* The four Republican candidates for governor were asked during a forum yesterday whether they’d allow the temporary income tax increase to expire. All four said they want it to go away. But Treasurer Dan Rutherford added this…

“I don’t want it to stay, but when someone says they’re going to outright veto it, a fair question is: where are you coming up with $6 billion to $7 billion worth of cuts,” he said.

Sen. Kirk Dillard does have a plan…

“The Senate Republican caucus has a plan that shows you how you phase out that tax. It lays out a menu of options,” he said.

That plan, you may recall, was used by the Senate Democrats last year to hammer Republicans for wanting to cut programs. Republican slams against the Democratic tax hike didn’t work.

Then again, that was last year, a presidential election with the state’s own resident at the top of the ticket. Next year’s electorate will be different.

* Also, this…

As for how the state would make up for that huge loss of revenue, Brady said he would “demand the Legislature live within its means,” while Dillard suggested a constitutional amendment that would withhold legislators’ pay if they didn’t adopt a balanced budget.

* Brady also wants some growth, which would help balance the budget…

Brady said a major goal if elected governor would be to create 100,000 new jobs annually and put policies in place that “move (Illinois) to the forefront of this nation’s economy.”

* From the Illinois Department of Employment Security’s announcement that the state’s unemployment rate had fallen to 8.9 percent…

Illinois has added +268,900 private sector jobs since January 2010 when job growth returned following nearly two years of consecutive monthly declines. Leading growth sectors are Professional and Business Services (+117,700); Education and Health Services (+57,700); and Trade, Transportation and Utilities (+51,600). Government has lost the most jobs since January 2010, down -27,300.

That’s an average annual rate of about 70,00 jobs, so Brady would need to raise that growth rate by about 42 percent.

* In other GOP primary news, Rauner’s fundraising juggernaut continues…

State filings from yesterday (11/21) afternoon show Illinois’ richest man, Ken Griffin, pitching in $250,000 to Rauner’s campaign.

It’s the second time this week Rauner received a donation worth a quarter of a million dollars. […]

Both of Rauner’s biggest contributors have previous ties to Democrats. Former CEO of AllScripts Glenn Tullman donated to Gov. Pat Quinn in the last governor’s race. And Griffin, who’s President of Citadel, helped out Chicago Democratic Mayor Rahm Emanuel to the tune of $100,000.

This isn’t the first time Griffin has helped a candidate promising to change how things are done in Springfield; back in 2002 and 2003, Griffin gave $70,000 to Rod Blagojevich.

Not including the $500,000 he put into his own campaign, Rauner has raised more money in the last nine days than Rutherford has raised all year. He’s reported raising more money in the last three days than Dillard has all year. And Rauner raised almost twice as much yesterday as Brady has raised all year.