* After a rough patch when he was talking about Barack Obama being a “socialist” and catering to the tea party crowd, Republican gubernatorial candidate Kirk Dillard seems to be softening his hard-line stances of late and returning to his more moderate roots.
Yesterday, Dillard said at a press conference that he won’t totally rule out a tax hike…
“I have no designs to raise any taxes,” [Dillard] said.
But Dillard, unlike his fellow Republican candidates for governor, maintained that all options should be considered, including tax increases.
He said it doesn’t make sense to eliminate an option, like his opponents mostly have.
“I’m saying that some of them are pandering,” said Dillard.
Rival Republican state Sen. Bill Brady shot back…
“I believe any politician that opens the door for a tax increase puts in jeopardy Illinois jobs,” said Brady.
Illinois Review claimed this week that Dillard had sought the endorsement of the Illinois Education Association. If he did, yesterday’s comments make even more sense.
* Jim Ryan is also opening the door a tiny crack…
If former Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan wins his bid for governor, the Elmhurst Republican says he will focus on cutting spending, but be open minded to tax hikes once the recession clears.
“If we do everything humanly possible,” Ryan said of the spending cuts and landmark reforms he is proposing, “then I would look at revenue enhancements.”
“But not before the recession is over,” Ryan quickly added during a tapping of WBBM 780AM’s At Issue program on Thursday.
During the program, Ryan didn’t identify a single state program that should be cut. He also backed away from his previous support of SB750, the tax swap plan…
Ryan had previously endorsed a plan to reduce property taxes in exchange for an increase in the income tax, but he says now that is a bad idea given the economy. He also says he has looked at other states that have a similar tax structure and seen the switch, intended to better fund education, doesn’t work as well as promised.
- Easy - Friday, Dec 11, 09 @ 7:15 am:
is anyone really surprised by this news?I just wonder if the business group leaders that are supporting him also support an increase in their corporate tax.
- Forest Denizen - Friday, Dec 11, 09 @ 7:31 am:
I’m really sorry that the state has had to tighten its belt during this economic meltdown. The big news is that so too have the citizens of this state. When there isn’t enough money to go around, you make the hard budget decisions and deal with it.
I cannot afford more taxes right now! Period.
- Sally Smith - Friday, Dec 11, 09 @ 7:41 am:
It amazes me that Republicans can’t figure out that our best chances of winning are Kirk Dillard. He’s got the experience and knowhow to win.
I am 100% for Kirk Dillard.
- Tennessee W - Friday, Dec 11, 09 @ 7:42 am:
I agree. I’ve been undecided, but I am now leaning towards Dillard. I really do think he can win in Nov 2010.
- Tennessee W - Friday, Dec 11, 09 @ 7:43 am:
By the way - how can anyone take Bill Brady seriously? He’s intellectually lazy and his campaign is a mess.
- Randolph Q - Friday, Dec 11, 09 @ 8:05 am:
Forest Denizen - These problems aren’t going to go away, and are going to cost more to solve the longer they are put off.
Better to pay now than have to pay more later, right?
- Old Shepherd - Friday, Dec 11, 09 @ 8:26 am:
Forest Denizen-
I, like you, cannot afford a tax hike either. However, I also realize that the costs of Illinois government crumbling to its knees would be much higher. I also realize that, yes, there is waste in state government, but there isn’t $11 billion in waste. This isn’t just Springfield’s problem. It’s everyone’s problem.
- Amuzing Myself - Friday, Dec 11, 09 @ 8:28 am:
Tennessee, you are clearly blinded by your candidate’s campaign talking points. Brady has the best organization and just went up on TV. He’s the only campaign with signs going up all over Illinois, on TV and in the media constantly. Dillard’s campaign is sputtering, and waffling on taxes is going to kill both Dillard and Ryan.
Republican voters know that this is a philosophical debate on spending and taxes, and we’re beginning to see that some candidates like Dillard and Ryan are buying into the conventional wisdom in Illinois that we can’t spend less, so we have to raise taxes. It’s a huge miscalculation on their part, and “pandering” if I’ve ever seen it.
- wordslinger - Friday, Dec 11, 09 @ 8:28 am:
Being a deadbeat and borrowing from your vendors is neither conservative nor pro-business.
Despite all the evidence to the contrary, Brady and McKenna (the one not on TV) apparently have reduced the deficit in half by decree. Surely, they can come up with a similar plan to get the state on a payment cycle consistent with their espoused conservative principles.
- Angry Chicagoan - Friday, Dec 11, 09 @ 8:52 am:
I’m glad to see Kirk Dillard joining the reality-based-community, which until now had only one on the Republican side who’d even be possible to consider for membership (Ryan).
Illinois has the lowest income tax in the Midwest, a sales tax that doesn’t touch services, and property taxes that only get seriously high in jurisdictions that are short on retail and commercial development. But we seem to expect Wisconsin or Minnesota-level services. All I can say on that is “good luck.”
Nonetheless, people under about $40,000 a year or so ($50K or $60K in some cases if you’ve got kids) are not getting a break compared to neighboring states, due to the disproportionate reliance on sales taxes on goods and also due to the stinginess of the personal exemption and the lack of progressivity in the income tax. So that creates a broad perception among a wide share of the population that Illinois is a high tax state. It isn’t — it just screws those who can least afford to pay. But the perception is there, and real, and justified, and it makes the dysfunction all the worse.
Governor Quinn’s plan was the only reform proposal on the income tax that both a) made sense and b) was achievable without a constitutional amendment. But nobody at all has said anything about the situation with other taxes.
- Secret Square - Friday, Dec 11, 09 @ 9:01 am:
“That creates a broad perception among a wide share of the population that Illinois is a high tax state. It isn’t — it just screws those who can least afford to pay.”
Adding to that perception are all the layers of local government in Illinois — more than 6,000 units in all — and THEIR taxing powers (mostly property but also sales taxes as well).
- dupage dan - Friday, Dec 11, 09 @ 9:12 am:
I have stated here, and elsewhere, that I am leery of supporting any who can be perceived as being tied to DuPage politics. Having been born and raised in DuPage county and being aware, in a limited way, of the incestuous power politics that are present has made me be cynical about anyone coming out of that stew. However, I have been watching and listening to the various candidates and believe that Dillard has the best view of reality amongst the candidates. I will be supporting his candidacy.
Say no to Jim Ryan! Say no to the dems!
- shore - Friday, Dec 11, 09 @ 9:47 am:
People like dillard and ryan are why republicans and especially moderates are so open to tea party activists and folks like proft right now. We have no reason to trust our people. Our establishment has failed us. Apparently the latest appropriations bill has earmarks from REPUBLICANS, cross with his legislative scholarships and it adds up.
Dillard and Ryan to me are more of the same.
- VanillaMan - Friday, Dec 11, 09 @ 9:52 am:
I am not anti-tax. However, the current state government makes me anti-tax for a number of reasons.
You don’t give money to a corrupt institution, private or public. You don’t give money to an organization that is stone-deaf to diverse opinion. You don’t give money to an institution that has failed to change with the changing times. You don’t give money to an organization that shuts and locks it’s doors to citizens interested in representing their communities in public office through highly paid armies of signature challengers and other restrictions. I, and thousands of other clear-sighted Illinoisans, have been driven into the anti-tax camp by a government that is broken and incompetent at many levels of service and administration. So, exactly whom is being reality based, and whom is being willfully ignorant in their wishful thinking and belief that somehow this digusting state government can solve our problems with more of our money?
Denouncing those of us who are unwilling to pay more for this smoldering disaster as somehow being narrow minded, or whatever is the popular insult of the day, doesn’t bridge any differences among us. Claiming that anti-tax Illinoisans are ignorant is simply untrue. Our differences is in our priorities. We see an incompetent corrupt government too hidebound to lead, and you somehow still hope that the problem we face is due to a lack of money, which has been revealed by all to be utterly untrue.
How many arrested governors and failed reformers are you willing to ignor? At what point are you government supporters willing to recognize the reality that giving your wages to an organization like this is taking from all of us and throwing it into a bureacratic black hole?
Our priorities are different, not our level of intelligence. Please respect those of us who know how to count and believe in accountability.
I can support Dillard in his statement. Saying that he is not anti-tax aligns himself with most of us who are unwilling to give another dime to this state government. Yet he also offers us a leader who respects the views of those of us who have closed our wallets to this sham embarrassment of a government, while also understanding the challenges being faced by the next governor. An incumbant-less state government in Illinois in 2010 will relieve a lot of the anger and cynicism being shown today. Until we get a new government, we have no reason to hope the changes we need to make, will be made.
Until then, we have real reasons to say no to any new taxes - and so do you. Stop falling for their pity stories and their guilt games.
- dupage dan - Friday, Dec 11, 09 @ 10:03 am:
Proft? Really?
I won’t support, or vote for, those who can’t win.
It’ll just hand the mansion over to another dem. How’s that been working for you?
- Moving to Oklahoma - Friday, Dec 11, 09 @ 10:06 am:
Brady. Game over.
- Downstate GOP Faithless - Friday, Dec 11, 09 @ 10:10 am:
Dillard’s flaw continues to be himself. He needs to pick a message and stick to it. I am a Republican and I am not averse to what he said about tax cuts. But I have a huge problem because it means he has either misspoke for several months or flat out lied…either one is all bad. He does the one thing you don’t want in a candidate-if you designed a direct mail comparison piece you could put him on both sides competing against himself
- Dnstateanon - Friday, Dec 11, 09 @ 10:26 am:
Ryan: Tax hike now would be “criminal”–Cap Fax headline a few days a go.
So just a few days a go a tax increase is “criminal” and now its a great idea?
There more wrong here then just the fact Ryan wants a tax increase.
- reformer - Friday, Dec 11, 09 @ 10:29 am:
GOP voters want candidates who tell them we can have better schools, roads and services without paying any more. It’s a fantasy.
- Anon - Friday, Dec 11, 09 @ 10:31 am:
Dnstate, I’m no supporter of Jim Ryan, but a few days ago he said a tax hike “right now” would be Criminal. His statement today suggests openness to one after the recession is over…which would be sometime other than “right now”.
- shore - Friday, Dec 11, 09 @ 10:35 am:
I really hate the gop establishment right now, Mr.Kirk is frustrating me with his inability to keep the same position for more than one press release.
our district is now apparently one of the most liberal which tells you something about how former moderate republicans feel about the corruption and spending in our party. Brady doesn’t seem to have the intellectual heft to be a senator and his springfield ties scare me. Bob really hasn’t made a case and when adam went to poland I think it was his mike dukakis in a tank moment. with proft, he may be nuts but I’ll take someone honest right now over a sketchy insider.
- VanillaMan - Friday, Dec 11, 09 @ 10:38 am:
GOP voters want candidates who tell them we can have better schools, roads and services without paying any more. It’s a fantasy.
Be honest - no one is really that stupid. It may be a fantasy, but everyone knows it is too.
- Amuzing Myself - Friday, Dec 11, 09 @ 10:47 am:
Most Republican voters feel most strongly about taxes over any other issue. A primary candidate wrong on taxes has no chance. Ryan and Dillard are sacrificing GOP principles to appease people that aren’t even voting on Feb. 2nd. And in doing so, they’re showing independents they would need in the fall that they have no core principles. Lose, lose.
Establishment candidates have fallen for this the last several cycles one way or another, and they’ve lost every time. If Illinois Republicans won’t stand up against tax increases, there may as well be no Republican Party.
- Anon - Friday, Dec 11, 09 @ 10:57 am:
==with proft, he may be nuts but I’ll take someone honest right now over a sketchy insider. ==
Proft is honest and not sketchy? Now that’s funny. Pure comedic gold.
- wordslinger - Friday, Dec 11, 09 @ 10:59 am:
–Most Republican voters feel most strongly about taxes over any other issue.–
Since you’re speaking for most GOP voters, how do they feel about the state putting people out of business by not living up to its contractual obligations in a timely manner?
If I recall, Edgar beat Hartigan on a platform of making permanent the temp taxes for schools and local governments. Hartigan was going to let the local tax sunset (that might explain why Mayor Daley was less-than-enthusiastic about his candidacy).
- cassandra - Friday, Dec 11, 09 @ 11:08 am:
I’m still deciding who to vote for but I just crossed Ryan off the list. I live in Oak Park, which has some of the highest property taxes
in the Chicago metro area. For that we get good police protection (necessary because we live across from the police-free West Side illegal drug market), good garbage pickup…and mediocre schools staffed by highly paid bureaucrats and teachers.
Ryan wants to add an income tax increase and won’t even consider property tax relief?. In the middle of a recession?
That’s one less decision I have to make. Could Ryan be angling for the government union vote?
More, more, more money for the state bureaucracy?
- Obamarama - Friday, Dec 11, 09 @ 11:17 am:
===with proft, he may be nuts but I’ll take someone honest right now over a sketchy insider===
Nyberg is going to love this.
- just sayin' - Friday, Dec 11, 09 @ 11:18 am:
Kirk Dillard is far from perfect, but he’s clearly the best given the field. Bill Brady is the weakest of all. He’s already over his head as a state senator.
- ironman - Friday, Dec 11, 09 @ 11:18 am:
Well folk’s, our next gov. will be Kirk Dillard. He has been straight to what his plans to get Illinois from the bottom of the list. Unlike Brady and the other candidates who have not got a clue. Brady’s ad was poor and he don’t tell you any thing when he speaks. I am also for Jason Plummer for Lt. gov. he is a fresh face and has great business background.
- ZC - Friday, Dec 11, 09 @ 11:22 am:
Interesting tactic by Dillard. A couple of hypotheses (though without access to poll data, I’m guessing, and when you’re guessing, you’re probably wrong):
1) His internal polls are looking really good, for the primary, so he can move a step more to the center in positioning for the general;
2) the Tea Party wing of the IL GOP is more smoke than flame, and gets disproportionate discussion out of line with its actual numbers. GOP primary voters are not so vehemently anti-tax as some of their self-appointed spokesmen would have us believe;
3) the anti-tax wing is real, and bigger, but they’re in danger of splitting their vote too thin between Proft and Ryan and McKenna and co., and Dillard sees his opening to win by cornering the “moderate” tax wing of the GOP primary;
4) Setting polls aside, maybe just maybe Dillard is paying attention to the fiscal wreckage of these past weeks, and doesn’t want to further poison the state with the meme that we can safely get out of this mess without any tax increases.
- Montrose - Friday, Dec 11, 09 @ 12:34 pm:
++mediocre schools staffed by highly paid bureaucrats and teachers.++
As an Oak Parker with a a kid in one of these “mediocre schools,” I am now officially ignoring all Cassandra comments. Our schools are mediocre? My god. Tell that to a kid in a Chicago public school (one that is not a magnet).
I was ignoring them unofficially before, but it feels good to go public.
- Mitch C - Friday, Dec 11, 09 @ 12:35 pm:
“I’m saying that some of them are pandering,” said Dillard.
The phrase “pot calling the kettle black” does not even do this statement justice.
- cassandra - Friday, Dec 11, 09 @ 1:35 pm:
Montrose
I hope we’re not using Chicago schools as a benchmark. That’s an awfully low bar.
I didn’t say individual children couldn’t
get a decent education here. Some individuals get good value out of any system. Some principals are better than others. But if you look at the test scores (compared, say, with Naperville and some of the leafy green North shore suburbs)
and if you recent (quite a lot of good) coverage
of education in local media…..they’re mediocre.
And we pay an awful lot for mediocre.
- colt 45 - Friday, Dec 11, 09 @ 1:51 pm:
man, the dillard people are all on brady today.
- Dnstateanon - Friday, Dec 11, 09 @ 2:41 pm:
“Dnstate, I’m no supporter of Jim Ryan, but a few days ago he said a tax hike “right now” would be Criminal. His statement today suggests openness to one after the recession is over…which would be sometime other than “right now”. “
Yeah right why bring it up now? If he raises taxes after the recession ends (who knows when that will be) when hopefully more tax revenue will be coming in it will just kill jobs as he suggested before and send us right back into a recession.
Dillard’s people are just trying to change the subject from another one of their candidate’s stupid ideas.
- dupage dan - Friday, Dec 11, 09 @ 2:42 pm:
Brady who?
- Big Policy Nerd - Friday, Dec 11, 09 @ 3:33 pm:
Agree with the comments about Kirk Dillard being the most able to win the General. But going around the State calling Obama a Socialist, denying global warming and promising to sue the federal government over health care reform will not win you a general election.
- Dnstateanon - Friday, Dec 11, 09 @ 5:21 pm:
So Dillard advocates tax increases is anti-Gun doesn’t get any pro-life endorsement has no organization. He has few Township endorsements and has only been endorsed by Edgar who has no campaign organization to help him. Brady has been endorsed by many of his fellow legislators but somehow Dillard is suppose to be ahead of Brady, it’s just not happening no matter how many times his staff gets on here and says it so.