106 Comments - KGB - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 10:24 am: “Details to follow.” Lawmakers to follow after that. - VanillaMan - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 10:26 am: Good. Veto. It is time for the Democrats to vote for the tax increases they want to force upon us at a time when we cannot afford to pay more. It is their solution, and a very poor one. I hope each and every one of them loses re-election. - Captain Flume - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 10:28 am: Maybe he’ll put an amendatory veto on one the revenue bills that calls for an income tax increase. - been there - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 10:33 am: what’s a b-roll? - Anonymous - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 10:34 am: Good, veto and make them “act” like adults and settle this budget as Indiana was able to do without the chaos. I am convinced that some of these lawmakers could benefit by some of the services provided by the state, that they are so willing to cut. It’s called “denial”. - 815Sox - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 10:34 am: “force upon us at a time when we cannot afford to pay more” Are you suggesting that we can function without services right now? In the middle of a recession? Even if you do not personally need these services you will still be hurt by these cuts. You are a member of a community, like it or not. - Cosmic Charlie - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 10:36 am: Quinn needs to shake the Magic 8 ball before deciding what to do next. - Deep South - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 10:39 am: What’s he going to veto? Budget? Cap Bill? - OneMan - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 10:40 am: b-roll is the footage they show when the reporter it talking and not on camera or set-up footage, etc. It is edited in later into the report. - JOHNNIE C - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 10:40 am: Just heard that Judge Grady in federal court has issued an order which in effect causes DCFS to comply with the B.H. consent decree and rolls back most of the dismissal of contract employees and contracted services to children and families served by the Department. - wordslinger - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 10:48 am: Why 1:30 p.m.? He could have done it this morning for the a.m. happy talk shows and owned the day’s news cycle. Now, he’s missed both the morning and noon shows. - Macbeth - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 10:48 am: I’m amazed at the myopic tunnel vision folks have who refuse to believe that they are part of a community. I’m *happy* to pay more taxes so long as I know those taxes will measurably improve the community in which I live. And I’m happy to vote for any legislator who votes for the necessary tax increase. I’m *not* happy to keep pushing this stuff off for next year’s budget. All this talk about the “we’re in a recession, we can’t pay more taxes” is bizarre. You’ll want the services when you need the services, so it’s important that you fund the services — no matter whether we’re in a “recession” or no. - been there - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 10:49 am: Thank you, OneMan. - Anon - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 10:49 am: You can read the judges order to DCFS here http://www.state.il.us/DCFS/docs/Order_6_30_09.pdf - 815Sox - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 10:51 am: “Just heard that Judge Grady in federal court has issued an order which in effect causes DCFS to comply with the B.H. consent decree and rolls back most of the dismissal of contract employees and contracted services to children and families served by the Department. ” The BH consent degree basically puts limits on the amount of clients that can be on a caseload. So essentially, the 50 to 1 caseload cannot techinally happen. Still even if this holds, what good can be done when a caseworker cannot refer a client to services? - Hank - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 10:51 am: A photo op as well at 1:30? Golly, which group will he surround himself with today? Another change of direction? - John Bambenek - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 10:53 am: Macbeth- Sing that song to people who,ve seen their house values plummet and are barely able to hold on to their homes. Tell that to people who’ve lost their jobs or their families who are trying to support them. Tell that to people whose wages are falling while prices are rising. And then explain to them why Blagojevich was impeached for creating billions of spending around legislature and why now no one will cut those very same programs that they impeached him for. - Six Degrees of Separation - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 10:56 am: I think there’s a 50/50 chance that the gov will veto the Capital Bill today and the GA will soon vote to override, with the gov then announcing the details of the new capital plan. A win/win/win, at least on this item. - Deep South - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 10:57 am: John Bam….Yeah, I’ll tell it to ‘em when they’re out looking for the services that will have been cut or eliminated. I’d be very happy to tell ‘em. Question is: what will you tell ‘em? - Macbeth - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 11:00 am: John, I’m one of those people. I get it. But what I’m saying is that while my own income is dropping — or I’m able to buy less — I understand that new taxes are necessary. Everybody is impacted one way or another — so it’s not an effective rhetorical tactic to say, “Okay, but what about those people? WHat about the John Deere employees? What about the homeowners blah, blah, blah …” It’s a moral stance, and morality doesn’t suddenly not apply when you’re losing wages or losing buying power or making less or whatever. What *immoral* — or at the very least *amoral* — is looking to delay the decisions until June 30, 2010. I find it equally immoral for folks to be more than willing to throw state workers under the bus (because they somehow “don’t count”) yet refuse to pay another X% to make the community a *better* community. - John Bambenek - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 11:00 am: I’m telling them that the state with all the information and gads of staffers can’t even figure out what they have now. When the difference between deficit figures is as wide as $10 BILLION, how can you justify the necessity of a tax increase. THE EXPERTS DON’T EVEN HAVE A GRASP OF THE SITUATION. That’s the worst possible time to just throw money on a table and hope for the best. - Princess - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 11:00 am: Well, Mr. Bambenek, you don’t seem to acknowledge that I may be one of those people or families too. The one son lost his job and guess who is making his car payment? While I have no idea where the value of my home is my property taxes increased and as of now many seem to be having no problem going after my wages and or job as we’re a state employee family. Somehow ‘I’ just seem to also be left out of being ‘real people’. - dupage dan - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 11:01 am: 815Sox, I don’t think we can function properly without those services. However, given the rhetoric coming out of Springfield it is hard to believe that those services are at risk. In addition, raising taxes in a recession harms business. Ample proof of that over the history of this country. If you harm businesses, they pay less taxes. Higher taxes result in lower tax receipts. It is that simple. As a state employee I am painfully aware of the potential for disaster here. I might be affected by this in a significant way. I worry more about those who may lose the services they rely on, mainly persons with disabilities who may be discharged from broke group home agencies and the like. The GA is directly to blame for this. No sense in blaming a disgraced indicted governor, he ain’t here anymore - no one will buy that. One piece of proof that the GA just doesn’t get it is the plan to kick the pension problem further down the road with yet another loan. Simply beyond words. The GA has no choice, now, but to raise taxes. My hope is that it will result in a wholesale overturn in the GA come next election. The GA (MJM) knows this is likely - that’s why they are avoiding the tax increase by ignoring it or trying to pin the problem on the GOP. Won’t work. They deserve what should happen to them - throw the bums out! - Mary, Sterling - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 11:02 am: Sorry, tapped out here. Private sector working poor. NO MORE TAXES. Let the cuts begin, starting with state employees(including legislators) pensions, salaries, perks. QUIT harming the working poor with these tax increases! - Mary, Sterling - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 11:04 am: Princess: you’re no more worthy that those of us in the private sector. WE”RE taking hits(17000+ job loss in May). It’s your turn. Sell the damn car. That’s what we had to do. - Macbeth - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 11:07 am: === Sorry, tapped out here. Private sector working poor. NO MORE TAXES. Let the cuts begin, starting with state employees(including legislators) pensions, salaries, perks. ==== This is exactly the kind of bizarre attitude I’m talking about. Everybody’s tapped out. You can’t raise your hand in the middle of a community and say, okay, I’m more tapped out than you are. This makes no sense. The shared sacrifice means it’s shared across the board. It’s not just state employees who must sacrifice. It’s weird and disturbing. John — yes, I’ll agree on your point of the confusion of numbers. Quinn’s not (apparently) helping out with this one. - dupage dan - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 11:13 am: Mary,Sterling, You can send all (read ALL) state employees home and you haven’t put a dent into the deficit. Most of the budget goes to programs that you can’t simply cut. Are you going to close the prisons and let the rabble run the streets? If you cut the police who’s gonna watch the released criminals? Are you going to allow seniors with Alzheimers disease wander the streets after the NHs close? Who is going to watch them? Are you going to bring into your home the thousands of mentally disabled people who have been turned out of the group homes and halfway houses? This is the dilemma here. The state provides funding for these programs - it is the bulk of the budget. You can close the whole rest of the state down and you haven’t saved but a drop in the bucket. The GA has been on a spree for decades without thought of the consequences. Those in office now must be held accountable. Taxes going up or staying where they are - a disaster no matter how you look at it. Horrific. - wordslinger - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 11:14 am: –Higher taxes result in lower tax receipts. It is that simple.– DD, that categorical statement is absurd, of course. I know you’re playing off the old Laffer Curve, and there have been instances where targeted tax cuts unleased pent-up capital, resulting in incrementally higher taxes, a la JFKs tax cut. But on it’s face, it makes no sense. - Princess - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 11:16 am: Mary, I asked for nothing ’special’ from you and I made concessions in my last contract. Sell the car? Well, there’s an idea. I can make him sell it which means he can not get another job and he can collect unemployment longer. Does that work for you? Really think you will ’save’ money if ‘I’ am laid off? Better think that one over as first there is the 6 month wages I have coming as I’ve worked hard and was frugal with my time, then there is the part time job which have had for years as the state wages don’t make meet the household budget. Then there is the unemployment which will be collected while I can still get partial unemployment and then there is the health benefits that the state will have to npay nfor my family for 2 years (no premium from me)and finally I’ll get around to retiring and collecting the pension. Think you have saved anything yet? - dupage dan - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 11:16 am: wordlslinger, I don’t have to defend my position - history does that for me. - John Bambenek - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 11:16 am: I’ll concede that maybe a tax increase is necessary but first we have to get a handle on the numbers, then we need a top-down review of what programs work, what doesn’t and what’s duplicate or wasteful. Then we prioritize. We don’t need to spnend $100M for land in Peotone when foster kids are getting thrown under the bus. Then let’s see where we are. - Princess - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 11:17 am: typing on laptop sucks, sorry for worse than usual typing errors - dupage dan - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 11:19 am: John Bambenek, Do you have someone in mind who we can trust to give do this top-down review? I’m sure MJM would welcome the help with open arms….NOT! - anonymous - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 11:19 am: Cosmic Charlie, instead of checking a magic 8 ball maybe he is one of those people who is mesmerized by his horoscope. His maybe instead of saying, “you have the all clear to shop” says “you have the all clear to veto” There have been other glamorous and powerful public figures who have made their decisions based on their horoscopes, too. - Macbeth - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 11:20 am: === You can’t raise your hand in the middle of a community and say, okay, I’m more tapped out than you are. === Well, I’ll correct myself. You can do this. You can, say, okay — I’m *completely* tapped out. But if that’s the case — then you *need* the state and the state-provided services more than ever. So if this is the case, why would be you be advocating cuts? It’s the state that is meant to take care of it’s “tapped out” citizens. That’s the way we roll. And that’s the way we *should* roll. Again — it’s a moral issue, and the right approach is to understand (as Quinn, apparently, does — although I’m not entirely clear this is so) that you have to support and provide an adequate framework for those with special or unique needs. That’s the moral obligation of a modern community. And — as if that’s not enough — who do you think operates that “moral machinery” that provides the assistance and supports the framework? You got it. State workers. Actual human beings employed by the apparatus you so vociferously want to shred. And those state workers deserve a fair wage and fair benefits for their labor. So it’s quite the paradox ain’t it? - John Bambenek - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 11:22 am: Dupage dan- There are plenty of CPAs good at that kind of thing, but if we can’t trust them with the money they have now, why trust them with more? I’d rather give the money to charities directly and let them handle social services. At least then I can be sure no one is shaking them down for campaign cash. - Mary, Sterling - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 11:22 am: Yes, MAry: it does work for me. You have no right to more of my wages to keep your standard of living. You and your sort have run this state into the ground. ME and my sort have faced increased taxes, job loss(as private business leave this state because of YOUR high fees/ intrusive regulation) all to fund YOUR excesses. No more. Take your lumps, lady. Quit looking at me and my wages as your personal piggy-bank. CUT, CUT, CUT. - Mary, Sterling - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 11:23 am: Whoops…typing fast. Sorry. Yes, PRINCESS. Nickname, you see. - Macbeth - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 11:24 am: === You and your sort have run this state into the ground. ME and my sort have faced increased taxes, job loss(as private business leave this state because of YOUR high fees/ intrusive regulation) all to fund YOUR excesses. === Then it’s clear that you and your “sort” should advocate secession. Let’s see how far that gets you and your fellow sorts. - dupage dan - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 11:27 am: John Bambenek, Not hard to find a good CPA, I guess. The real problem is that the GA won’t be listening/reading. Charities get much of the funds that the state allocates to the population that is served now. We’ll take one, for example - Children’s Hospital in Chicago. Guess who was shaking them down for campaign cash? If you think that the elected representatives are working hard at solving the states’ problems as opposed to figuring out how to circumvent the “ethics” laws to raise campaign cash, you are fooling yourself. - Mary, Sterling - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 11:27 am: Macbeth: your ‘actual humans’ are no more worthy that MY ‘actual humans’. WE(private sector) took a 17000 job loss hit in May alone in this state. Time to start laying off YOUR sort. Everyone’s ‘gotta have some skin in the game’, friend. - Deep South - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 11:27 am: Here’s a “fer instance from where I sit that some might want to consider: Five thousand people work at SIU. All state employees. It’s been said that daily payroll is a half million dollars. Let’s make ‘em stay home for a day…no, let’s make it a week. That’s right, let’s take two and a half million dollars out of our local economy. Anyone feelin’ better yet about cuttin’ state employees? - Fan - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 11:28 am: I think you let a guy like Raushcenberger whack the budget and then let a reasonable retired Dem limit the whacks Steve suggested; then you make all employees take a 10% pay cut (the private sector is doing it) and then you are much closer to a non tax increase solution. - GOP - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 11:29 am: Quinn said in his speech yesterday that the will of the people should prevail…sounds good. Look at the polls…the people are NOT for a tax increase!! - Mary, Sterling - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 11:29 am: Deep: Yes. I am. You MUST cut state jobs. How does your example compare to the loss of income of 17000+ private sector workers in MAy alone in this state. Yet you want more money from US?! Get real. - Secret Square - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 11:31 am: Not to get off topic, but I’d like to suggest another QOTD for all Cap Fax readers: knowing what you know now, would you have voted differently on the con-con question last fall? I voted for it, and I would still vote for it today. Whatever a con-con would have cost (I think some estimates went up to $80 million or so) would have been a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of NOT making significant changes to state government. - dupage dan - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 11:33 am: Mary,Sterling, The next thing you might say is that the federal gov’t doesn’t have the lawful right to tax you. Maybe you could set up your own country right there in Whiteside Cty. Call it Emersonia. - Macbeth - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 11:34 am: Mary – Your argument is specious. Laying off state employees isn’t going to solve any budget issue. We’ve covered this issue. It’s moot — and talk of it is only political coverage for a tax increase. You think AFSCME will cave for 12 furlough days? You advocate public layoffs because you’ve set up some weird dichotomy between private and public employees — as if the public is tired of the private employees. That’s not the case, and I know it’s not the case. I mean, the last time I got my driver’s license, I know a whole bunch of private (and public!) employees who were quite happy that the facility was open, staffed, and operating smoothly. This is replicated across the state. Again — *as it should be*. We’re linked — and (again!) this is how it should be. - wordslinger - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 11:35 am: DD, I understand the point you’re trying to make, that there is a point of diminishing returns. Your statement is just too categorical. - Anonymous - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 11:37 am: Hey Macbeth, How come moral people like you think its o.k. to reach into my empty wallet? Why is the working man’s wallet always a target of corrupt politicians? The world would not end if all entitlements were cut 25%. Why can you take 25% out of their wallet? Stay out of my wallet! - Macbeth - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 11:37 am: === How come moral people like you think its o.k. to reach into my empty wallet? === Because it’s coming out of my wallet, too. Mine’s just as empty as yours. - dupage dan - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 11:39 am: wordslinger, I have been accused of worse. It was a small part of my overall statement, tho. The tax issue is a moot point. The state has no choice - even if you cut, cut, cut and reform, reform reform you will still have to raise taxes to cover the short fall. The cascading effect of that will have reverberations for decades. Horrific - Double - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 11:40 am: Veto it. Do not call a special session…they can meet on their own dime, not mine, and maybe the GA can figure out how to sit down and get this done. The gov has been sitting in Springfield and where have the leaders been? Is anyone else begining to see that maybe MJM (or is that King Lear) needs to get off the throne so this state can move forward? - TheCommonDenominator - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 11:41 am: The #1 show when MJM took office as Speaker of the House–”Dallas”. So he may know who shot JR, he just can’t seem to get a balanced budget approved when Dems control everything. Still think genius applies? - Capitol View - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 11:41 am: FYI - nonprofit providers are 501 c 3 organizations, and have no PAC moneys to give to politicians. Perhaps if they did, the contract rate would not be 60-70% of actual cost for most reimbursed services before being lopped another 30% in the House proposal. And poor folks do not pay more state taxes under the tax options being proposed. There is a higher personal deduction, so if you are unemployed or making little, there is no income tax increase at all. Most or all of the logical updates of the tax reform such as expanding sales taxes on more services have been dropped - unfortunately. Sales taxes on services are like a user fee - you would only pay them if you involve yourself in that particular service. Community based services are already closing all around the state. Non profit boards have a mandated responsibility under the Not for Profit Act to run themselves in a financially responsible manner. That may preclude them ever contracting with state government again, as rates drop from insufficient to downright abusive if the 70% level is continued, as already implemented in contracts that providers had to sign by June 30th to be eligible for any reimbursments for state referred clients after July 1st. Substantial damage has already been done to the provider network with facilities closed and staff scattered. But hey - the lack of providers will save the state money as its vulnerable residents rot on waiting lists and their problems fester. Forget what state government was created to do, and just go through the motions of pretending to manage it. That will make the voters happy - until they or a loved one needs state services. - dupage dan - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 11:44 am: Capitol View, Couldn’t have said it better myself. Thank you. - Princess - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 11:45 am: Oh, Mary, sounds like you have a big load of sour grapes this morning. Princess, by the way, is the name of a girls high school team, and in honor of my little village, nothing to do with any life style. I’ve ran this state into the ground and should take my lumps? Really Mary, now tell me why I should ’suffer’ more than the citizens in settling this state budget? Your tax dollars are no more important to you than they are to me. I really don’t have the time to waste to pit issues of why you think you’re deserving and I am not. But if you think you’ll gain anything from laying me off, go ahead, but don’t think I’ll take any more ‘lumps’ in settling this budget than what is asked of you. You don’t get your cake and get to eat it too. - A Citizen - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 11:46 am: The veneer of civility in our society is very thin and appears to be tearing and pealing back. What is appearing underneath is not pretty. - Macbeth - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 11:48 am: === I’ve ran this state into the ground and should take my lumps? === Exactly. That’s like telling the folks who worked at Butler or Maytag in Galesburg that they got what they deserved for working so hard. The secret is this, Mary: there’s a whole lot of state employees who *never* approved of what the “company” was doing down in Springfield or Chicago. But like any group of workers, they didn’t have much choice but to put up or shut up. Those that spoke out against the company did so at their own risk. Sounds kinda like private employment, don’t it? - Six Degrees of Separation - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 11:51 am: Mary, Sterling. In a Depression we would expect all those laid off private sector workers to be employed directly (as in job training and workforce development programs - remember WPA, CCC, and CETA?) or indirectly (via capital projects that contract private firms to do public work). And borrow heavily, with the repayment to be made in better times. That’s kinda what’s going on now. - Secret Square - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 11:54 am: To all private sector employees who accuse public employees of “reaching into my wallet”: One could also argue that the companies you work for or the businesses you owned “deserved” to go out of business because they reached too far into OUR wallets by charging too much for their products or services, or by not providing the kind of customer or business services we wanted. Recessions start when people stop spending money, and they end when people feel confident enough to start spending again. Period. Taking away someone else’s job does nothing to bring yours back. All it does is make those who were fired stop spending money, which means less revenue for local businesses, which means…. guess what… more closings and more layoffs in the PRIVATE sector! If it could be proven that massive state employee layoffs would balance the budget or avert the need for any tax hike, AND that most of the laid off state employees would be able to find jobs elsewhere within a reasonable period of time, then people like Mary would have a case. They don’t. - dupage dan - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 11:56 am: Six Degrees of Separation, Borrow from whom? Do you want your children to owe to China? Hey, let’s just print the $. Does the name “Weimar Republic” ring a bell? Those programs (WPA, CCC, etc) did little to relieve the unemployment crisis of the depression. Socialism does not grow economies. Just ask any Soviet citizen. - Six Degrees of Separation - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 12:03 pm: SS- Add “AND that the state could function somewhat effectively without them” to your last paragraph. I haven’t heard the call lately to close the state prisons and release the inmates back into society lately, as a budget cutting move. Or to lay off all the state police, except from Mr. Tobin. - bockrand - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 12:05 pm: Time for the lawmakers to pay the piper for not ‘manning up’ against the last Gov. They let him run roughshod for six years, couldn’t/wouldn’t put a stop to him until it was too late. Go ahead and raise taxes, then hit the unemployment line after election. If the rest of the state votes the way I plan to, you’ll be out of your job regardless because you’ve been irresponsible ever since Rod’s 1st term. - Secret Square - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 12:11 pm: Will those who adamantly insist social services must be cut to avoid a tax increase step up to the plate via their churches, fraternal organizations, etc. to fill the gap? Perhaps using the money they may not have to pay in additional taxes? I received an e-mail last night from an autism support group noting that a local church which habitually provides nursery/Sunday School for special needs children was going to have a free “respite care day” for the whole community in August — four hours on a Saturday. You have to sign up in advance and let them know what kind of care your child needs. I don’t know for sure whether all the publicity about cuts to state-supported respite or in-home care prompted this event, but I suspect it did. The church members deserve much thanks for offering this. Still, it’s only 4 hours on one Saturday afternoon, hardly enough to make up for all the respite care hours that are being lost due to the budget cuts. - Cosmic Charlie - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 12:15 pm: Capitol View, Many of these social service providers have lobbyists. Many lobbyists take on such clients at reduced rate or even pro-bono but to categorically state that they do not have influence in Springfield is not accurate. Plus, SEIU is out there big time on their behalf. And they do have a PAC. A very large one. That being said, they are getting treated like crap during this whole negotiation and thats not right. They deserve better. - Plutocrat03 - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 12:15 pm: I just read that Hawaii is using an array of cost cutting measures to cover it’s shortfall. Don’t see any motion in that direction here….. What tells me that the legislators in Illinois are not truthful is that there has not been a single thing done to work on paring the budget down. They just bring forward the poor and defenseless and threaten their crumbs while continuing to haul their benefits away by the wheelbarrow. - Macbeth - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 12:16 pm: === To all private sector employees who accuse public employees of “reaching into my wallet”: One could also argue that the companies you work for or the businesses you owned “deserved” to go out of business because they reached too far into OUR wallets by charging too much for their products or services, or by not providing the kind of customer or business services we wanted. ==== Remember, too, that it was the *private* consulting firms during the Blagojevich years that made a killing off the state. What, you think this kinds of consultants didn’t push an already fragile state deeper into the red? What about all the failed Blagojevich initiatives that needed “consultants” to tell which end was up? The branding initiatives, the consolidation initiatives. All these things made the consultants rich. And who paid? We all did, including Mary and “anonymous.” The consultants reached *deep* into your wallets and purses. - VanillaMan - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 12:18 pm: We are in a sinking ship. All the fighting among the passengers as to whom will get a seat on one of the life rafts overlooks the facts that this ship didn’t need to sink. It overlooks the facts that we didn’t have to take the course taken over the past decade towards the rocks we struck. It overlooks the fact that not only has the crew in charge of the ship over the past decade failed to steer us safely - it is failing to function after it started to sink. And it is failing now that the rocks have been struck. As we gather on the tilted deck of the USS Illinois, we have to ensure that the crew who led us aground not get a seat on one of those life rafts. The Party in Power has to sink with the ship. That is the price they should pay for their criminally negligent leadership, their bankrupted partisan policies, their refusal to find revenue, and the government paralysis we’ve undergone since they became the dominate Party in Power. As the lifeboats are lowered, we need to ensure that those who kept the boat afloat with their taxed wages, those who kept the boat afloat with their businesses, do not go underwater too. If they do, we will lose even more. Those depending upon the other’s ability to have their wages taxed are not served well when a government is ran by fools such as the one now leading Illinois. - CircularFiringSquad - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 12:18 pm: It is funny they put Rauschenberger out in front when he was the architect of all the state budget disasters when the GOPs ran the Senatehn - wordslinger - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 12:21 pm: So VMan, you’re for the tax increase that you’re against? - Marcus Agrippa - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 12:27 pm: This is not just a Rod thing. This is something that goes back for years and years. Failing to pay pensions, failing to pay bills on time, letting Medicaid balances build, skimming from one of the thousands of designated funds. Do some research. Read the COGFA reports on the General Assembly web site. Unfortunately, it is time to pay the piper and people are going to get hurt in the meantime. Wouldn’t it be great if the elected officials would drop the talking points and admit they have caused a problem and it is time to solve it. Both sides put their cards on the table and have a public debate. Nah, won’t happen because they are more concerned with the content for the attack ads in 2010. - dupage dan - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 12:27 pm: Quite a conundrum, ain’t it? Being for a tax increase that you oppose. That is precisely the position we are in. - D H S - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 12:32 pm: I work for the State of Illinois…DHS. I am all for being fiscally responsible. The list of cuts in our agency…do not touch the layer upon layer of unecessary job positions implemented by Secretary Adams upon her arrival . Its disgraceful.,,abuse of Power. I guess she prefers to throw the disabled, kids and the elderly under the bus….before eliminating the highest paid folks in the agency…individuals that if terminated tomorrow…are set for life financially. Secretary Adams and her high paid “followers” have offices in Springfield and Chicago…I work here…and I can personally attest that several individuals work out of their fully staffed Chicago office…and typically only report to their fully staffed Springfield office…MAYBE once every six months. So why two offices?… The last time I checked…the stste capitol is in Springfield. Eliminate the duplication of offices and the layers of non essential BS jobs. Secretary Adams….is a Blago Buddy….she needs to go. - Irish - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 12:41 pm: To paraphrase, “Chaos and suffering triumph when good (?) men do nothing.” Bottomline, 1.) The legislators did not do enough when Blago created the new programs, especially the insurance program for any family making less than the $80,000.00/yr. What most of us saw and predicted and what evidently these professional government types could not see was the employers that quit providing health care for their employees because they qualified under the new state program. So now they have a tougher decision to end this added program that came with no funding. 2.) The legislators historically have allowed “borrowing” from any fund that had money in it even thogh that borrowing bordered on being illegal. This is especially true of the employee pension system. They patted themselves on the back when they passed the law in the early ’90s which mandated the state make it’s pension payments. Then they promptly avoided making an appropriation for those payments which is the same as not making them. Now the pigeons have come home to roost, these monies have to be paid back and they have to (or should)do something about it. Yet they decide to do nothing. I understand that the Governor has not been clear where he will spend the new monies, How difficult is that for him to do? The legislators have said they know where more cuts can be made. Where are they? Where is the plan from these dissenters? Haven’t seen it. Outside groups are also calling for more cuts yet their plans do not come near to meeting the budget gap. Are all of these players working together for a solution? NO! They are doing nothing. Rich has explained it to them very clearly. Scott Reeder’s recent column also spelled it out to them. If they cannot see the need and go to work then they do not belong in their job. One has to ask oneself how these folks who supposedly know state government, some have been in their jobs for years, cannot see the reality of the situation. Or do they see it and still decide to do nothing? It is time for someone to break ranks with their leaders and do something. And it is time for the voters of Illinois to cull the legislative ranks of these “do nothing politicians” I can unequivocally say there is not a “Statesman” in the ranks of the GA or the constituional officers. - Anonymous - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 12:41 pm: It’s hard to have much sympathy for SEIU’s agenda given that they were Blago’s biggest enablers. You reap what you sow. And they’ve always been more concerned with their own power than with the welfare of their members. - Bill - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 12:43 pm: Vannie, Is your glass always half empty? I thought that you were against increasing taxes. I guess if the Repubs raise them then it ok with you. It has got to be really frustrating for you knowing that no matter what happens the state, the GA, all of the constitutionals, both US Senators, the President of the US, and most municipal elected officials will be mostly Democrats for a long, long time. Take a pill, my vanilla friend. - Marcus Agrippa - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 12:49 pm: Irish- you hit it on the head. - springpatch - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 12:51 pm: Raise the taxes and lets been done with it! Don’t get me wrong I am not happy about a possible tax increase but lets get real for a minute. The media has done a great job of stating”50% tax increase” in reality what is that in terms of your pay check 20-30 bucks a month. I work for the state and would rather do that then lose my job. Sadly poor leadership has created this! It didn’t happen overnight and a quick fix such as postponing the budget 30-60 days of taking EVEN more money from the pension system is short term ideas. We need long term action. Secondly, IF layoffs are going to happen to state employees then the hundreds of temps we hire go first then contractual employees. How many is that? Top officials can’t tell us they didn’t see this coming along time ago and yet we outsource temps and hire / rehire contractual employees! Amazing! Quinn is doing what he can with is given to him. Our reps and senators need to get off their high horse and stopping worrying about making decisions that will lower their chances of re-election. We pay them to make tough choices this is one of them. Sorry harsh reality. Finally, those of you that cry about no income tax income increase??? Do you work for the state? You want to be layed off or take a very VERY small pay cut in comparison to your salary????? I don’t know but I will take the pay cut before I want to lose my job. - Ghost - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 12:55 pm: it is fascinating the people who seem to thuink that if the government ceases to spend billions of dollars in the State economy that it had previously provided this will somehow preserve jobs and cause a bussines to flourish. Myth 1 - by saving 1000 dollars a business will flourish, but without it the business will collapse, or fear Mongering. Each indicudal employed in this State in a private jobm, and each private buisness is dependent on money being spent in the State to generate income. If somone is as economicaly close to collpse as Bam likes to describe, they are most likely not paying any addtional tax based on thier low income. If they have genrous income, then odds are the job they have is dependent in one way or another on the billions of dollars the State pumps into the econmy each year. Removal of that money from State spending does not create a cash surplus, it creates a cash deficieny in the private sector. the State is spending billions on private companies, private business etc, not to mention its employees spending as well. A business on the verge of collpase is more likely to survive with a tax increase then without. Without a tax increase the econmy in Illinois crashes further, more unemployement, fewer dollars being spent etc. The business will save 1k in taxes and lose 100k in income. - No Confidence - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 12:59 pm: I’m with Irish. Throw out the baby and the bathwater. - Cassandra - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 1:14 pm: Speaking of Secretary Adams, who seems to be not only a Blago buddy but a Quinn buddy, what’s new with the Howe Developmental Center? DHS runs this center but, during Adams’ watch, it lost its federal certification two years ago so state taxpayes have had to pay the entire cost of the facility for the past couple of years…to the tune of tens of millions of extra dollars annually. I guess Adams and the state employees running the center didn’t see meeting the federal standards as a priority. After all, they’ll still get their pay (including a nice raise starting today and two more raises between now and January) whether the center meets federal standards or not. A number of governmental and advocacy groups and observers have recommended shutting the place down. Last I heard, Quinn was holding that up. I guess a state facility that provides, by numerous accounts, very substandard care, is better than no state facility at all. And what’s a few tens of millions of dollars of unnecessary costs here and there. After all, he can always raise taxes. - Bill - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 1:17 pm: ==After all, he can always raise taxes.== Apparently, no he can’t. - Obamarama - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 1:25 pm: Any idea where the veto/press conference will be streaming? I’ve got nothin’ so far. - fed up - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 1:26 pm: Springpatch so we as a whole should pay 20-30bucks a month to save you because your a state employee. First off the tax increase would be more than 20-30 bucks a month and I for one believe we could get by with less state employees. Mike Madigan doesnt need a spokesperson he can answer questions on his own. Thats probably 85-100k we saved right there. After we get rid of the unneeded programs and the waste the GA wont even combine state agencys like Quinn wanted then implement pension reform for new hires and eliminate the double dipping pensions for pols and the work 2 months at a new state job increase your pension 20k scams then we need to consider revenue upgrades. A few new casinos some slots and video poker at the airports, Sell the state airplane Blago used, have lisa hold a bake sale she isnt doing anything apparently. All of this before any tax increase and the tax increase needs to be temporary. - fyi - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 1:30 pm: IIS will carry it here: http://www.illinois.gov/ioci/iisradio.cfm - Macbeth - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 1:43 pm: === First off the tax increase would be more than 20-30 bucks a month and I for one believe we could get by with less state employees. === How does one guesstimate this? Is there a sense that, durnit, there’s just too many of those state employees? Yeah, cause that veteran’s home in Quincy is positively overrun with state employees. Wait — what’s that? Oh. Okay. The veteran’s home employees can stay. Okay. Then yeah, that driver’s license facility is *overrun* with state employees. How about we close it down on Wednesdays, too? Wait — what’s that? You want those folks to stay so you can get your driver’s license on a Wednesday? Ah. Okay. “Getting rid of state employees” is a codephrase to punish someone for the craziness but to make sure that person punished is affiliated with the state — except *not* affiliated with any of the state services that you use or might use or might want to keep. That’s like me saying, “Gee, I think we can get along with fewer Motorola employees.” Or: “Gosh, we could *definitely* cut some of those AT&T folks. Definitely.” It’s all venom — pure and simply. And it’s venom mostly by people who will squawk the loudest when the state service *they* need is cut. The same crazy folks who plaster their tinted window vans with bumper stickers about inane isues. - OneMan - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 1:50 pm: Macbeth – I have worked for companies where shareholders (and the market) have basically said, reduce costs. - WOW - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 1:53 pm: I am not a state employee but from the arguements above what the people who claim to represent “private” employee’s fail to see or understand is that the first step most of their companies took to be solvent wasn’t to fire people or cut their pensions. The first thing they did was raise rates. So a snickers went up, the dentist raised his prices ect. But when the above private employee lobbyists would like to see the public employee lobbyists do is totally backwards of what they do. They don’t want the state to raise revenue they want them to down size but still give everyone what they want. Public employee’s pay taxes just like private employees buy snickers and go to teh dentist. - CircularFiringSquad - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 1:54 pm: IIS Website not working and they are not answering the phone - fed up - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 1:56 pm: Wow what a surprise a state employee saying give me more give me more. Guess what we are tapped out time to try and survive in the real world. Layoffs are happining everywhere its time to combine some agencys cut some managment staff and get did of conslutants and assitants and spokepersons. Maybe just maybe instead of demanding more more more the state employees could come up with some cost savings but that might qualify as work so they will have to check with the union. - OneMan - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 1:56 pm: Wow – Wished I had worked in some industries that had the pricing power that you think they have. - WOW - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 2:00 pm: I said it was the first step they took. Then they screwed with pensions, gave furlough days and fied people in droves. It isn’t a pretty economy for anyone is the point. - WOW - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 2:01 pm: sorry fired people … not fied them. - springpatch - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 2:03 pm: fed up I am saying the tax increase is the only fair way to get our of the mess….. i shouldn’t lay on the backs of state employees… I take it you are not one of them….. I agree some poeple need to go… upper manage who are not qualified for their jobs, temps and contractual employees .. Lets break it down an average person making 35,000 gets little over 1,000 taken out at the current 3% tax rate thats little over 40/ a pay check if paid twice a month. at 5% means 1750ish taken a year out of your take check which means an addition 30 a pay comes out of your check per paycheck. SUCKS your losing an addition 750 for the year to the state of illinois which hasn’t done its job in protecting its citizens. Some projects should but cut and there shouldn’t be any pork in the bills but like always there is…. and hundreds of employees at nonprofits getting laid off but it doesn’t impact you except for your paycheck might decrease if theincome tax passes so why care? GOD I wish more people only thought of themselves. - jojo - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 2:03 pm: Does anybody know what’s going on? Can’t find any online feeds, link above won’t load…has the presser happened/started? - Josh - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 2:06 pm: If the Governor is vetoing the 50% budget, why is he still directing his agencies to implement it? - Six Degrees of Separation - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 2:07 pm: WOW- To be fair, sometimes they made the Snickers a little bit smaller rather than lay off people or raise prices. It’s a possiblity with the state’s services, too. Same yummy taste, only a little less of it. - Capitol View - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 2:12 pm: It’s vetoed. Thank you, governor. - off the record - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 2:19 pm: Is there a list of the specific bills that were vetoed? Or any info anywhere? - Anon - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 2:21 pm: Although I hate the idea of cutting services for the needy, I have no respect for people who claim that anyone who is against raising taxes to pay for services is somehow inhuman. It is the taxpayer’s money, and they should have some say in deciding whether to spend it on something for themselves rather than on services for others. And everyone chooses to spend their money on themselves in preference to the “needy” to some extent. If you have ever ordered the more expensive cut of steak rather than give the increased price to the poor, you are, at most, different in degree only and not in quality from the hardest-hearted person yelling “don’t raise my taxes.” If you want someone to pay more for a public service and keep less for themselves, you need to persuade rather than condemn. - Captain Flume - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 2:25 pm: SB1197 was vetoed - jojo - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 3:38 pm: Anybody else find it ironic that Steve Brown said the July 14 date was picked to cause the “least amount of disruption” to lawmakers’ lives?? Guess the people being laid off as we speak don’t deserve that level of respect. Also, I’d love to be able to say where my tax dollars should go - I bet human services and education fare better in that scenario! - Amy - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 4:13 pm: …aren’t we all supposed to be in this for the people these programs support? Enough of this petty talk about private vs. public jobs etc… think about the people who need these services, not your own well being. - wordslinger - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 7:41 pm: –Those programs (WPA, CCC, etc) did little to relieve the unemployment crisis of the depression. Socialism does not grow economies. Just ask any Soviet citizen.– DD, sorry, but I have to ask: Are you out of your John Brown mind? At the time when Communism and Fascism were on the march, how in the world did putting unemployed people doing productive work constitute Socialsim? - Six Degrees of Separation - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 11:17 pm: DD- I do not promote “government as the solution for all problems” and often have a libertarian streak…however, in drastic times, temporary measures, however distasteful or against one’s grain, are sometimes necessary. I remember my great uncle’s stories of working for the WPA and helping build US highways in the south for $1 a day. It wasn’t a great job, but it beat starving, and he later spent many years in the oil business as a net taxpayer after his service in WWII. And even though I am against mortgaging the future in principle, we (US) have borrowed and spent huge sums of money in the past for much less noble causes than keeping our citizens afloat by employing them until things turn around. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.