78 Comments - slow down - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 9:41 am: Interesting that Rauner’s people are now talking openly about “new revenues” if they can get a deal on his agenda. Is that a sliver of progress? - G'Kar - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 9:45 am: It is also interesting that ck writes that the “Turnaround agenda” “makes progress”. Is that a step back from the earlier position that the entire agenda has to be passed first? - Juice - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 9:45 am: Et tu, Lawrence? - chi - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 9:45 am: Rauner and his team continue to build their strawman so they can deflect blame when either a) they are forced to call their bluff and back down or b) they go forward with the cuts without revenue. Rauner’s never looked weaker than he did in front of City Council yesterday. Add to that his atrocious record on the turnaround resolution, and this report coming from his friends, and his bargaining chips are becoming worthless pretty quickly. - DuPage - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 9:47 am: No progress. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 9:47 am: ===In a brief response, Rauner spokeswoman Catherine Kelly suggests that Rauner may be willing to go along with some form of tax hike, as the federation clearly wants–but only if Rauner’s “turnaround agenda” makes progress. That agenda includes items such as local right-to-work laws, reduced unemployment insurance and workers compensation payments, and term limits for legislators. “New revenue cannot be discussed until we address the underlying structural issues that have landed us here in the first place,” Kelly said.=== Thanks! “ck” This is why what Rauner is doing is so dangerous. Rauner, in his most honest and truthful way, would rather burn everything to the ground, than do what is needed and warranted, and further, a responsible governor would do what is expected for what’s best for Illinois. Rauner cares less. Rauner doesn’t want what’s best for Illinois, Rauner wants what Rauner wants, no matter the dire consequences. Leverage at the cost… of us all. ===…says the new governor’s $31.5 billion operating budget does not add up and asserts it could leave the state in worse shape than it was under former Gov. Pat Quinn.=== Worse. Shape. If bringing back and shaking up makes Pat Quinn look more Gubernatorial, than Rauner has so much more to learn, with lessons happening all over the place. What “ck” is reiterating shouldn’t be dismissed; Rauner is more than willing to bury you, go after your family, destroy the state’s economy and her services, and won’t care how it plays. Rauner is making dangerous decisions, “ck” says so. - The Dude Abides - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 9:49 am: No one can suggest that the Civic Federation is a Democrat leaning organization, in fact if anything they tend to lean the other way. Even they are saying that the Rauner budget is a fantasy and not a serious proposal, something almost everyone who ever posts on here has known since it was introduced. I hope at some point soon the Rauner administration will quit wasting time and actually get serious about fixing our states finances, which is what they were hired to do. - Team Sleep - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 9:50 am: This reminds me of when Triple H turned on X-Pac and gave him “The Pedigree”. - Anonymous - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 9:52 am: Like I said, “Ridiculous.” - Ray del Camino - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 9:53 am: OK, now the boardroom types have agreed with all the other grownups in the room. But Baron Von Carhartt is still holding his breath and stamping his feet. Gonna be a long, hot summer. - foster brooks - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 9:53 am: Rauner will find out soon enough running the state like he ran GTCR wont work. - walker - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 9:55 am: Once again: The Civic Federation does the numbers correctly, regardless of Corporate leanings on policy. The CBTA (Martire), does the numbers correctly, regardless of Progressive leanings on policy. We can count on them both for integrity, and the implications of Rauner’s budget proposal simply not adding up. Will Rauner acknowledge this fact, or will he stand fast and admit nothing, and trade for things not budget-related? - Rod - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 9:56 am: Willy I do not support the Governor’s turn around agenda, but I also have a problem with this comment “Rauner cares less. Rauner doesn’t want what’s best for Illinois, Rauner wants what Rauner wants, no matter the dire consequences.” There is every reason to assume Governor Rauner believes his right to work agenda will generate very positive things for Illinois. There is also every reason to believe he is wrong and the Federation is correct. - Norseman - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 9:57 am: Martire has been saying similar things for awhile. His advice has been written off by many because of union ties. Perhaps this report by an organization with corporate ties will wake them up. - illinoised - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 9:58 am: I believe Rauner believes his right to work agenda will help businesses. Period. - Pot calling kettle - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 9:58 am: Rauner’s adherence to his “turnaround agenda” indicates that he has little interest in solving the state’s financial woes. His primary interest seems to be focused on his on personal profitability. He is acting very much the role of an oligarch. The inclusion of term limits for legislators (but not exec officers) would seem to strengthen his position because term limited legislators would not have the opportunity to build up a donor/volunteer/voter base that would provide the strength to withstand an assault from his bank account. - Austin Blvd - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 9:59 am: It’s about time some organization with credibility began to call a spade a spade. Like the tax hike or not, Illinois was paying down its debt and closing in on pension payments under Quinn. Rauner’s approach is making Illinois worse. Higher debt, bigger hole, less for human services, and eventually less for schools. Scorched earth scorches Illinois in the wrong way. - Pot calling kettle - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 10:00 am: ==There is every reason to assume Governor Rauner believes his right to work agenda will generate very positive things for Illinois.== That, I think is OW’s point. Rauner “believes” and is not likely to move away from that point on mere evidence to the contrary. - Bill White - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 10:01 am: I believe [Bruce] Rauner believes his right to work agenda will help [the] businesses [of his close friends. At the expense of nearly everyone else.] Period. - JS Mill - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 10:03 am: =No one can suggest that the Civic Federation is a Democrat leaning organization= I see them more as apolitical. No real social agenda. Although they seem to support human services it is for FINANCIAL reasons not a social conscious. Still, the Civic Federation spanking the governor and calling for more revenue just seems surreal at some level. I didn’t read the full report, but from what is quoted here by Rich, they took a pass on attacking the pension for once. I will skip the full read so I can continue to be blissfully unaware if they go after the pension in the full report. The new capitalism requires that the economic elite pay no taxes (even though they benefit from government immensely) buy legislation/government, give a voice to corporations but take it from people, and use the public treasury to bailout institutions when the really screw the pooch. We see it nationally and we are really seeing it firsthand in Illinois now. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 10:03 am: - Rod -, Nope. Holding hostage services, for a “…budget proposal is unrealistic, inadvisable, not achievable, not reasonable, not prudent”, that speaks volumes to how much one actually cares, versus only seeing, with blinders no less, their goals far out way the responsibility given to him when he raised his hand and took the oath to be our governor. It’s not up for discussion, the budget proposed is grossly unbalanced, and cuts, like $26 million in FY2015 are policy driven, not economically driven. Nope, Rauner cares less. Rauner cares only if his agenda moves first, and even then… Rauner cares about the agenda. The “after”, welp, that’s the cost to Rauner. Nothing more. With respect, - Rod -. - Concerned - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 10:03 am: Why does Rauner think term limits will induce fiscal responsibility? If someone intends to stay in office for a long time, that goal causes one to be responsible. If you know you are 8 and done, who cares what damage you inflict in the out years–your goal is immediate gratification. Is there any data suggesting terms limits correlates to fiscal responsibility? - walker - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 10:05 am: Note the Civic Fed held off until just the right time to force some movement in Springfield. They are to be respected for their political smarts, as well as their arithmetic. - Democrat Grrrl - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 10:06 am: =Worse shape than when Pat Quinn was in office= Will someone please cross-stitch these words on a pillow for the Governor’s mansion? Maybe Rauner will sleep on it and get the message. He doesn’t read newspapers much, so he won’t see Hinz’s report on the Civic Fed’s analysis. I’m getting scared…. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 10:10 am: - Pot calling kettle -, You are On It. Thanks. - illinoised - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 10:12 am: Bill White, thank you for filling in the intent of my statement. P.S. You are my favorite first baseman ever! - Anon. - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 10:13 am: Nattering nabobs of negativism! (to quote a corrupt ex-governor of a state other than Illinois). - Big Joe - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 10:16 am: Doesn’t term limits for legislators require a change to the IL Constitution? If he thinks that will happen overnight, if at all, he is living in a fantasyland that I am unfamiliar with. I think there will be reform in workman’s comp, but nothing will fly with RTW zones. That will be all that Rauner will get from his Turnaround Agenda. He will have to increase state income taxes, and maybe expand gambling to bring in the revenue to get a budget passed through the GA. - Wordslinger - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 10:21 am: How is it that everyone but House GOP members know what’s in Rauner’s proposed budget and are able to form opinions on it? Saw a lot of complaints from House GOP members that they hadn’t had the opportunity to “vet” or “engage” in the budget that was released nearly three months ago. What…. would you say….you do here? - Team Sleep - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 10:21 am: I think the Civic Fed is also taking the long view with this report. What would be viewed as “draconian cuts” by most people (if Governor Rauner gets his current budgetary wishes) would lead to potential terrible GOP results in 2016. That kind of budgetary scenario would turn into a nightmare scenario for Comptroller Munger, Leaders Radogno and Durkin and maybe even both Congressmen Dold and Bost. What happens if the GOP loses the Comptroller’s office and loses even more seats in the Senate and House? Then nothing the Civic Fed wants would ever get done and Governor Rauner has more egg on his face. - Pot calling kettle - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 10:24 am: ==Doesn’t term limits for legislators require a change to the IL Constitution?== Indeed it does, and that’s what Rauner wants the GA to pass and put on the 2016 ballot. If they pass such a thing, it will probably include a one-term limit for any governor who has the initials GVR. - facts are stubborn things - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 10:25 am: Revenue revenue revenue is needed. Yes, along with that revenue a tough but fair labor contract is needed along with continued restraint on the spending front. This whole turn around addenda is a non starter and is leverage without a fulcrum. for leverage to work in the long run it has to have a pivot point or in other words a decent chance of success or you are just left like the emporer with no clothes. MJM will continue to let Rauner spell it all out and then on MJM terms give these proposals a chance giving some a vote they want to take and many others a vote they don’t want to take just like what recently happened on the human services 1.5 B cut proposal of Rauner’s. - Anotheretiree - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 10:27 am: Assuming some end of days miracle and the union agrees to $655 million in health care cuts, non Medicare retirees who get the same insurance as current workers, will sue putting those “savings” at risk. The union has no standing to negotiate their rights away. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 10:33 am: ===What would be viewed as “draconian cuts” by most people (if Governor Rauner gets his current budgetary wishes) would lead to potential terrible GOP results in 2016. That kind of budgetary scenario would turn into a nightmare scenario for Comptroller Munger, Leaders Radogno and Durkin and maybe even both Congressmen Dold and Bost. What happens if the GOP loses the Comptroller’s office and loses even more seats in the Senate and House?=== - Team Sleep -, With not an ounce of snark, or a smidge of anger anore. Rauner. Doesn’t. Care. Rauner bought the ILGOP. He doesn’t want it growing, he wants it to “stay bought”. Think Raunerite. There’s $60+ million dedicated to get 60 Raunerites in the House, 30 Raunerites in the Senate. Rauner needs to buy 23 (13 House, 10 Senate) more Raunerites; either in Democratic Primaries, or General Election wins. The ILGOP is over. We let a stranger in our house. Rauner will bury the ILGOP if it means 60 and 30 Raunerites. That’s the new. That’s the real. - 47th Ward - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 10:36 am: ===unrealistic, inadvisable, not achieveable, not reasonable, not prudent=== And that’s what his friends say! - Langhorne - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 10:37 am: I think the report would not have been written with such a harsh tone if rauner was working in good faith to arrive at a legit balanced budget, instead of threatening a willingness to cut $6 B. - Grandson of Man - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 10:38 am: Of course we need more revenue. It’s great to see the Civic Federation state this. Msall has been saying that the state needs revenue increases, which is the opposite of the juvenile and destructive libertarian ideas of certain groups and individuals. Eric Zorn did a column very recently, about the fiscal success of Minnesota, whose governor raised taxes, compared with Kansas and Wisconsin and their budget struggles and partisan leanings. The point is that we need not fear tax increases, since the recent income tax increase did help us tremendously. Illinois can’t be Minnesota because we don’t have a progressive income tax, but we can raise taxes how we can. - Minnow - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 10:46 am: Since he doesn’t read the papers, who on his staff is going to be the brave soul to inform him of this press release? Would be interesting to see/hear his initial reaction. Ugh! - Tommydanger - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 10:52 am: >How is it that everyone but House GOP members know what’s in Rauner’s proposed budget and are able to form opinions on it? - VanillaMan - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 10:54 am: This man is used to blowing things up, and then walking away, thinking that whatever did, could be fixed. If he was a taxi driver, he would be relying upon the guard rails to enjoy the chance to pass stalled traffic. He is a man who looks for extralegal means to reach his goals. Dubious accounting tricks? To him, those are perfectly legitimate. Deliberately underfunding budgets to gain a few extra dollars? Consider it done. Mr. Rauner sincerity and belief is in our abilities to clean up his disasters. What he is missing is that he is doing harm today upon a state which can’t take much more of it. His supporters want to believe that he has an internal brake preventing him from doing damage before it can’t be irreparably fixed. They want to believe his approach to solving our fiscal problems are in their best interest. They believe that Rauner is just testing oratorical limits of bribery, threats and politics, to score points. What they need to do is look closer at what it is Governor Rauner isn’t doing. Even if he wishes to Shake UP Springfield, he still needs to be a governor. There is no reason that Governor Rauner needed to come out of the chute after his inauguration, as he did - even if he wanted to shake things up. Governor Rauner’s actions have exposed him as someone unsuitable to be a governor, and unable to garner enough respect to learn what it is his new job entails. Shaking up Springfield does not mean shaking while being willfully blind. It doesn’t mean shaking even when everyone knowledgeable about the issue warns you not to. An ignorant governor cannot help a state in dire fiscal crisis, even if he really wants to sincerely help. Mr. Rauner’s expertise in extralegal corporate maneuvers are not good for any government committed to leading communities forward in a stable way, in my opinion. Mr. Rauner hasn’t had to face government accountabilities before. He never had to fix the damage his ad hoc budget decisions made upon any business which lost his interest. He has had decades of being isolated from the results of his leadership, and so he is unaware that his true successes in business he believes he had, needed to be tempered against the results of those “successes”. Perhaps, this is why as a campaigner, Mr. Rauner never touted any examples of his success. He couldn’t find one that would give voters any optimism of his leadership style! Governors are accountable. Whatever he does without bipartisan support, will need to be fixed later at a higher cost. Government cuts don’t rely upon the simple math used when increasing government. You don’t leap from moving cars when you get tired of driving them. Governments can’t be torched when their elected leader doesn’t like them anymore. Closing any business has costs which need to be considered before closing them. Couples often don’t divorce because they can’t afford divorce. Addition is easy in government, but subtraction requires an entirely different set of math skills. Perhaps if we required businesses to deal with the negative consequences of bailing upon a community and workers, can we begin to see business leaders more cognizant of their responsibilities when they become elected officials. They all need to learn that government decisions cause expensive consequences whether is means putting budget dollars into them, or out. Mr. Rauner wouldn’t understand that. He is Mr. Wreckage. He is Mr. Blow-Up. He happily destroys, believing that whatever replaces his wreckage, is better than what he destroyed. BUT then - he never stuck around to ever see what happened, did he? - Tommydanger - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 10:56 am: This goes with my 10:52 post. Word: I would categorize it under ignorance is bliss, even though they know what is in it, they claim lack of knowledge in order to avoid having to take a public stand on issue(s) that have suspect voter appeal. That coupled with they hope that some, most or all of it goes away so they don’t have to go on record as supporting unpopular items that may not end up being included in the final deal. If you’re given a list of 10 poisons to choose from, why choose any until you absolutely, positively have to choose one. - steve schnorf - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 11:00 am: I look at the language nuances of the past 24 hours and I see progress - Rich Miller - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 11:04 am: ===I look at the language nuances=== If they were direct quotes, I’d agree. But we’re talking about a reporter’s summation of what somebody said. - Team Sleep - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 11:09 am: Willy - money doesn’t guarantee electoral success. It did for Bruce Rauner - but he was the candidate. Look at Avery Bourne’s district. That’s a swing district at the state level. Wayne Rosenthal was a tireless worker for that district up until he became the head honcho at DNR. Andy Manar reps it at the State Senate level, and it includes the St. Louis, Springfield and Decatur media markets. It’s a challenge. Mailers accusing Ms. Bourne of “keeping children with autism out of school” or “forcing grandma to choose between medicine and the power bill” will pack a punch regardless of much Governor Rauner puts in her coffers. And that’s just one downstate district. - HangingOn - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 11:09 am: My bigger concern at the moment is my health care rather than my pension. Sadly, the way I was made to understand it, as a state worker I cannot qualify for any of the subsidies that non-state worker can get from the federal government. And as it stands now, with the amount of money I make, I would already qualify for assistance at least for my child. I thought there was a clause of some sort in the whole Health Care Plan saying health insurance had to be under a certain percentage of what you earn to keep in the whole “affordable” part of it. So wouldn’t too high of a raise in the state workers insurance premiums violate that? I apologize if I’m wrong on this. The part of people’s brains that understands insurance doesn’t function for me… - MrJM - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 11:10 am: Rauner’s budget proposal is unrealistic, inadvisable, not achievable, not reasonable, not prudent “But other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?” – MrJM - From the 'Dale to HP - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 11:12 am: So to summarize: Almost Everyone: Hello! We’ve got a problem! We need to solve it. Rauner: Bust unions or I’m letting the state fail. Trib Ed Board: Detroit, Detroit, Detroit, Detroit, Rauner is brave, Detroit! IPI: The fake data shows that letting the state fail would make everyone more wealthy. Rauner: See what IPI said! See what the Trib Ed Board said! Almost Everyone: What is going on here? What planet are these people on? - Oswego Willy - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 11:15 am: - Team Sleep -, I’m giving you the Rauner perspective. That’s not mine. At all. Period. Diverse caucuses are majority caucuses. Macro can’t succeedd in micro districts. Use the search key, what Rauner wants, and believes in Caucus political apparatus rules are not my beliefs. Lastly, A sitting “GOP” Governor is actively and wantingly engaged in the partisan politics of the Democrats; both as an intimidator and friend in the Primary process. Dangerous. Why? It’s not about Dems or Republicans. For Rauner, it’s about Raunerites. Don’t confuse strategy as it always be winning strategy. - Juvenal - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 11:15 am: Rich is right. Rauner’s position has not changed one iota. And I will disagree slightly on this point from the Civic Fed, and only this one: “Members of the Illinois General Assembly need to come forward now with their own plans for how to address a revenue shortfall in FY2016 that will be larger and more painful than what we experienced this year,” If lawmakers are going to put a revenue plan forward, it has to come from the GOP side of the aisle, and I think that means Radogno and Cullerton jointly. - AnonymousOne - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 11:18 am: Most alarming to me is that while we attack Rauner for the way he operates and views things, he is only the face of a movement to operate this way. We are in for a very different future and the shadow figures who stand behind our governor are pushing hard for it. - Citizens - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 11:20 am: Team Sleep, Illinois has never seen anything like the election spending that is going to happen next year. I’d like to think you’re right, but once it starts I think it’s going to be a different game. - Team Sleep - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 11:23 am: Citizens - perhaps. I don’t know. It’s only May 7, 2015. A lot can happen in 18 months. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 11:28 am: - Team Sleep -, Honest. With respect. If you think the $20 million pointed at the GOP GA is there to help GOP members win, and not there to keep GOP members in line, even if it means costing those members their seats… … I can’t help you. Rauner is not about helping GOP members, or protecting GOP seats. Rauner bought the Caucuses to use, not to protect them or build them. With respect, OW - steve schnorf - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 11:29 am: Rich, “go along with…tax hike”, “make progress” on turnaround agenda, those are coming straight out of the Gov’s office, and there was something yesterday that caught my eye. When I get some time I’ll see if I can find it. - Rich Miller - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 11:31 am: ===“make progress” on turnaround agenda, those are coming straight out of the Gov’s office=== Until I see the exact quote instead of a paraphrase, I’m gonna have to disagree. I emailed Greg. - Rod - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 11:34 am: Rich Miller it should be noted makes an appearance in the Federation’s report at pdf page 17 footnote 56. - Precinct Captain - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 11:45 am: ==Is there any data suggesting terms limits correlates to fiscal responsibility?== No. In fact, terms limits cause the opposite effect. Citation: Jeff Cummins in American Politics Research, 2013 edition. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 11:55 am: To the Update, LOL. That might be a better email signature at the end for “ck” than “Thanks!” Maybe this is used when “ck” is out of the office. Imagine… “Hey, I’m out of the office… Illinois’ fiscal crisis has been years in the making because career politicians were more interested in sweetheart deals with Springfield insiders than helping the taxpayers they were supposed to be working for. The structural reform addressed in the governor’s Turnaround Agenda will help free up resources to tackle our $6 billion deficit. New revenue cannot be discussed until we address the underlying structural issues that have landed us here in the first place. I’ll be back Monday. ck” Sad. - Juice - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 11:57 am: How do any of their structure reforms help close a $6 billion budget gap in FY ‘16? Even if their pension bill were to pass, no way there is not a stay in place until at least at least FY 17. Right to work has no real discernible impact on employment, but has been shown to decrease wages, so we’ll call that a wash (despite a U of I study that says there might actually be a revenue decrease). Term limits have no impact. The types of ethics reforms they are discussing have no impact. I guess capping property taxes could have an impact, since the value of the property tax credit would decrease over time, but that’s about it. - Wordslinger - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 11:57 am: Don’t know whether to laugh or cry when the Civic Federation calls on the General Assembly to propose new revenues “now.” Were you guys out-of-planet the last few years? You can’t possibly say you didn’t see this coming during last year’s campaign. - Norseman - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 12:02 pm: To the update. Now this is the Rauner response we know and make fun of. Scratch that progress thingy. - Sir Reel - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 12:08 pm: Rich, you left out the end of the headline, “… but other than that, it’s a great budget.” - Wordslinger - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 12:08 pm: ck, I think you might have missed some meaningless buzz words in your response. When in doubt, say “corruption” three times. You’re not doing your boss any favors with the nonsense about “years in the making,” “sweetheart deals,” and “structural reforms.” You make it sound like an easy fix, and it’s not. The problem is projected FY16 revenues are short $6.2 billion of projected FY16 mandated expenditures. It has nothing to do with years past, it’s hear and and everything to do with the income tax rollback. - 47th Ward - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 12:20 pm: ===I personally can’t understand why so many people on here who have watched government work for so many years just assume he won’t be willing to negotiate and compromise.=== Steve, does the update add enough nuance to help you understand why I’m assuming that Rauner, with zero government track record to judge him by, won’t be willing to compromise and negotiate? I’m happy to be wrong about this, but I can only work with the information that’s available, and it makes me pessimistic. - Juvenal - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 12:25 pm: === New revenue cannot be discussed === ck What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, right ck? What a charade. Every time the governor claims that new revenue cant be discussed until…reporters should ask about Vegas. Or atleast remind readers that there are secret revenue meetings going on. - B4L - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 12:27 pm: Well the Civic Federation had a nice run. Guess they’ll now be joining the ranks of the other corrupt special interests… - AC - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 12:51 pm: Whenever I read a comment from the governor’s office aloud, someone else yells, Bingo! Very strange. I think the governor’s office needs to make a sweetheart deal with an out of work newspaper editor. I’ll bet they could get one for 1/8 - 1/4 the price of a former Hawaii governor, due to the impact of media consolidation on salaries. - Johnnie F. - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 12:51 pm: Sounds like the Civic Federation made a corrupt deal with government union bosses. Vanillaman is right…Bruce is “Wreck-it-Rauner” - Pot calling kettle - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 1:51 pm: ==Illinois’ fiscal crisis has been years in the making because career politicians were more interested in sweetheart deals with Springfield insiders than helping the taxpayers they were supposed to be working for.== I hope they don’t really believe this. My rewrite: “Illinois’ fiscal crisis has been years in the making because career politicians were more interested in pleasing the taxpayers with lower taxes and more services than making tough decisions that the opposing party would use against them.” This is what makes solving the budget issues so difficult. - kimocat - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 2:27 pm: I’m afraid I really have to agree with Vanilla Man’s assessment of this Governor, as depressing as that may be. I truly believe he wants to take what’s left of the middle class and turn us into serfs for the uber-wealthy. He thinks that American workers don’t deserve good wages, decent benefits and of course no retirement security. Of course it does not matter that you can’t attract top notch employees to public service when you treat them like Walmart workers. But that won’t matter to guys like Rauner because that will just demonstrate that government doesn’t work — just like he wants it. - walker - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 2:56 pm: === The structural reform addressed in the governor’s Turnaround Agenda will help free up resources to tackle our $6 billion deficit.=== That is a false statement. Period. Hearing it still repeated at this late date is nauseating. It could theoretically work that way for the 2017 Budget and beyond, but not for the one with the $6B deficit which starts this July 1. - Concerned - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 3:06 pm: Pecinct Captain–thank you! That was my sense of the effect, but data is better than my “sense.” So why then does Rauner think term limits will induce fiscal responsibility? Or for Rauner, is it just coming in and tearing things apart? - Juvenal - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 3:20 pm: Walker makes a great point. If the governor believes that we can grow our way out of budget deficits through his Turnaround Agenda, he should show us his data. To me, it seems like the exact same Kansas-style of budget-making that he promised during the campaign he would not engage in. - Norseman - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 3:21 pm: walker @ 2:56 pm, WELL SAID. - nikobey - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 3:42 pm: As the carefully crafted Civic Federation report demonstrates, the Governor’s proposed FY 16 budget is flawed and unrealistic. It’s a recipe for disaster. - zonz - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 8:08 pm: If I am a Republican-leaning voter, I want to know why the GOP leaders in the GA have not intro’d proposed legislation to accomplish the Turnaround Agenda items that the GOP Governor keeps saying are NECESSARY & PREREQUISITE to him negotiating a State budget for the fiscal year that begins in 54 days. - zonz - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 8:18 pm: Juvenal, your reference to Kansas-style of budget-making reminded me that the true believers … are and shall remain remain true believers ========== KS paid Arthur Laffer $75k for this folly JANUARY 19, 2012 Economist Arthur Laffer: Tax, unions hurt Kansas’ prosperity http://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article1084749.html “Arduin, Laffer & Moore Econometrics (ALME) is a conservative-leaning economic consulting firm led by Donna Arduin, Arthur Laffer, and Stephen Moore” - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arduin,_Laffer_%26_Moore_Econometrics - Oswego Willy - Thursday, May 7, 15 @ 8:39 pm: ===If I am a Republican-leaning voter, I want to know why the GOP leaders in the GA have not intro’d proposed legislation to accomplish the Turnaround Agenda items that the GOP Governor keeps saying are NECESSARY & PREREQUISITE to him negotiating a State budget for the fiscal year that begins in 54 days.=== Because you don’t put to a vote bills unless the result of the vote is what you require. None of the Agenda, as-is, won’t get 60 or 30. Those are votes for GOP members that lead to seat loses unless the structured roll call to pass the bills are there for protection. It’s Caucus Governing, within Caucus Politics. Running losing legislation leads to losing seats. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.