52 Comments - How Ironic - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 11:33 am: Smith was sentenced to 5 months. That’s right around the time that Raunerhood’s ‘turnaround budget’ plan will be finalized. Word on the street is that Santa will be delivering the actual budget to the legislature shortly thereafter. - walker - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 11:33 am: Why do these seem to be eerily analogous? Both were hung up by bad government, betrayal, stupidity, and greed. - Stones - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 11:33 am: Voted Smith released first. I think we are in for a long haul on FY 16 budget. Shades of the early ’80’s - Oswego Willy - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 11:34 am: This is awesome! lol I’m going to say Derrick Smith, because Rauner won’t clain whatever budget is passed as “his” or “complete”, and once Derrick is out, he’s out. - Michelle Flaherty - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 11:35 am: there’s a solid chance Smith will be released, re-elected and cast the deciding vote on the FY ‘16 budget. - Dixiechick - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 11:35 am: Blago released first? - Norseman - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 11:37 am: Derrick Smith will be out early for good behavior while the Governor and General Assembly will still be working on the budget because of bad behavior. - Not quite a majority - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 11:37 am: Isn’t the better question when will session actually end? I realize the budget is the last bill most years, but my bet is past even the ‘July 15′ vacation guideline the Speaker reportedly gave the House members. Oh, and I voted Smith out by a mile. - Come on man! - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 11:37 am: 32% Of voters have no sense of humor - Mason born - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 11:38 am: Smith is back out for sure. He walks out in September a better bet would be which comes first Bears win another Superbowl or the ‘16 budget passed. - Rich Miller - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 11:39 am: Michelle Flaherty, when you come up with brilliant answers like that in the future, please wait a while before posting so as not to discourage others from participating. lol - JS Mill - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 11:42 am: Voted Smith first. One of two things is taking place- 1) this whole thing is well choreographed theater to let everyone appeal to their base and the real solution is basically done. The talking is just for show. This seems unlikely but I wonder. 2) the more likely scenario is that a battle royale is shaping up and it will be a long hot summer. That scares me because some school districts are running out of cash and the ILGA keeps passing new mandates. The house just approved a bill mandating additional civics education that will cost schools more money. - Agricola - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 11:42 am: Gotta be Smith. Doing time, on time, every time. - Oswego Willy - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 11:43 am: Maybe Derrick Smith could be a “Special Correspondent” for a news outlet, reporting daily from Springfield, like a diary, with insights on he can bring? “Being held hostage or being incarcerated, the real truth…” - The Colossus of Roads - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 11:44 am: FY 2016 budget. Without a budget state employees won’t get paid and won’t be able to process the programs that weren’t cut. 2.25% will turn into 100%. - Bulbous1 - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 11:45 am: Chicago Cubs will win the World Series before the budget is passed!! - Ron Burgundy - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 11:47 am: Smith will be released first due to time off for good behavior. Our government never earns that. - Honeybear - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 11:48 am: Jake and Elwood will be released from Joliet before the FY16 budget! - jerry 101 - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 11:49 am: Dateline: July 17, 2019 Governor Madigan Signs Omnibus Budget; All State Operations Resume to Resume Immediately - Ghost - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 11:50 am: They will wait for smith to get out to work on budget… After all he knows how to find extra revenue….. - anon - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 11:51 am: How Ironic will leave CA and return to IL, become Rauner’s CoS and be instrumental in getting the budget approved, just before Smith’s release. - Oswego Willy - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 11:53 am: The time Andy Dufresne served and escaped will have elapsed before FY2016 is passed… - Wensicia - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 11:54 am: It’ll be close, maybe the same day for both. I predict four to five months for a budget. Five days later, Rauner breaks his word concerning said budget and cuts more essential services for those who need them the most. - Bogey Golfer - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 11:57 am: Drew Petersen will be released the day the FY16 budget is passed. - PublicServant - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 11:57 am: Derrick is released from prison and he balances the budget? - Union Man - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 11:58 am: The Rep will have plenty of time on his hands to work on the budget in jail!! - Ghost - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 11:58 am: my prediction; state does a few temp budgets to keep going, followed by a shut fown from a lack of a budget for a short period. - 47th Ward - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 11:58 am: When does Smith actually report? The first payroll of FY16 should be due around July 15, which is three and a half months from now. If Smith reports on Monday, then this could be very close. And Michelle Flaherty, that was brilliant. Well done. - Just My Thoughts - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 12:03 pm: It depends if there is as much cooperation on the budget as Smith had to give to the Feds in order to get a 5 month sentence. There may be some nervous pols out there. - train111 - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 12:07 pm: Smith will claim he’s an alcoholic or a drug addict and get time knocked off his sentance for joing AA, but by the time the budget for FY ‘16 is passed, we’ll all need to go to AA. - Tommydanger - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 12:09 pm: I can see it now, I think its fall, the governor after of months of being Madiganized has seen his budget veto overridden with more than a few Republicans voting “yes”. He is driving to work on a road recently repaved by union workers. The streets are lined by autistic children and teachers alike voicing their displeasure with him. A smoker gives him the thumbs down while he calls the Quit Line. The Governor gets out of his car only to be greeted by Pat Quinn who asks, or is it tells, the Governor; “its not as easy as it looks, huh?” The Governor opens up the paper only to find that Indiana has stolen another minimum wage business from Illinois and as the final insult, a bill was passed making ‘ing’ the official State word ending. - Springfield's Fun - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 12:10 pm: Smith will be released first because it turns out they will need his vote to pass the budget. So they pull a maneuver that releases him from prison and reinstates him as a legislator for the vote. - Soccermom - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 12:10 pm: Michelle, in the words of Elizabeth Barrett Browning: THERE is no one beside thee, and no one above thee ; Thou standest alone, as the nightingale sings - Oswego Willy - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 12:10 pm: - Michelle Flaherty -, very well done, bar is way high. - DuPage - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 12:19 pm: I think Rauner will somehow tie the budget in with AFSCME negotiations. He won’t “lockout” the workers, he will lay them off and blame it on the GA not passing a Raunerized budget. He will use that to pressure the GA. - Skeptic - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 12:21 pm: I say Smith gets released first because there’s an actual date when that will happen as opposed to “real soon” - anonlurker - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 12:33 pm: easy peasy lemon squeezy SMITH! - ash - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 12:37 pm: Smith — as part of the turnaround agenda, Rauner and the IPI file suit against the federal government claiming that the governor owns the prisons. He then closes them like he has done with most of his other businesses. - Juvenal - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 12:55 pm: In a “This could only happen in Illinois” twist of fate, Rauner and Emanuel engineer a presidential pardon for Smith, who is appointed the same day to fill the vacancy created by the sudden and unexplained resignation of Avery “Going Rogue” Bourne, with Smith providing the deciding vote to pass the FY 2016 budget the very same day. - Don Gerard - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 1:01 pm: …the Cubs entire infield will be at the point of needing to shave daily before the budget is passed. - The obvious - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 1:04 pm: We should ask the judge who sentenced Smith to take this poll. She has time on her hands since she doesn’t read too much law. - Team Sleep - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 1:35 pm: Ghost nailed it. I think a “CR” form of budgeting will soon be upon us. I have a feeling that in the age of 24/7 social media - and with Governor Rauner’s massive war chest - the impetus will be to work on short term patches and deal and then come back infrequently over the summer and even fall to work on other CRs. I also think that Governor Rauner is loathe to keep calling members back in for special sessions because then he will wear the jacket for the additional costs of overtime. Just my guess. - Free Blagojevich - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 1:38 pm: Otto Kerner will lead a prison reform effort first. Oh, wait. - a drop in - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 1:42 pm: “Derrick is released from prison and he balances the budget?” No, Derrick helps the Bulls win the NBA championship then balances the budget. - RNUG - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 1:47 pm: I more or less agree with Ghost. It’s goign to be one of two scenarios: 1) No budget by July 1 and Rauner gets the lockout he wants. 2) Multiple continuing resolutions with the final budget passed late in the fall … maybe in time for the veto session to start. - VanillaMan - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 2:14 pm: Expect muddling through with dimes and quarter found under Mansion cushions, and then deadline misses. Those poll number are going to make Mr. “I don’t listen to anyone”, listen even less. Mr. Smith will be free to pursue new FBI offers by the time the 2016 budget is passed. - Esteban - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 2:19 pm: Everyone involved in this budget mess has totally missed an untapped source of revenue for the State: charge people a premium for Medicaid benefits. - A guy - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 2:52 pm: For a stash of Snickers bars, Marlboros beef jerky and a fingernail file, Mr. Smith may lobby a few of his colleagues to get this done earlier. - jazzy - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 3:01 pm: Lock out July 1….no budget…all political offices declared corrupt by Gov and all sent to serve prison term with Smith. Gov turns state into his kingdom and we all become serfs. - Anonymous - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 3:11 pm: No need for any budget all jobs will be outsourced after july1 - Belle - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 3:34 pm: Smith will be released first. Lisa Madigan will be serving her 1st term by the time the 2016 Budget is passed. - A Citizen - Friday, Apr 24, 15 @ 4:17 pm: What worries me is that Illinois just may be swallowed up in its entirety by a massive sinkhole before the GA passes a balanced budget. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.