* Gov. Pat Quinn in the Sun-Times…
“I’m the only one running for governor who has a plan to invest in education,” Quinn said. “The other people have nothing. It’s a sham. I think it’s time we call those folks out.”
At the news conference at Jane Addams Elementary School, Quinn added: “The other person is too timid, too fearful to lay out a plan.”
Quinn said he and staff are still going through the budget lawmakers sent his office and promised that education for this fiscal year would not suffer.
That could not be promised in future years without the help of the extension of a temporary income tax hike, which Quinn unsuccessfully pushed in his budget proposal.
“Now to be honest, if we don’t have the resources, in future fiscal years, we’ll be in trouble,” Quinn said. “So it’s important we win this battle.”
* But…
While Quinn criticized Rauner for failing to make his positions clear, the governor refused to say what he’d do with a bill that would put in place changes for portions of City Hall’s pension systems. The proposal is backed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who has said he would seek a property tax increase to pay for the extra $250 million the city would have to make in pension contributions over five years. […]
Quinn refused to say if he’d sign the city pension bill, which he must act on by Monday. He also declined to discuss whether the 911 fee measure could be a viable alternative to a property tax increase, therefore making him more inclined to sign off on the pension measure. […]
The governor also demurred on whether he’d sign the budget lawmakers sent him, which he has described as “incomplete.” Quinn said he’d have to review it carefully, but may consider making a few changes.
Thoughts?
- Cassiopeia - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 8:52 am:
Rauner will wait to see what Quinn does with the bills on his desk before he speaks out any further.
The only ones clamoring for details now are Quinn allies and the press who are bored now that session is over.
No one else is paying any attention to any of this stuff right now.
- Mighty M. Mouse - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 8:56 am:
===Quinn refused to say if he’d sign the city pension bill, which he must act on by Monday.===
What’s the big deal? Everyone will for sure know in less than a week. Just be patient — tick tock, tick tock . . . .
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 9:12 am:
illinois resident`s will be the only one`s to assumm the position
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 9:14 am:
WLS had Rauner’s response to Quinn’s education shot yesterday, why was that not reported?
- Mason born - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 9:14 am:
I think Quinn would love for Rauner to put something out right now. He can pick it apart, fairly and unfairly, and try to make it the focus of the news cycle. Right now Quinn looks completely incompetent and even worse for him he is dominating the local news cycle. Rauner has to put something out soon. That being said he doesn’t have an obligation to rescue Quinn from his own incompetence.
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 9:15 am:
===At the news conference at Jane Addams Elementary School, Quinn added: “The other person is too timid, too fearful to lay out a plan.”===
Didn’t Rauner run Ads saying “We need to be Bold…”
I remember that. I remember the commercials with “Illinois Mountains” with, “we need to be bold, and fundamentally change…”
Here is your chance, Rauners… Either one of you can tell us;
What is your plan, 52 weeks in the making?
Maybe we need to figure out which Rauner is bold?
- wordslinger - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 9:25 am:
The Rauner “plan” when it emerges will be “cut waste, end corruption, run it like a business.”
There won’t be a dollar sign or a line item to pick apart.
- Apacolypse Now - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 9:26 am:
Rauner needs to stick to his campaign strategy and keep Quinn on the defensive. The only ones asking for Rauner to comment are the Quinn folks and Rauner haters.
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 9:28 am:
===The only ones asking for Rauner to comment are the Quinn folks and Rauner haters.===
Seems that you forgot the Press in your rant…
- Frenchie Mendoza - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 9:29 am:
This kind of timidity — or miscalculated secrecy — sticks to a candidate, especially a so-called “outsider” like Rauner who has no public voting record of any kind. It makes him look surprisingly weak — and certainly contradicts much of the pre-primary swagger Rauner thought he had.
The public may not care about this for a while, but Quinn is well on his way to defining Rauner before Rauner has a chance to define himself. Shaking up Springfield, I assume, will be hard to do if this is the real Rauner: secret and timid.
- Skeptic - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 9:30 am:
Seems that you forgot the Press in your rant… … and people who want to know what they’re voting for.
- Nobody's Perfect - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 9:32 am:
Hope everybody saw how well Bruce did with Zeb fen LLC….300 fired….millions lost….hmmmm business expert…not
- Walker - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 9:33 am:
Rauner has not, and probably will not, “speak out” on these issues with any detail, until after election day.
He’s been promising a “plan will be out shortly” for a year now, and he knows better than to deliver anything of the sort. It’s not timidity or cowardice — it’s cleverness.
This can be a winning strategy, provided the general dissatisfaction among voters becomes a big driver to the polls.
To step back: building on public dissatisfaction as the primary campaign strategy, might not be enough, if general perceptions of the economy continue to slowly rise.
Hate to repeat an old saw, but: “It’s the economy, stupid.”
Rauner’s banking on low public perceptions of the Illinois economy, and will do his best to drive them as low as possible.
- Bill White - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 9:34 am:
Rauner’s banking on low information voters staying that way.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 9:34 am:
the backbone of rauner`s plan is in the er
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 9:37 am:
- Skeptic -, apologies. There seems to be a small but growing chorus asking these questions too.
I will add this, any candidate who wants to be seen laughing at direct questions of the media, after leading them on for 52 weeks, doesn’t need to worry about seeming smug, you are smug, and the camera catches that.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 9:39 am:
the best laid plans of mice and men…
- Walter Mitty - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 9:44 am:
No plan, until it is time… And keep asking… Keep dodging….If it was anyone but Rauner, I would be willing to bet, there would not be this clamor… The Super Majority failed… Quinn is not even signing the budget… He will have a plan out by Labor Day or he won’t get elected… Giving the opponents all summer to pick it apart while they are floundering….Not quite….
- RNUG - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 9:54 am:
Expect Quinn will do a bit of amendatory veto to the budget, suggesting shuffling funds around a bit for appearances sake by adding a bit to education funding while taking it away from other areas.
I think Quinn will also veto the Chicago pension bill but not sure exactly how; right now I’d say the odds are about 7:2 for a complete veto so Quinn can claim he’s protecting property taxpayers.
Both actions will be designed to buy a little more time in the news cycles while also trying to score a political point or two against Rauner.
- Arizona Bob - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 9:56 am:
Quinn really has no “plan” for improving education, he just wants to throw more money at the system without value or postive student outcome effect.
It’d be interesting if someone actually asked him some probing questions on the matter:
“Mr Governor, you favor increasing state spending on K-12 education. Where should that money be most effectively spent in the interest of the students? Should increased spending be linked to more school contact days that will increase educational opportunity, or just going to increase staffing and compensation without improvement in student outcomes? How has increased state spending been spent in the past in Illinois, and how has it measurably improved student outcomes?”
“MR Governor, you’re a strong supporter of early childhood education, yet studies from project “Headstart” have shown that all positive effects of such programs disappear by 3rd grade. In light of this, how do you justify an increase of resources devoted to this purpose?”
“Mr Governor, perhaps you are aware of the tremendous inequality in compensation for “equal work” in both within individual districts and between different districts. For example, it is not unusual for suburban high school districts to pay over $100,000 for a 180 work day year to a teacher for having the same course load and number of students as a $40,000 teacher doing teaching exactly the same classes in the same district with no better student outcomes from the more highly paid teacher. How do you justify this inequality, and how do you justify paying far more than would be established by teacher comparable worth comparisons with other professions such as engineering and nursing?”
“Mr Governor,Illinois is one of only nine states that doesn’t prohibit teacher strikes. What has been the financial impact of this power, and how is it in the best interest of the children and taxpayers of Illinois? Do you support protecting the children and taxpayers by prohibiting teacher strikes in Illinois?”
I’d LOVE to hear these questions asked of our Guv, but I doubt he’d ever be asked by the compliant press in Illinois, let alone answer these questions.
Perhaps someone in the Rauner camp may want to push forward with these questions….
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 9:58 am:
the allmighty has never revealed the plan you must have faith in our savior(god speed)
- Phenomynous - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 10:05 am:
Rauner’s plan is a little too “Hopey and Changey” for my liking.
- Rod - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 10:06 am:
Interesting observation RNUG on a Quinn veto of the Chicago pension bill. As many of us on this blog have pointed out neither Governor Quinn nor Mr. Rauner have a plan for what to do about revenue for municipal pension funds. So eventually the solution in either case will be increased property taxes, possibly linked with offsetting reductions in services like the total number of police and fire fighters in the City of Chicago, and charges for garbage pick up from even single family homes.
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 10:08 am:
===Illinois is one of only nine states that doesn’t prohibit teacher strikes. ===
Um, look at Illinois history. We had a ton of teacher strikes before they were legal. Since they were legalized, a relative few.
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 10:14 am:
- Arizona Bob -,
This is not sophomore year;
Not every single problem is rooted in Teacher Unions, Administration funding, and a Right to Work state, is not the only solution to every possible problem Illinois has.
It’s like you are taking an essay exam, you know one fact or one solution to a algebra question, and your essay answers always write out the same.
Illinois will not be a Right to Work state, given the GA makeup, today, and next GA. Further, your education model, your Union distain, and your unrealistic way to destroy then, given Illinois as the playing field, put your solutions as… not solutions.
Not everything is “Teachers Bad!”, “Unions Bad!”
- Grandson of Man - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 10:15 am:
“The only ones asking for Rauner to comment are the Quinn folks and Rauner haters.”
How dare we expect candidates to offer plans and criticize them when they don’t? We should just shut up and believe……believe.
Rauner’s silence doesn’t make his supporters a bit uneasy? How do they know he won’t raise the income tax if he gets elected–especially when the state will lose a lot of revenue, and the ratings agencies downgrade us?
- Phenomynous - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 10:16 am:
“Um, look at Illinois history. We had a ton of teacher strikes before they were legal. Since they were legalized, a relative few.”
The Illinois Labor Relations Board is really handling their business! Finally, a state Agency we can point to that is showing promise!
:)
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 10:17 am:
===right now I’d say the odds are about 7:2 for a complete veto ===
I’d probably make it just the opposite now that the 911 tax has been passed.
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 10:18 am:
===The only ones asking for Rauner to comment are the Quinn folks and Rauner haters.===
Yet another victim heard from.
Grow a pair already.
- dupage dan - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 10:24 am:
How would Rauners likely “waste fraud and abuse” retort be any better/different than Quinn’s “plan to invest (read raise taxes) in education?
It’s curious that folks actually look at these blandishments and attach any meaning to them during campaigns. I would compare that to reading tea leaves. Interesting, perhaps, but without any real substance.
- VanillaMan - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 10:29 am:
Rauner’s banking on low information voters staying that way.
It is their right to vote how they see fit, and based on whatever they wish. It shouldn’t be the basis of an insult. Claiming that voters who don’t support you as “low information”, willfully blinds you in gaining their support and gives them reasons not to support you.
Try to honor voters by respecting their views and then winning them over with your charms and arguments. That works better than claiming that they are idiots who need to be shunned and making them into some kind of public example in hopes that insults will scare undecided voters into supporting you to avoid your mocking and insults.
- Norseman - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 10:36 am:
There needs tone an investigation of the leaks in Rauner’s campaign staff. Someone leaked the plan to Wordslinger.
- wordslinger - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 10:37 am:
–How would Rauners likely “waste fraud and abuse” retort be any better/different than Quinn’s “plan to invest (read raise taxes) in education?–
I don’t think it would be better at all.
The difference is Quinn’s proposals are backed up by big honking budget books.
- Bill White - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 10:38 am:
=== It shouldn’t be the basis of an insult. ===
I am not insulting voters. I am saying that Bruce Rauner is running a content free media campaign based on cliches and platitudes while being devoid of specifics.
Whether it works remains to be seen.
- JMA - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 10:39 am:
Glad Rauner is staying quiet. Quinn looks like a fool, why get in the way of that?
- VanillaMan - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 10:41 am:
The reason the “waste and fraud” excuse seems to work with many voters is because they have enough of the five human senses and enough intelligence to believe there is too much waste and fraud in their governments.
If one wishes to address this excuse, then there needs to be an attempt to address it. Common sense recognizes that when any organization spends billions but doesn’t add value to their lives, there ought to be a better way to fund it. Questioning why taxes are hurting their abilities to pay for daily living is a teaching moment for those who believe in where those taxes are going.
Citizens that don’t complain don’t get better governments. It is good they complain. What I see as a problem is the arrogance of those refusing to defend themselves and insulting the questioners as stupid, ignorant, selfish, racist or whatever passes as an insult today. Doing this doesn’t address their concerns, so those concerns continue.
High taxes don’t mean unhappy constituents unless they don’t see their governments as a value to them. Show them the value. This ends the argument.
- RNUG - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 10:45 am:
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 10:17 am:
You may be right that Quinn will sign the city pension bill … I’ve been wrong before and I’m sure I will be in the future.
- Archimedes - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 11:03 am:
Az. Bob - some of the conclusions you state do not match the studies you site - ex. the Head Start report compared Head Start enrolled to non-enrolled control group, and 60% of the control group were enrolled in an alternative pre-school education. So - the conclusion was that Head Start effects were diluted by 3rd grade compared to the control group that ALSO had pre-school (just not Head Start). Other factors as well. i.e. the findings were not an indictment on early childhood education, but simply on the difference Head Start conveys versus alternatives.
Back to the subject at hand. Rauner has no record as an elected official to judge his character, decisions, and actions. He does have a record in business - and that has been successful as measured by profit, but many questions have been raised as to ethics.
With no candidate positions on issues (For education and Against taxes is not a position - Quinn has the same position, he just has acknowledged the impossibility and Rauner has avoided taking a position) , we are left to judge his worth as governor by his past actions prior to his retirement from GTCR.
- Jack - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 11:19 am:
If Chicago pension bill is signed by Quinn will there be a challenge or injunction like State?
- cover - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 11:29 am:
= If Chicago pension bill is signed by Quinn will there be a challenge or injunction like State? =
Yes.
- Jack - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 11:58 am:
I take it then it will be held up in the courts for at least a couple of years.
- PolPal56 - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 12:14 pm:
===The only ones asking for Rauner to comment are the Quinn folks and Rauner haters.===
I’m asking to know Rauner’s platform, and I am no fan of Quinn the Pension Thief. But I’m not going to vote for someone who won’t (can’t?) tell me what she or he believes or will do once in office just for the sake of change. That’s one definition of stupidity.
My vote is still very much undecided.
- Mighty M. Mouse - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 12:33 pm:
====Quinn the Pension Thief===
Except he really isn’t. The only way this gets resolved is if the Supremes rule on it. The only way they rule on it is if he signs a bill. He had to sign the only bill that passed. It doesn’t really matter what it said. The Court will rule unconstitutional as much or as little as it likes and then the GA will go back to the drawing board until they come with something constitutional which you will probably like a whole lot better. But Quinn signing the bill was the only way to get there so he did. It’s just too bad so many people don’t understand that, but that’s life in the big city.
- PolPal56 - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 12:49 pm:
===Except he really isn’t.===
Except that if the unions hadn’t sued it would be fait accompli. So his intent and actions were there, merely blocked.
- Mason born - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 1:10 pm:
“”But Quinn signing the bill was the only way to get there so he did. It’s just too bad so many people don’t understand that, but that’s life in the big city.”
Wow what flavor is the Quinn kool-aid these days? So let me get this right. Quinn knowingly signs a law he knows is unconstitutional. Goes out touting how said unconstitutional law will save the state. Telling everyone that it is Constitutional. Tying up the A.G. and State Supremes to argue a law you say he knew was unconstitutional when he signed it. Spending considerable sums to defend said law against the unions and retired public workers. All of this he did for the good of retirees and the unions.
Wow. Wouldn’t it have been easier for him to Amendatory Veto it so it was Constitutional? Or give the GA input on what he would sign so it was Constitutional? Instead of either he decided, in your mind, to play craps with the future pension and current pension of state employees. What happens if the State Supremes decide to accept it? Then can he be called the pension thief??
- DuPage - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 1:20 pm:
Rauner could not possibly do what he said early on, REDUCE taxes and INCREASE K-12 funding. It is mathematically impossible. Now, with the tax set to reduce, and SB1 set to be thrown out, Rauner is between a rock and a hard place.
- Demoralized - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 1:58 pm:
@Mason:
I understand everything you are saying but the fact of the matter is nothing is unconstitutional until a court says it is.
- PoolGuy - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 2:27 pm:
maybe Bruce’s secret plan is we have to cut taxes before we can raise them again?
- Anon. - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 2:57 pm:
==But Quinn signing the bill was the only way to get there so he did.==
Then what does his oath of office to uphold the constitution mean? Presidents have often vetoed legislation on the grounds that it is unconstitutional. And a lot of states’ attorneys general have refused to defend their anti-gay-marriage laws because they believed them to be unconstitutional. The courts are not the only ones entitled to act on their opinions regarding the constitution, just the ultimate decisionmakers if there is a dispute.
And don’t try rewriting history by saying Quinn signed because there was no other option. He and Squeezy were the politicians yelling loudest to pass some form of theft.
- DuPage - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 3:10 pm:
Oh, I forgot. Early Rauner suggested taxing pensions and social security. Suddenly I didn’t hear anything more about it. Early Rauner said he was going to roll back wages of state employees. I haven’t heard anything about that lately. Someone should ask Rauner about these items, and ask for specific answers.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 3:15 pm:
==But Quinn signing the bill was the only way to get there so he did.==
“I could veto it and stop it now, and work harder for a different bill, but I’ll be a coward and pass the buck and tie up our Courts to let them handle it instead.”
Boy, what a leader he is
- PoolGuy - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 3:15 pm:
couldn’t the 1994 ramp up law not being met, pension holidays, pension borrowing, growing unfunded liabilities during the previous governors before Quinn also be viewed as unconstitutional? I realize they are out of office or in jail.
this is not in defense of Quinn, but using words like theft when other governors and legislators were skipping payments that has led to this mess is just as bad as the current governor and legislators trying to cut pension benefits in order to deal with the same mess. skipping pension payments and borrowing billions is not any better IMHO.
- Anon. - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 3:23 pm:
==couldn’t the 1994 ramp up law not being met, pension holidays, pension borrowing, growing unfunded liabilities during the previous governors before Quinn also be viewed as unconstitutional?==
No, because the IL Supreme Court held that the pension clause did not require prior funding, just payment when the pensions were due. The pension reform bill and the bill taking away health insurance premiums are the first legislative actions that actually reduce the benefits being paid. And theft is theft.
- PublicServant - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 3:39 pm:
PoolGuy - The courts have already ruled in a lawsuit brought by employees that sought to ensure that the state made the annual actuarial contribution, but the courts stated that while the state is ultimately responsible for paying the pensions when due, there was nothing in the constitution that required annual funding.
So, I see a big difference in a bill that blatently reduces the amount of overall pension benefits with the patently foolish, but not unconstitutional “borrowing”, which actually could be characterized as such until the state sponsored a bill to reduce overall benefits, using as a basis for the reduction, that the state is unable to pay back what it borrowed at the same time it is required to meet the contract as it is currently written. They borrowed, then use that as an excuse to unilaterally reduce the benefits and abrogate a constitutionally-protected contract. SB1 turned borrowing into theft.
- Mason born - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 3:54 pm:
Demoralized
“I understand everything you are saying but the fact of the matter is nothing is unconstitutional until a court says it is.”
Believe me i understand your point i do. What i was referring too was Mighty Mouse’s defense of PQ at 12:33 were he contended that PQ only signed the bill so that the State Supremes would throw it out. All that to help unions because he knew it would be thrown out and they could get something better.
That being said the bill as signed flys in the face of previous rulings and the plain text of the constitution as RNUG has tirelessly explained. If it gets thrown PQ won’t be able to pretend to be surprised.
- DuPage - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 5:42 pm:
@Anon3:24
The 1994 ramp-up could be modified.
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 6:14 pm:
FYI - Rauner reports $168K today, Illinois contributors…
“And the hits just keep on comin’…”
- Yellow Dog Democrat - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 8:35 pm:
I doubt Governor Quinn’s General Counsel would have advised him to sign legislation on the basis that it was unconstitutional.
Quinn must have believed that it was constitutional, or at the very least uncertain.
That said, some shrewd legislative tacticians have allowed legislation that was undoubtedly unconstitutional to find its way through…enacting unconstitutional laws makes the political heat go away and also creates a clearer legislative path for a constitutional solution.
If this pension law is voided by the courts, I expect that decision would quell complaints from those who argued the Cullerton bill did not exact enough bodily fluids from public servants. The opposition to the Cullerton bill was best summarized as “If the unions will agree to it, it does not go far enough.”
On the other hand, the union rank and file aint going to be eager at all to agree to the Cullerton compromise at this juncture.
- Just The Way It Is One - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 9:17 pm:
…and at this point, Pat Quinn is right, and has BEEN right about it for (sickeningly) going on nearly an enTIRE YEAR and a HALF withOUT Rauner explicitly spelling out (pun intended) how he mirACulously can significantly improve Education in our State by rolling back billions in Revenue as he admits he’s in favor of. I’m not even sure a MIRacle Worker could pull that one off, but, pray tell how, Bruce, as we anxiously look forward to how you can perform your upcoming Miracle on this issue…!
Quite frankly, it’s truly become a joke now and anyone you talk to about it who cares about our Kids and their Education agrees, needless to say, along with the endless Commercial everyone soon sickened of featuring the Wife, let alone everyone in Illinois having discovered the Rauner veneer featuring also ZERO Specifics as to the REST of a br Illinois-Salvation Budget…!
- wordslinger - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 11:19 pm:
The game is between the 40 yard lines, and I think at some point Rauner will have to take a stand on something, anything, to have the credibility to get a plurality.
It’s been nearly a year since he said he had a detailed tax and budget plan. He’s said he has other detailed plans on many subjects.
He said he had the plans. No one made him say that. But the continued silence begs the question.
Just yesterday he said he would consider repealing same-sex marriage. I don’t know who that was supposed to pander to. Some things you just have to take a stand on to have any credibility or earn any respect.
Quinn was always going to be vulnerable. It’s not like he’s been an electoral juggernaut over the years.
Rauner can’t just get by on a smile and a shoeshine. He’s going to have to honk off a significant group of voters at some point and stick to it to show he’s got some testicular virility.
- MIghty M. Mouse - Wednesday, Jun 4, 14 @ 11:41 pm:
===I doubt Governor Quinn’s General Counsel would have advised him to sign legislation on the basis that it was unconstitutional.
Quinn must have believed that it was constitutional, or at the very least uncertain.
That said, some shrewd legislative tacticians have allowed legislation that was undoubtedly unconstitutional to find its way through…enacting unconstitutional laws makes the political heat go away and also creates a clearer legislative path for a constitutional solution.===
YDD, you have such a way with the words! I think what you said is what I was trying to say too.
===I think at some point Rauner will have to take a stand on something===
Word, I think maybe Willie was right. Rauner’s waiting until there’s something he wants to divert attention away from and then he’ll start releasing plans and taking stands and selling his snake oil.
- dupage dan - Thursday, Jun 5, 14 @ 9:27 am:
Rauner’s SSM comment was bizarre. He needs folks on the other side of the fence to vote for him yet the polls show those in the middle supporting SSM. Is he over-confident? That would be insanity to feel that at this point. Truly bizarre.
- Jack - Thursday, Jun 5, 14 @ 9:33 am:
Heard from a source that Quinn is going to veto Chicago pension reform bill.
- James Knell - Thursday, Jun 5, 14 @ 11:20 pm:
There are two things you can say about Quinn that just might save him:
A. Not indicted and no one wonders when he will be.
B. Honest about state budget & tells you reality.
The running assumption is that voters are more Blago than Quinn. We just voted against another right wing billionaire who was running for president.
Rauner has played right into this by doing exactly what everyone expects. Slick TV ads with no specifics. So expect Republican primary Bruce if he becomes governor.
Enough people might decide they don’t want to hear about state government every day of the week like in Wisconsin. Is anyone saying that Scott Walker has eaten Illinois lunch?
Reasonable people characterize Quinn as “bumbling” because he can’t get this or that passed by the house or the senate. A lot of Democratic legislators seem to fear that Illinois is still “more Blago than Quinn”.
I’m not so sure. Times do change. Perhaps the electorate in Illinois has seen the borrowing, deferring, and fibbing to its logical end. The price is the status quo. Keep paying what you are paying.
What would doom Democrats IMHO is a real corruption scandal or a further tax increase. The latter will be an issue if & when the courts rule on the pension reform and the price gets higher.