44 Comments - Hotel Ibiza - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 9:38 am: Pat Quinn really is clueless about the sad economic condition of the state. He could pass a polygraph when he says the economy in Illinois is in really good shape. He doesn’t comprehend anything about the high rate of unemployment—relative to other states. Quinn either doesn’t know or doesn’t care that there are areas in the State, most right under his nose, where the black and Hispanic unemployment rates are 40% or higher. Quinn either doesn’t know or care that fewer than 25% of the black and Hispanic 4th graders in the Chicago Public Schools read at grade level—and that is not a spending problem because we are spending an average of $15,000 per kid per year in CPS. None of the questions probed or challenged Quinn on these issues last night. Those journalists couldn’t probe or challenge a Democratic Party politician if their lives depended on it. Really. - Tequila Mockingbird - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 9:53 am: Its dumb for Quinn to work the “assault rifle” angle and ignore the real issues. - Casual observer - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 9:53 am: Rich, What’s the deal with the protesters at the debate? We’re they sent? Who sent them? - Wordslinger - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 9:54 am: HI, it’s victims like you that keep the GOP in this state down. What’s your positive vision? Chronic whiners rarely win. - Gianno Caldwell - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 9:54 am: Last fiscal year the State of Illinois gave out 3 Billion in contracts to businesses, ONLY 25 million of those contracts went to African Americans. That accounts for ONLY 1% of 3 billion in contracts under Gov. Quinn. Governor Quinn, #thereal1%. - Angel's Sword - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 9:54 am: ===high rate of unemployment—relative to other states=== Sorry, that’s where I’m going to have to stop you. Illinois’ unemployment rate is 5.9% — identical to the national average. And middle of the pack isn’t too bad for Illinois. It’s one of the best positions we’ve been in *relative to other states* in decades. So, yes, the economy is bad, but it’s just not true that we’re bringing up the back. - Very Fed Up - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 9:54 am: I don’t know why he would be shy about saying it. It will obviously be rammed through before the next general assembly takes over. You can bet the house that some outgoing members will vote in favor of the tax hike and against all odds land high paying jobs at IDOT or another state agency just like a few years ago. - Rod - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 9:57 am: Pat Quinn will not be able to a so called assult weapon ban in Illinois, he hasn’t even been able to pass a bill limiting the size of ammunition clips. Even though I support Quinn, I don’t on this issue. There are many Democrats who are not gun control advocates and he needs those votes. There is no evidence Quinn would lose the African American vote if he just shut up about this issue. - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 9:58 am: - Hotel Ibiza -, Usually, something written like that begins; “For Immediate Release Contact Rauner Campaign” Actually, To the Post, Rauner won, but the last 10 minutes for Rauner were odd vas at times uncomfortable, looking to anxious to try a “gotcha” and had his own sputtering answer to Quinn. All that said, as much as Quinn had Sen. Raoul rehab Ms. Shaw during NRI, Jay Levine left questions, especially to Rauner, as rehab projects, allowing a redirect to negative narratives, and Rauner picked up on the questioning and allowing a rehab, while Quinn was defending as best he could, and many times looking better than the questioned framed, just not as strongly. The last 10 minutes brought Quinn back to almost, almost even, kinda-sorta, but Rauner looked better than in Peoria, no question, and that propelled Rauner through. - Peoria guy - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 10:00 am: Nice OW - Norseman - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 10:02 am: Does appear that the Raunerbots are up early and in full spin mode this morning. - Peoria guy - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 10:03 am: You know, I have never “not voted for either candidate” in a governor’s race but am considering that here. Not sure if I am abdicating my good citizenship responsibilities here or not. I just cringe when I think of voting for either candidate. - Commander Norton - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 10:08 am: I’m getting so tired of the Rauner line that Quinn already raised your taxes by 66%, and now he wants to do it again. I get the grain of truth - if the extension is going to be passed, it’ll have to happen in the January lame duck session, and since the current rates expire Jan. 1, that vote would actually be an increase (back to the current rates) rather than an extension. But to voters who don’t keep close tabs on the legislative calendar, it sounds like Quinn actually wants an additional increase passed. And yes, I know that’s the intent. But that one stands out to me among all the run-of-the-mill half-truths that pervade this season. - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 10:09 am: - Peoria Guy -, First, thanks, but second… By under voting, but voting for your county offices, General Assembly, other Statewides, your under vote is far mor impactful than not pulling a ballot at all, and by forcing Quinn and Rauner to look elsewhere for support, as you “pass” is far more impactful when the ballots are counted, and under votes tabulated by both sides and figuring and scratching their heads to “what happened here?” An under vote in one race…more debs sting to both, helping neither. Food for thought… - walker - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 10:09 am: When the post-debate snippets used in reporting are on taxes, Rauner wins. That is what I’ve seen so far. It doesn’t matter that Rauner is also committed to push for an increase in income tax rates after January 1 from which to start his “phase out plan.” Quinn loses on optics. - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 10:09 am: “devastating” - Yellow Dog Democrat - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 10:10 am: @VFU: If Pat Quinn wins, just how many Democratic “lame ducks” do you expect there will be in the Illinois House that weren’t already planning on voting for the tax hike? The idea that this will be passed in January seems silly to me. More likely, Democrats will enact severe spending cuts that will force Republicans to the table, and a more moderate plan will be passed. Radogno want to phase out the hike, Durkin wants to base out the hike, and both Republicans have also backed a plan that calls for hundreds of millions in new service taxes and hundreds of millions in corporate loophole closures. If anything gets voted on in Veto, id bet minimum wage and the Manar school funding bill. - PolPal56 - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 10:15 am: Peoria Guy, that’s exactly what I’m struggling with. - PolPal56 - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 10:19 am: OW, agreed. I still plan to vote, even if I don’t vote for Gov. After all there’s all those vital advisory questions to be answered. - Peoria guy - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 10:29 am: OW, I still plan to vote, just thinking of skipping the Gov vote. - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 10:32 am: Just making a case, no worries - Peoria Guy -, just…making a case. - Anonymous - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 10:41 am: Quinn is making it very hard to vote for him with his attacks on gun owners. - Big Joe - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 10:45 am: I noticed that Rauner said that he would not touch the pensions of those state workers that are already retired. But he then wants to change the pensions to a 401K type of pension setup like in the private sector. Why doesn’t someone say something about how much that would cost the state in social security payments to those workers? Currently, they are not part of social security, but after his proposed change to a 401k, they would have to be in the social security plan. The state could not shirk their responsibility on paying their share, since that is a federal system. If that is the change Bruce wants to make, it would prove more costly than the current system. School districts would not be able to cover the costs, and so property taxes would undoubtedly go up. - JS Mill - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 10:46 am: This election is primed for a significant under vote for governor. To believe that either candidate is significantly better for Illinois than the other, you have to be drinking some pretty strong cool aide. I just cannot shake the desire to vote in the other races and take a pass on governor and it has been that way since the primary was over. As an independent voter I wonder how many GOP voters are questioning their vote in the primary. I really was hoping for Dillard as a candidate and wonder what the race would look like with him in the mix? - Robert the Bruce - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 10:54 am: While I believe that the tax hike will need to be kept, Quinn looked awful dodging the question, and the audience seemed to agree with Rauner’s headshaking at Quinn’s dodge. - dem - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 10:57 am: I’m not sure why he just didn’t say - Snucka - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 10:57 am: Apologies for the off-topic post, but the WAA analysis seems to be extremely light on Cook County. Less than 1% returned in both the city and suburbs. Compare that to 30% in the Collars and 37% Downstate. Can those numbers be right?? - Demoralized - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 10:59 am: I don’t know why he just didn’t say he would be pushing for an extension of the current tax rates. He’s said it before. I would have used it as an opportunity to explain why I was pushing for an extension and then blast Rauner for his sham budget and inability to understand the basic math of his promises versus reality. - A guy... - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 11:01 am: It’s like golf at this point. It’s the player (candidate) challenged by the course (voters). The other guy is just in the twosome playing the same course. Rauner did very well last night. All the local network channels keyed in on the tax hike after the election. All of them. It was the only real differentiating point in the debate with common interest. People who were weighing how they felt about Rauner had reason to feel good. There’s a temptation to play to the crowd in these things when the bigger audience is in homes. Pat Quinn did a little more of this and I think it might have hurt him a little with the viewing audience. - Norseman - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 11:05 am: To Peoria Guy and others who are unhappy with our choices for Governor. I invite you to join me in voting for Oswego Willy as a write-in. With all the Captiol Fax disenchanted folks voting for Willy, he’s a shoe-in. - Grandson of Man - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 11:08 am: The question I have is will Rauner be able to move enough soft Democratic voters in Cook County and African-Americans to vote for him? Those are the people the Quinn campaign is apparently trying to reach, with gun control and the woman executive. Does the Rauner threat story have real legs, or are those blatantly false allegations? - FormerParatrooper - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 11:09 am: To Quinn. Saying at the beginning that the tax homeless temporary and now saying it has to be kept shows a lack of planning or just outright dishonesty. And now using the assault weapon and magazine ban to garner support is just showing me personally he doesn’t know how to fix the violence problem. Its not firearms, its people who have no economic hope or just find crime easier than legitimate ways to better themselves. To Rauner, you spout great ideas… Where’s the blueprint? How do I even consider voting for you without seeing the plan? - FormerParatrooper - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 11:11 am: Should have said “tax hike” not homeless. Really have to love spell check on “smart” phones. - Norseman - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 11:12 am: YDD, I bow to your superior knowledge of Dem positions etc. However, I’m curious if your scenario would hold with respect to the Senate. They have been more aggressive in pushing for more money. So I can envision no action on the tax issue because of a standoff between the two chambers, but I can’t see severe cuts. - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 11:25 am: - Norseman - Apologies, I hid the lede. That’s why I need your expertise, and for that I am forever grateful. - Very Fed Up - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 11:37 am: Has Quinn given a reason why over the last 6 years with supermajorities he has not gone all out for a graduated income tax? The regressive tax hike he pushed is what turned me as a lifelong democrat away from him going forward. It would pass with overwhelming support if put on the ballot. - Anonymous - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 12:03 pm: - Very Fed Up - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 11:37 am: That tax is an terrible idea that will make all of our taxes go up and up and up not just the richee riches of this world. I am firmly against it as my taxes on my meger income with my standard deduction are already too much. - Mighty M. Mouse - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 12:45 pm: ===Quinn is making it very hard to vote for him with his attacks on gun owners.=== You must mean his specific attacks on assault weapons and 30 cartridge magazines, since that was all he referred to. Just out of curiosity, seeing as how you’re a gun owner, how many of those do you have? Just wondering. - Mason born - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 1:13 pm: Mighty Mouse Just an aside. Those “assault Weapons are the most popular type of centerfire Rifle sold in the U.S. Almost all of which where sold with 10+ round magazines. It is becoming hard not to find a gun owner that doesn’t have at least one AR, AK, or SKs variant. - Yellow Dog Democrat - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 1:37 pm: VFU: Tom Cross just gave Democrats a supermajority in 2013 in the House. Pat Quinn’s top priority has been pension reform, and I think most folks believe you had to do pension reform before you could work on tax fairness. I support a graduated income tax, but it requires a constitutional amendment and would not address our immediate budget problems in January. I hope that helps. - Anonymous - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 1:38 pm: - Mighty M. Mouse - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 12:45 pm: I am not a gun owner but have family and friends who are and I have a FOID card incase I ever take them up on their invitations to go hunting one of these years. The fact is it is a slippery slope and he should not be going after legal gun owners rights. My family and friends are not the problem. - Number Check - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 5:13 pm: To Angel Sword— “Though unemployment rates fell in August for Illinois’ major metropolitan areas, 19,000 workers dropped out of the workforce, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Because of these dropouts, the workforce shrank in every metropolitan statistical area, or MSA, except Champaign-Urbana. Workforce dropouts drive down the unemployment rate because unemployed workers who leave the workforce are no longer counted as unemployed. The state jobless rate has fallen from 8.4 percent to 6.7 percent over the past five months, and Illinois’ metro jobless rates have come down with it. The dominant factor for the drop in the state’s unemployment rate over the last five months has been workers dropping out of the labor force. In fact, the entire decline in the state’s jobless rate in both July and August was due to labor-force dropouts. And in June, the Illinois labor force shrank by the largest amount in state history. As a result of labor-force dropouts, the unemployment rate has become a less accurate indicator of Illinois’ poor economic health,” - Arthur Andersen - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 5:24 pm: Norseman, I painted up some “Don’t be Silly-Write in Willy” yard signs. Just let me know when they’re good to go. - Mighty M. Mouse - Wednesday, Oct 15, 14 @ 7:04 pm: I, too, am a gun owner with an FOID card. I have a 12 gauge, side-by-side, double barreled shotgun. But I’m fine with banning large magazines and I’m fine with not having an assault rifle as well. Now if I really wanted to kill somebody or do some target practice just so I’d be ready, well, of course I’d probably feel completely differently. Right now I’m willing to compromise and settle for pretty much only being able to kill home invaders up fairly close. I must admit that I would hate to get blood all over. I hear it’s hard to get out. Maybe I’ll just scare ‘em off, in case I ever do get a crack at one. That would still be fun, and with fewer nightmares later. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.