not in charge.)
That leaves Speaker Madigan. For him, it seems to be “protect every member,” no matter the cost. To what end? So soda pop legislation can move smoothly through the House? So bills written by Republicans can reintroduced with new numbers and Dem sponsors and sail through committee and chamber to the annoyance of Rep. Black? Mr. Madigan says something this important, this big, needs to be bipartisan. Why? Firm leadership also has its rewards. The DPI and Madigan have a lot of cash and great staff with which to fight off challengers. I suspect the Dems could pass a tax increase AND keep control of the House. (This Fall’s campaign could be about the do nothing Republicans.) Imagine the power Madigan would have if he pulled that off.
- Loop Lady - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 12:09 pm:
Dear Pot: Let’s start a people’s revolution and send our ideas/concerns to Spkr. Madigan, shall we?
I’ll start:
Dear Speaker Madigan,
What have you done lately for the people of IL?
While we are eternally grateful for your
vigilance against the kooky former Governor,
our gratitude does not permit us to have you
leverage our future for your own personal gain.
We must demand that you “permit” a full
discussion in House chambers of the possibility
of a progresssive and fair tax increase, or you
may lose your majority and Speakership by
causing the election of non Democrats this Fall
to the House of Representatives. We, the
citizens of IL have the right to a truly
representative government, and if denied this
right, will do anything and everything to remedy
it….
- Rich Miller - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 12:11 pm:
Loop Lady, there was a House vote and debate last year and there will probably be one this year, too. I doubt you’re gonna spark a revolution based on a post here. Also, I doubt that pro-tax hike revolution would be joined by very many Illinoisans at the moment.
- southtown fan - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 12:12 pm:
I find that Kadner is good at pointing out problems but not so good at pointing out viable solutions.
- steve schnorf - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 12:16 pm:
As to Mr Kadner’s comment, the Governor could eliminate his entire staff and not make a dent in reducing the Education cut. That’s just silliness.
- Loop Lady - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 12:19 pm:
Rich,
Desperate people can do crazy things…I was merely appealing to Madigans’ passion for his own power and self absorption…I think many readers of this blog would love to see a real open honest discussion in the House no matter where they sit on the merits of a tax increase with no political retribution promised by the Speaker…
Why dont you call Steve Brown and run it past him?…let’s call his bluff…
- Rich Miller - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 12:22 pm:
LL, I do not exist to make anyone’s life easier except my own family and friends. Call Brownie yourself. :)
- RJW - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 1:03 pm:
Rich:
I hope you were joking when you mentioned the State Board of Education “bureaucracy.” They don’t have one anymore. It has been cut to shreds. They can’t do all of the mandated federal oversight, let alone try to manage state programs. Plus, their operations budget is peanuts. They only have 500 people, with probably half funded by federal dollars.
- Pot calling kettle - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 1:44 pm:
I don’t think it’s about allowing a debate on anything. It’s a question of to what end is power accumulated. It seems that many (if not most) of the legislative leaders obtained their positions by focusing on getting members elected. The focus never shifts from that goal.
Because of that mind set, important legislation (most especially significant cuts and revenue increases) is rarely passed by both chambers. Instead, playing games is the order of each day.
To what end is power accumulated? The end goal seems to be maintaining accumulated power. Imagine pro basketball without a shot clock. Once you have a lead, you hang onto the ball for as long as you can. Shooting a basket just means the other team might get the ball. Imagine football without the fourth down. Once a team had the lead, they would run play after play with no intent of getting anywhere. This is how ball is played in Springfield and Washington.
- steve schnorf - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 2:12 pm:
i think we can’t be too harsh here with Cullerton regarding leadership. He passed a tax increase out of the Senate and its sitting there in the House, could be passed at any time.
- Loop Lady - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 2:20 pm:
Steve-
I totally disagree…Cullerton passed it out of the Senate…it’s up to Madigan and Madigan alone to call it for debate…the blame for no action is solely on the Speaker’s shoulders…
- steve schnorf - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 2:22 pm:
?
- Bubs - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 2:26 pm:
The “drunken sailors” of the Democratic majority in the GA got the State in this budget hole over the last eight years, even overriding Blago vetos on spending, so they can take the electoral fall.
Madigan and Cullerton want it both ways: they can unilaterally spend, often without even bothering to consult the GOP, but the ensuing financial pain has to be “bipartisan” so voters will blame both sides. Heads I win, tails we equally lose.
I suspect that GOP leaders understand that some sort of tax increase has to happen, unless the State files for bankruptcy, but not until the Democratic leadership publically checks into rehab for their spending addiction. The sooner that happens, and real cuts emerge, the sooner we will begin to get out of this fiscal canyon.
The Demcorats obviously won’t do that, so stalemate is the order of the day for a while.
- Pot calling kettle - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 2:32 pm:
LL - I think that was Steve’s point. (and, I agree, Cullerton took the lead)
- Loop Lady - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 2:33 pm:
sorry Steve, misread your post…
- PalosParkBob - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 2:35 pm:
To paraphrase the Founders, Mankind is more disposed to suffer, when evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
Well, the “evils” of Springfield through corruption and patronage, and flat out unfairness to anyone not in a campaign contributing union, have finally gotten beyond the point of being “sufferable” with the Illinois economic meltdown and potentially damaging tax increase.
People are tired of hearing about people like the “Cashmere Sewer Inspector” Emil Jones collecting $250K in multiple public pensions and having Quinn tell us we should take food off our families’ table to continue funding such abuse.
People are tired of hearing the bureaucracy crying they need more money “for education” then see failing districts paying $150K for drivers ed instructors and then taking $180K away from the kids to “buy years” so a teacher or administrator can retire at age 55 with a $80K pension.
People are tired of paying 20-40% above market rates for road and school construction because Springfield wants to overpay union construction workers through “prevailing wage” mandates that add no value.
The people are tired of being asked to suffer to subsidize bloated Medicaid rolls where 50% of births are fully subsidized by taxpayers, and 1 out of every 5 people here are on public Medicaid.
Quinn refuses to do what he’s constitutioinally able to do to minimize public pensions, he refuses to deal with unfair mandates like prevailing wage, and he’s completely unwilling to take actions to cap unfair wages and benefits enjoyed by many in public education because he puts the wants of the IEA and NEA over the needs of the children.
Giving Quinn and this GA a tax increase would be as foolish as givng Blago a blank check for a capital bill.
How sad that Brady seems incapable of forming a coherent, thoughtful plan for downsizing Illinois government and balancing the budget.
We need a Hero to get out of this mess, but I don’t see riding up on a white horse.
- Loop Lady - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 2:36 pm:
I agree, and stated so in my 11:15 am post…
- Pot calling kettle - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 2:38 pm:
Bubs - the “drunken sailors’ of spending are on both sides of the aisle. I do not see signs that the Republicans behave any more or less fiscally responsible than the Dems.
If you want cuts, they’ve been made. Everywhere from the DNR to Corrections to Higher Ed and K-12. Any more cutting is moving deck chairs on the Titanic. You’ll notice that through all the talk of cutting, there is rarely mention of specific cuts that are significant enough to make a difference. Mostly we get vague statements about a percentage or a year, but no mention of what the actual impacts would be.
- Skirmisher - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 3:27 pm:
I don’t think at this point anyone in their right mind believes that any cuts can be “significant” in terms of real dollars and the deficit. The deficit is now simply too huge. However, if the Dems want to bring the Republicans around they need to make big cuts that get the attention of the Republican constituency, and I haven’t see much of that. Funding to help the poor has been cut (Ho-hum) but the parks, museums and historic sites are still open, deer tags are still being sold, universities have yet to be shut down in mid year, commuter trains still run, and so the spigot to local governments and school districts still runs, albeit at lower pressure. Unless they are dumb enough to be doing business with the state or have a kid in college, the great taxpaying middle class has not been much impacted by the budget mess so far as I can see. My friends outside of Springfield are only vaguely aware that it even exists, much to my consternation. I think we are a long, long way from a solution.
- Ghost - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 3:31 pm:
=== we are sick of politics trumping policy; incumbency trumping ideals; partisanship trumping planning.
There was a time, at least it seems, when we elected people to make hard decisions, to lead. ===
What a niave sounding commentary. Politics and policy go hand in hand. We rely on politics to generate our policy.
Incumbency trumpting ideals, and electingpeople to make hard decisions have the same fallicy.
As a generalization, we elect people who we think will make the same decision we would. i.e. we are voting to duplicate our point of view, or as close as we can come.
No one elects somone to make decisions which go against what they want! If that happens we vote them out. Somone gets r-elected generally for making the decisions a voter wants.
In other words, we do not select canidates because tey are willing to go against everything we support and beleive. The tough decision is by inherent definition going against what your voters want you to do. Afterall, if the voters support what you do we do not call it a tough decision.
- Rambler - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 3:55 pm:
==I find that Kadner is good at pointing out problems but not so good at pointing out viable solutions.==
That would make Kadner just about like everyone else.
I find it interesting that during the campaign, PQ chided Hynes for his support of a graduated income tax, saying that he (PQ) had supported it for years. But evidently he doesn’t support it now. So what was all that about (leaving aside the possibility that it’s foolhardy to try to find any actual meaning in PQ’s statements)? Was he trying to create the impression that he would put it on the table, or was he just channeling John Kerry — I was for it before I was against it?
Anyway, the issue has apparently become dormant — evidently even Rich Whitney regards it as too radical.
- wordslinger - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 4:39 pm:
Given the environment, it’s time to think anew.
Ideas, anyone, that would impact the current day-to-day revenue starvation of the status quo?
- Bubs - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 5:33 pm:
Pot,
Really?
Who has been running the State while state budget has increased by some 30% since 2004?
- Emily Booth - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 6:38 pm:
Pension reform to me is the elimination of 6 figure pensions. Sorry judges, legislators, administrators and executives.
- Pot calling kettle - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 9:30 pm:
Bubs,
I don’t have a graph to refer to, but I suspect that if we had one, we would see a fairly steady increase in expenditures, regardless of which party was in charge.
- just sayin' - Monday, Mar 15, 10 @ 10:48 pm:
As I recall it was Tom Cross and the House Repubs who desperately tried to expand gambling and wanted to give Blago a blank check worth tens of billions. It’s beyond dishonest to try and blame only one party for the mess in Illinois.