43 Comments - Bit out there - Monday, Jan 10, 11 @ 2:43 pm: Tad extreme at this point, but it’s a free country–if Republicans only can offer bankruptcy as an alternative–that’s not much. My hats off to the 6 Rs who are considering it and holding out for a smaller hike and a spending cap. Time, as in immediately, for grown ups to stabilize Illinois. - Sportsman - Monday, Jan 10, 11 @ 2:47 pm: What does the URF propose to address the structural deficit and excessive late payments? - Anonymous - Monday, Jan 10, 11 @ 2:50 pm: “Time, as in immediately, for grown ups to stabilize Illinois.” “Grown up” legislators would act during the regular session instead of depending on lame ducks to push through pathetically overreaching bills. For that matter, “grown up” legislators would acknowledge that cuts and caps must be part of the package, not just tax increases. Check with both the Civic Federation and IGPA among others– due to inaction for well over a decade, the deficit is now too big to solve with just cuts *OR* tax increases– both are required. This is not to say that Illinois Republicans are showing leadership on the issues, just that neither are the Democrats. - Bit out there - Monday, Jan 10, 11 @ 2:52 pm: So you really think the bond market will continue to lend Illinois money if this collapses? Reality check time. - gathersno - Monday, Jan 10, 11 @ 3:01 pm: Short sighted and destructive! - Steve Bartin - Monday, Jan 10, 11 @ 3:04 pm: Even though Illinois state government can’t file under Chapter 9 bankruptcy: it’s time to start thinking about some sort of re-organization. Raising taxes isn’t going to solve a pension problem, now or in 4 years. - wordslinger - Monday, Jan 10, 11 @ 3:16 pm: Excellent opportunity for Jim Tobin to raise money. How much it would trickle down into races is another story. Being an anti-tax, anti-spending advocate can be very expensive — a lot of overhead. - Barton Miller - Monday, Jan 10, 11 @ 3:21 pm: Now is as good a time as any to draw a line. Spending has been out of control at both the Federal and State level. Good for the URF. I’ll help them recruit candidates. I would also like to see the Tea Party vote against raising the debt limit. This is the only type of action that will stop the bad behavior of kicking the can down the road. - Ghost of John Brown - Monday, Jan 10, 11 @ 3:22 pm: I think the point that many conservatives would make, (including myself) is that we are tired of the premise of “we’ll pass the tax increase now and deal with cuts later”. Will the State need to increase taxes? Perhaps. We have dug such a huge hole that it may be unavoidable. That said, I see very little effort to rein in costs first. If the citizens of this state could see that there is an effort to take a meat cleaver to state spending (OK, I might even live with a good paring knife), and can be reasonably sure that we have cut all the fat, then a tax increase might be ok. So far, though, all I have seen in the definition of being “fiscally responsible” is “We have X in bills, so we need to raise X amount of money”. A number of groups have proposed all sorts of cuts to State spending. I haven’t seen the Democrat leadership act like they are even remotely interested. It would be nice to see the Republicans in the Legislature have a little bit of backbone, and I think that is what URF is aiming for. - strengthandhonor - Monday, Jan 10, 11 @ 3:30 pm: There have to be consequences for supporting Madigan and this job killing tax increase proposal. Madigan can promise them they won’t be challenged in the general, but a serious primary challenge can be very costly. There also is a movement afoot to ensure that DEMS voting for this bill are challenged, and that Madigan will have to use resources to keep his guys/girls from electoral harm. I’ve been hearing about a number of that exiled group of “Reagan Democrats” that are planning to come home to the Dem Party and at least make the corrupt Madigan folks work for their spots. It should be interesting. This will also be a test of Cross and Radogno’s ability to keep their troops “in-line” and show the RINOs that there will be consequences for going off the reservation. Ooops, I forgot! Cross and Radogno are PART of that group! - Anonymous - Monday, Jan 10, 11 @ 3:31 pm: Ghost of John Brown, You are correct that the Republicans need some backbone. However, the needed backbone involves standing up to the URF and increasing taxes as well as some cuts in spending. - Ray del Camino - Monday, Jan 10, 11 @ 3:33 pm: Anti-tax types have selective attention. A meat cleaver has already been taken to Illinois public budgets. In our town’s schools and colleges, heat is turned off, personnel are being laid-off and furloughed, routine maintenance is not being done on buildings. In social service agencies in our area, doctors and other professionals are being laid off, staff vacancies aren’t being filled, poor children–poor children!–are not receiving nutritional support, protection from abusive adults, preventive health care. Look around, man! - You Can't Stop What's Coming - Monday, Jan 10, 11 @ 3:34 pm: Does that mean ILL-GOP leader Sen. “Ding-Dong” Radogno will be challenged? She co-sponsored the bill extending the IL Sales Tax to the Internet — helping turn the information highway into a “Toll Road.” - Anon - Monday, Jan 10, 11 @ 3:41 pm: “ILL-GOP leader Sen. “Ding-Dong” Radogno”…c’mon! If centrist moderates like her leave the GOP, this will really be a one-party state. Anyway…the Tobin thing just makes a last-minute tax hike effort all the more difficult. Things should have been worked out a week ago. - wishbone - Monday, Jan 10, 11 @ 3:46 pm: How about getting rid of township governments, and the Veterans Department (the Feds have a big one and they do the wars), or ending the stupid war on drugs that fill our prisons for crimes that have no victims? How about pension reform that reduces costs now not in 25 years? Our Governor is not a serious man and no one is suggesting the serious reforms which along with a reasonable tax increase (say to 4%) would solve the problem. - wordslinger - Monday, Jan 10, 11 @ 3:51 pm: –Now is as good a time as any to draw a line. Spending has been out of control at both the Federal and State level.– Talk is cheap, Barton. There’s so much heat, but so little light, from the right wing. Why don’t you read the history and see what Reagan, both Bushes, plus every GOP Congress and Illinois governor, actually did, not what they said. The last GOP leader who actually tried to shrink government was Ike. He wanted to cut defense. Besides overall cuts, both he and Gen. Bradley wanted to eliminate the Marine Corps as redundant. Someway, somehow, both Dem and GOP leaders had the audacity to accuse Ike of being soft on defense — he had created a “missisle gap” with the Soviet Union, a country where folks stood in line for Ol’ Redwood bark toilet paper. We’re a continental nation with an astounding global military posture that promises guns and butters to its people. We all live magnificently, even folks who are “poor,” when you compare us to the rest of the world and 99% of the people who ever walked the earth. Our biggest health problems are too much food, too much booze, too many drugs, too many cars and too many guns. We’re living large, man. We just don’t want to pay for it. - wordslinger - Monday, Jan 10, 11 @ 3:58 pm: Wishbone, go for it, dude. But it’s called a budget, and at some point, you have to put pencil to paper and make the columns match. Venting doesn’t cut it. - So Blue Democrat - Monday, Jan 10, 11 @ 3:59 pm: Barton, You have no idea what the consequences will be if the debt limit is not increased. Perhaps you need to take a basic Economics class. - drew - Monday, Jan 10, 11 @ 4:01 pm: Sweet. More primary work. - jake - Monday, Jan 10, 11 @ 4:02 pm: Anybody who thinks we have not had big cuts already is not associated with either a state university or a social service agency. Anybody who thinks we have not had big cuts already has forgotten about the pension reform that passed last year. Anybody who thinks we have not had big cuts already has already forgotten about the Medicaid reform that just passed. The fact is that there is no reasonable level of budget cutting that will satisfy the right wing. The other fact is that the magnitude of the package that Cullerton presented is essential to solving the problem. It is the worst possible solution—except for all the others that have been proposed. - D.P. Gumby - Monday, Jan 10, 11 @ 4:11 pm: thank you URF for showing such great leadership in finding a solution to the state’s serious budget issues. We all await your puppy dogs, unicorns, and daisies to go w/ your “no taxes ever”. - 3 beers to Springfield - Monday, Jan 10, 11 @ 4:11 pm: If State Universities have had big cuts, why are some employees getting 20% raises? - Obamas Puppy - Monday, Jan 10, 11 @ 4:15 pm: These same Business groups are the first ones to chastize unions when political threats are made. Remember the hollaring after unions were mad about the pension reforms and these groups said it is what was best for the state. Well what goes around comes around, I guess bad policy is in the eye of the beholder. - shore - Monday, Jan 10, 11 @ 4:16 pm: im with the URF, time for springfield republicans to show some spine and pretend for once they are legitimate people and not just pawns of the democrats down there. in chicago we see springfield democrats on the tv all the time, but radogno, cross ect seem to either not have time for tv or are in some secret hiding place. - Obamas Puppy - Monday, Jan 10, 11 @ 4:17 pm: 3 beers It is not the union contracts that are getting 20%, those are those administrator sweetheart deals. - wishbone - Monday, Jan 10, 11 @ 4:17 pm: The so called “pension reform” that passed last year only affects new hires and will not impact the budget for many years. The problem is now. Stopping the ignorant drug war that targets victimless crime or shutting down departments that duplicate federal ones like Veterans and Agriculture are not right wing but sensible. - Fed-Up - Monday, Jan 10, 11 @ 4:17 pm: I do agree that we should not be voting for tax increases in the lame duck session but I believe strongly that the next GA must pass some sort of tax increase to get us out of the hole that we are in. There probably is more that can be cut but state government is already a sickly shadow of what it once was. I say put a lid on all new spending. Pass a temporary tax increase (though not as high as proposed) to get us out of the hole and then once we are out of the hole live within our means. I don’t like paying more in taxes either but something has to be done and budget cuts alone won’t come close to filling the hole. - bored now - Monday, Jan 10, 11 @ 4:19 pm: like i said to ydd oh so long ago (last december) when he was “explaining” madigan’s decision to hold up the vote because he wanted republican votes, there is no intelligent republican who wants a future in politics who is going to support a tax increase in the current political environment. period… - So Blue Democrat - Monday, Jan 10, 11 @ 4:26 pm: Wishbone, You have simple responses since you do not have a basic understanding of the differences and responsibilities of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Illinois Department of Agriculture. I would recommend that you study an issue before you recommend policy changes. - Anonymous - Monday, Jan 10, 11 @ 4:40 pm: Republicans who vote for the tax increase package(s) during this session or any session are vulnerable to primary challenges. The URF is just stating the obvious that all Republican office holders are painfully aware of. There are several groups of like minded types laying in the grass ready to pounce on them. The double standard of some who demand Republican votes for these tax increases yet who are also quick to defend any Democrats who don’t vote for them is pretty painful to watch around here. And it is a double standard. Let me point out the obvious here. This state has been run into the ground financially over the past 8 years of complete and total Democratic control and domination over State Government. It would be nice to see the Democrats step up and say: “We are sorry, we screwed up. We need some help.” That will never happen but it would be a nice start. The “blame the Republicans for this mess” is beyond lame and false. It’s the driver of the car who gets the ticket for being in an auto wreck, not the passenger in the back seat. So to vote for a tax increase would be to face misery in the form of fanatical challengers. If you don’t help the Democrats out, they could potentially redistrict you out of existence, Talk about being between a rock and a hard place! The smart thing the GOP legislators can do is vote “no” to any tax increases until they get a true voice in government. A true voice in what to cut. A true voice in what to increase. And not be treated like they are irrelevant. I know that must tick off a lot of people in Springfield and on this site. But what would you advise them to do? As a kid, I was required to clean up the mess I made in my own bedroom. Democrats expect others to help in the clean up. - Louis G. Atsaves - Monday, Jan 10, 11 @ 4:41 pm: Sorry, Anon 4:40 is me. - Joe - Monday, Jan 10, 11 @ 5:59 pm: So Blue Democrat - But they have the same names! - wishbone - Monday, Jan 10, 11 @ 6:05 pm: Well, Blue Democrat, at least you did not try to defend the war on drugs. Prohibition does not work. It never has and it costs the state billions to imprison people who commit a victimless crime not to mention the millions in lost revenues that would come from taxing illegal drugs. Think cigarettes! - aaronsinger - Monday, Jan 10, 11 @ 6:14 pm: I thought I remember reading once that Illinois has 2,000 more local governments than any other state. Many Township and City governments seem rather redundant. And also, how about local bodies that really have no reason to exist such as a Mosquito Abatement District, Water Reclamation District, Forest Commission, etc. All of those could be lumped into other departments. - John Galt - Monday, Jan 10, 11 @ 6:35 pm: I can seen an argument for township government in rural counties, due to the lack of municipalities. But not in the more populated areas. Of course, the reason they aren’t abolished is they are a haven for low-level political hacks and patronage jobs. Who’s going to knock on all of those doors come election time? - wordslinger - Monday, Jan 10, 11 @ 6:58 pm: Louis, seriously, does it really matter “whose fault” it is anymore? The accountants will tell you the numbers don’t lie. It’s beyond party at this point, isn’t it? It seems to me, nationally and locally, everyone had a good time at the party, but no one wants to clean up. Dems, GOP, dogs, cats, whatever. Tell you what, put it on me. I’ll take the rap, but I won’t go to the Fed or Treasury asking for help.I’ll just take the hit and the shame. Okay? It’s my fault. Now, let’s move on and be grownups. - standonprinciple - Monday, Jan 10, 11 @ 7:29 pm: There is a solution other than a tax increase. In 2009 we raised taxes. It was the $31 Billion Capital Bill. Most of that $$$ has not been spent. Most of that bill was wasteful or unnecessary. D Senator Wilhelmi stated that all US states passed $38 Billion in Capital Expenditures. $31 Billion of that was ours. Our Capital Bill was 4 TIMES the other 49 States COMBINED!!!! Hmmmm, sounds like there should be money left over there. I’ve reviewed it, there is. All you lefties complaining about cuts to schools and social service providers — you are right. They are squeezing you while spending pork everywhere else. It is a SCAM. They are tricking you into believing we need a tax increase. - Louis G. Atsaves - Monday, Jan 10, 11 @ 10:27 pm: Wordslinger, yes it does matter. They left the patient on the table and let him bleed to death the past few years. Now those same doctors are giving the patient a transfusion without patching the wounds. They passed budgets which were anything but balanced with even Madigan admitting that it was unconstitutional. The “no one is responsible let’s just all pitch in and fix it line” doesn’t wash with me. The state financial disaster is the responsibility of the party in complete power for the past eight years. Responsibility still matters. - wordslinger - Monday, Jan 10, 11 @ 10:50 pm: Louis, if you’re going to play the party game, and blame everything on the Dems of the last eight years, fine. I’ll buy it. But, by that logic, don’t the GOP elected officials owe the public they’re sworn to represent an alternative to the plans of the screwups who got us here? If the Dems are the bozos of the last decade, don’t GOP lawmakers have a responsibility, if not a duty, to push a comprehensive alternative? Or is just still pointing fingers and kicking the can down the road for (once again)some alleged political gain at the next election? - Louis G. Atsaves - Monday, Jan 10, 11 @ 11:13 pm: Wordslinger, your comments would make more sense if the Republicans were also sitting at the table working out this “deal.” They aren’t. It’s Democrats talking to Democrats, as usual. Republicans weren’t invited. Again. We’ve seen how that “works” in the past! You want the GOP to present some form of alternative plan you have to give them a forum for it. So far I haven’t read anything about Cross and Radogno sitting in on all these high powered meetings. The “what’s your plan” is a fine bit of misdirection designed to disguise the failure of governance by the majority party these past 8 years. And a major failure is keeping the minority party locked in the closet instead of inviting them to be active partners and giving them a voice. The big debate about the tax increases will take place where? With the clock about to run out, it will be rammed through with no real input by the minority party or the public. Then the Democrats can cry that they received “no cooperation.” How old is that game now? Ah politics! That knife cuts both ways. Yes, Responsibility Matters! - Chad - Tuesday, Jan 11, 11 @ 5:29 am: Good for Tobin. What we seem to need (and we are headed that way in any case) is a first-class bankruptcy meltdown at the municipal level to show everyone just where we are headed if we don’t cut expenses. The GA showed by its weenie refusal to fully end the free rides that it is still unwilling to face reality. Time to have an effective opposition party. - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Jan 11, 11 @ 10:08 am: ===You want the GOP to present some form of alternative plan you have to give them a forum for it. === They’re elected legislators, for crying out loud. They have a forum. It’s called the General Assembly. - Honest Abe - Tuesday, Jan 11, 11 @ 2:31 pm: Township governments serve a purpose in rural areas. There is no good reason for townships to continue to operate in densely populated regions where municipal and county governments can provide constituent services. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.