101 Comments - Walter Mitty - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:13 am: What is not true? The tax increase a few years back was squandered right? They will work it out… Some revenue increase tied to cuts…. This is what it should have been last time.. They are all out there getting the digs in… - Chicago Hack - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:13 am: So…the three heads of this monster are now snipping at each other while the body is forced to work together? Is that the gist at this point? - The Equalizer - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:13 am: Dire threats and “negotiating in good faith” seems to be all he does. Ask the unions. I think he only knows how to negotiate with threats backed by his billions. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:14 am: Right now, this is the person thinking they have leverage, and using derogatory language with whom they’re navigating with, reminds them they don’t have the leverage they thought. Sonny Corleone. How anyone besides the angered Governor thinks he’s helping himself by saying these very pointed things, personal things, insinuating type things… and that will lead to fruitful negotiations… I just don’t understand the logic of this… and having Ads in the wings. - Peoria Guy - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:16 am: Difficult to argue with the fact that Madigan and Cullerton have surely led this state to the abyss. Hopefully, they decide to do the right thing and help get this state out of its current quagmire. - Anonymous - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:16 am: I’m glad both sides are on my side I can’t loose - Phil - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:19 am: How much money has Bruce made investing money for “big government” pension funds? - slow down - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:20 am: You’re beginning to see the frustration of a man who is used to giving orders and getting what he wants. The simple reality is that you cannot govern the state like you do a corporation that you own. - the Patriot - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:23 am: Willy, you are delusional. He got a lot of leverage when the guy with a super majority can’t pass a budget. The threat of his veto got enough dems to balk at Madigan. Yes, it is a long way from over, and Rule #1 is never bet against the speaker. I don’t think either one has started playing yet. We have a governor who knew he gained by OT, and a veteran Speaker who knows how to slow play until the right moment. Yes, Rauner has not done much thus far, but neither has the party with the super majority. - steve brown - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:23 am: Yup nothin’sez helpin’ the middle class like tellin’ the injured worker and their families to go on welfare til they get better. Folks are not that dumb - Very Fed Up - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:24 am: Illinois has consistently ranked among the most regressive in the nation with tax structure under Madigans neverending tenure. He has long lost his right or credibility to mention being concerned for the plight of the middle class in this state. - Big Joe - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:24 am: I thought Governor Bruce said that he was “friends” with Madigan and Cullerton. If that’s the way that he speaks about his “friends”, then I can’t imagine the 3 of them working out some sort of budget deal. And since when did Bruce start thinking of looking out for the middle class? We all know that he, with all his millions, in addition to all his friends’ millions are not looking out for anyone other than themselves. - Wordslinger - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:25 am: So the governor is having pleasant conversations and negotiating in good faith with the corrupt people who are destroying the state? Kind of schizo. The guy loves the drama. Campaigning is exciting play-time, governing is boring work. Who picks a hobby that bores them after they retire? Rauner has the dough to keep the campaign fun going while avoiding the boring work. Remember when he said he was going to be on the floors, the committee hearings, work, work, working? Where was he the past three weeks? Expect a lot more Bad Opera before the governor and the Dems blame the Supremes for the tax increase they both need in their proposed budgets to open the city and Downstate schools on time. - Huh? - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:25 am: With friends like these, who needs enemies. - Rufus - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:26 am: As I sit in a State building with no air conditioning (60 outside, 85 and humid inside), I can understand those aggregating factors that lead our leaders to snipe at each other. Let’s hope the air conditioning can be fixed in their locations, so that the air condition can be fixed in my location. - Neveranonymous - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:26 am: Saying he that he is a defender of the middle class is about as honest as when he said he had no problem with unions. - Peoria Guy - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:26 am: ^^^Yup nothin’sez helpin’ the middle class like tellin’ the injured worker and their families to go on welfare til they get better.^^^ That is ridiculous. Nobody has said anything near that. Hyperbole like that helps nobody. - Arsenal - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:27 am: I just don’t understand what the Governor wants besides cutting Madigan/Cullerton (and the unions) down “to size”. There’s no positive agenda there, it’s just the same petty turf wars state government has been playing for 20 years. If the Governor were ever not part of that status quo, he’s already been co-opted by it. - DuPage - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:28 am: “Let’s be crystal clear”. Reminds me of a president who said “let me be perfectly clear”. Things got very murky shortly thereafter. - phocion - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:31 am: To quote Flounder: “Oh boy! This is going to be great!” - bored now - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:31 am: anybody have evidence that the middle class is worse off in illinois than the rest of the country? OR that it is better off in kansas??? rauner supposedly made money in business, where facts actually mean something. now that he’s a politician, he just ignores them??? - Roamin' Numeral - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:31 am: The world didn’t end when the personal income tax rate was at 5%. Perhaps it should go back to 5%. We need the revenue. - illinifan - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:32 am: Cheesh….this is the way to inspire adult behavior on all sides. We need a mom to box all their ears and send them to their rooms and not come out until they can learn how to play together nicely. - A guy - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:33 am: There was a deal to be had. The Speaker decided to spin again, and the Senate President deferred to him. Say or think whatever you want, but the Speaker is now headed into “uncharted waters”- a place he’s never been in all his years in the GA. Not too many firsts for him. This is inevitable now. The middle class business from the Speaker is utterly laughable. Workman’s Comp; pretty crazy to defend that one. Huge disincentive for business here. Bigger than just about anyone else. Calling that a middle class issue is nuts. Middle Class help = Good jobs. - State worker - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:33 am: Rauner just politely trashed Madigan and Cullerton on WBEZ. The reporter didn’t ask any tough questions or otherwise illuminate the situation in the slightest. It was a free campaign ad on public radio. - Norseman - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:33 am: Nice public tantrum by the gov. I was waiting for him to hold his breath. As Willy points out, this tirade isn’t going to move the process along. I can’t say I’m surprised by what has happened. Rauner is who we thought he was. - Downstate - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:34 am: An openly naïve question…. Can someone offer an example of the last time Madigan “compromised” with the Republican General Assembly? - The Dude Abides - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:38 am: Did Rauner really seem to lament the fact that Union jobs have been lost in Illinois? Wow. If Rauner succeeds in incorporating most of his turnaround agenda, it won’t help the middle class, in fact the income disparity between the wealthy and the middle class, which has grown drastically in the last decade, will only get worse. Did he mention construction workers being hurt? He is on the record of saying that they are being paid too much. I only listened to the first 4 minutes and had heard enough of his baloney. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:39 am: - the Patriot -, With respect, ===I don’t think either one has started playing yet. We have a governor who knew he gained by OT, and a veteran Speaker who knows how to slow play until the right moment.=== The Governor needed 60 and 30, now needs 71 and 36, but here is the reality besides 71/36; Rauner needs 24 Democrats in the House. Rauner needs 16 Democrats in the Senate. Rauner can’t veto things that don’t get to his desk. ===…a veteran Speaker who knows how to slow play until the right moment.=== Slow playing for Madigan forces Rauner to find more Dems. It’s just math. It’s also very safe to say… Democrats do not trust Rauner, his monies aimed at them, and using any and all means to leverage them. “Why take a chance…” I don’t think I’m delusional to think Rauner is playing “good cop/bad cop”, and playing both roles to his own detriment to getting something done. Co-equal branches. Rauner thinks he can leverage out an advantage, MJM and Cullerton only need to keep it co-equal to infuriate Rauner. - Mouthy - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:40 am: Progressive/staggered income tax is what’s needed. To raise the tax to 5% across the board is sticking it to the middle class that both parties claim to be the protector of. In reality the middle class’s income disproportionately funds state government. - Pot Calling the Kettle - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:42 am: “Democratic leaders make their money off of big government” Said the guy who made millions off playing the stock market with teacher’s retirement money and would stand to make several millions more if his pension “solution” was enacted. - Citizen - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:44 am: @State worker….. If you listened than you also heard that the Speaker was invited to be on this morning and he declined….He will be on later today i”m sure so he will get his “free campaign ad on public radio” also. - Demoralized - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:44 am: ==Middle Class help = Good jobs.== Unfortunately for the Governor his definition of “good job” is a job with low pay and crappy benefits. - Very Fed Up - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:44 am: You are spot on Mouthy, but there is 0 chance of that happening. Quinn/Madigan/Cullerton refused to promote that and certainly will not happen with Rauner in charge. Can only hope in 2018 there will be an actual progressive candidate for governor and Madigan will finally have retired. - Wordslinger - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:45 am: Guy, what was the deal the Dems walked away from? With whom? The governor has been in the bunker for weeks. - illinoised - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:49 am: Tick tock, tick tock. Those are the sounds I hear as I anxiously await retirement and an immediate move from Illinois. I will miss everyone except those associated with the executive and legislative branches of state government. Both parties share equal blame for our state’s conditions. Happiness will be those people in my rear view mirror. - MrJM - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:51 am: “To think that George and Nicky should have played me false! If my grandmother had been alive, she would never have allowed it.” — Kaiser Wilhelm II I’m not saying this looks like the tragic run-up to the first World War, I’m just saying this doesn’t look unlike the tragic run-up to the first World War… – MrJM - Astrick - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:51 am: The Dems gave Rauner exactly what he wanted…exactly. He can now cut and layoff and blame it all on the Dems saying they gave him a budget with more expenses than revenue. The Dems played right into his hands. - Arsenal - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:51 am: ==Calling that a middle class issue is nuts.== Workers’ Comp is absolutely a middle class issue. The vast majority of workers who enter the system are firmly middle class. And yes, adapting a “causation” standard will hurt them. If you get injured at work, even if it’s “your fault”, it doesn’t change the fact that you can’t work, need to pay some medical bills, etc. Now, is that balanced out by the way such a standard would improve the state’s business climate? Is there a “fairness principle” at play that justifies this? I’m actually persuadable on both of those questions (maybe the Speaker isn’t). But to say Workers’ Comp isn’t a “middle class issue” is just spin. - Skeptic - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:52 am: “The middle class business from the Speaker and the Governor is utterly laughable.” There, fixed that for you. - Arsenal - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:53 am: ==The Dems gave Rauner exactly what he wanted…exactly.== The need to get MORE Dems- and now, liberal ones in safe districts (’cause the moderate ones in swing seats were playing SO nice with him) to vote for his budget? Then Rauner has some strange wants… - Oswego Willy - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:54 am: - Astrick - Governors own budgets, cuts, good or bad programs, layoffs, bad hires… Why do you think Rauner is fighting that reality so fiercely? Even this governor knows all governors wear the jacket on the functioning of government. Always been, always will be. - A guy - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:55 am: === Wordslinger - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:45 am: Guy, what was the deal the Dems walked away from? With whom? The governor has been in the bunker for weeks. === Dude, read this blog. It’s very informative. If you’re a subscriber, I suggest it’s probably even more informative. He went from a dozen issues down to 2. Now, we’re past that. - A guy - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:57 am: Demo, I don’t think that’s true. I think he believes making the state more competitive brings more jobs of all levels to the state. Are all the jobs that left low pay jobs? I know they aren’t. - Streator Curmudgeon - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:57 am: Why, sure. When I had to work with somebody, the first thing I did was insult them publicly. That always ensures cooperation. Holding your temper and being mature is for wimps. /s - PublicServant - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:59 am: So, from what I understand, both budgets are unbalanced by about the same amount. Both contain substantial additional program cuts, or they would be out of balance by at least double what they are. So it seems to me that the Dems are compromising on the spending side big time. Where is the gop’s compromise on the revenue side? Seems that’s being held hostage to non-budget issues. That’s fine. Let’s talk about specifics. How does the Gov propose to change Workman’s Compensation, given that there was a bipartisan bill passed in 2011 that did just that. What are his specific proposed additional changes? I’d really like to know. As for freezing property taxes, won’t his proposal to cut by half the amount of local revenue sharing cause the locals to just eat the cut but throwing police and firefighters, among other public servants off the payroll, resulting in a large decrease in services to the local citizens? Wouldn’t freezing the property taxes cut those local governments off at the knees since they have very little else except the property tax with which to make up the severe cut in local revenue sharing that Rauner is proposing? In short, let’s start getting specific, and cut the name-calling. Really, getting specific is what Rauner should have been doing all along frankly, and if Madigan/Cullerton are stonewalling, then get the specifics of your position out there, so the public is informed enough to either back you, or back them. Everything else is just vague, always vague, political babble. - Shanks - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 10:07 am: Bruce Rauner thinks he is for the middle class?! I would like to know what he thinks middle class is or should be. - Wordslinger - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 10:11 am: Guy, I had no idea that you do the reading. But it’s amazing that after all his good-faith negotiating broke down that the governor was able to turn around a multi-million dollar negative media campaign overnight. Strategy, creative, media plan, media buy, production - usually that process takes weeks. - Mockingjay - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 10:18 am: Face it everyone - Madigan has no experience dealing with someone like Rauner. Over the years he’s never had to learn how. - Anonymous - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 10:18 am: Bruce “Sybil” Rauner has released his June schedule. MWF will feature “Cooperative” Rauner, and TTh will showcase “Insulting” Rauner. Of course this schedule is subject to change depending upon the whims of the moment. Please look for updates from ck! as necessary. - Let'sMovetoTexas - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 10:19 am: The status quo is finally dead in Illinois. Madigan has never before faced an adversary he cannot threaten, cannot outspend, and cannot co-opt. It’s like LBJ thinking he could ‘make a deal’ with Uncle Ho. Madigan’s tone shows real frustration and panic. He pays for midterm mailings attacking GOP legislators, personally insults the Governor with ridiculous comparisons to Blago and to workers in emergency rooms; then blasts The Governor for hitting back! - Anonymous - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 10:20 am: @Mockingjay, Please. Madigan spent several loooooooooong years dealing with Blago. He’s had plenty of practice dealing with big egos with varying amounts of hair on top. - How Ironic - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 10:21 am: And the last two Anon comments have been from me. - Astrick - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 10:22 am: OW == Even this governor knows all governors wear the jacket on the functioning of government. == Right, but this gov is perfectly fine wearing the “cut government” jacket. If you think ‘15 budget cuts at the end of the year were bad. Wait until you see the ‘16 cuts. He wants to cut government and he wants to wear that jacket. $3.5B in cuts are coming and the Dems gave him an out in doing it. - Demoralized - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 10:25 am: A guy His actions and words say otherwise. RTW? Lower wage. Government workers? Cut benefits. You’ll have to do a lot to convince me that he doesn’t believe what I say he believes. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 10:25 am: - Astrick -, Meanwhile, the GOP GA will be voting for all these damaging bills… And - Astrick -, let’s both be real honest; Rauner, personally, couldn’t take the heat of $26 million in cuts. Given that, it’s difficult to see Rauner wanting that billion dollar cut jacket on him too. - Wordslinger - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 10:30 am: Astrick, the $1.6 billion FY15 shortfall was mostly bridged with $1.3 billion in new revenue. Rauner publicly said he wanted to sweep more. If you’re going to engage in revisionist history, you should probably wait a few months. - Original Rambler - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 10:37 am: WC is a tough sell to the middle class as a “go to the mattresses” issue. My unscientific polling (ask my spouse) indicates Rauner has the high ground currently. MJM has to do the selling to the public and I’m not sure he’s the best spokesperson. - Soccertease - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 10:45 am: My take on all this is Madigan/Cullerton are offering Illinoisans ’some free stuff’. Rauner is offering ‘an opportunity to afford some stuff.’ Illinoisans have preferred the former. - walker - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 10:47 am: Tired of listening to the words. The numbers say that Rauner needs more tax revenue to balance his own proposed budget, just like the Dems do. He just cannot acknowledge that to his base. - Slippin' Jimmy - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 10:48 am: I read a book once, “How to negotiate Anything”. It had no chapter resembling the tactics of Gov Rauner. Andrew Carnegies’ “How to win friends and Influence People”, neither. I don’t see the strategy…… - Tone - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 10:50 am: walker, what about spending? It’s always only about taxes with some folks. - Astrick - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 10:51 am: Not revisionist history, controlling the message. And Rauner will control the message. In Illinois the message will be, the Dems sent me an unbalanced budget. I have no choice but to manage it. We don’t have the money. Cuts and layoffs. Two years from now the national message will be, I cut spending in Illinois by 10%, the number of employees is down 5,000, we got Medicaid spending under control, etc., etc. And then the zinger… I did all of this with Dem super-majorities in both chambers. - Grandson of Man - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 11:00 am: Rauner’s presser was very mean spirited and divisive. He’s back to pitting public union leaders against everyone else. He’s back to his dire view of the state, even though our metro unemployment rates have been dropping sharply in the last year. I understand that he’s angry, but it doesn’t help for him to continue trying to demonize people. That just causes more division. I do support ongoing behind the scenes negotiations and hope they bear fruit. Republicans want compromise-plus. They want more reforms passed than just spending cuts offered by Madigan in order for them to agree to raising taxes. They demand their reforms but won’t budge on Democratic reforms, such as the millionaire surcharge amendment. Plus, Republicans voted no on marijuana decriminalization, no on Chicago pension reform, no on opioid reform, no on union strike reform. No, no, no. Soending cuts should be enough compromise for relatively small tax increases. What, people on Medicaid are not worthy of compromise for tax increases? Isn’t it enough to cut help to the poorest and most vulnerable for tax hikes that will bring us more in line with other states? We’re only a few billion dollars away from a deal. If Democrats want to give Rauner a little something extra, that may be okay, but we didn’t need to go here over strictly budgetary issues that needed our immediate attention. - A guy - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 11:15 am: ===Strategy, creative, media plan, media buy, production - usually that process takes weeks.=== You must have missed the Dem missives that were already at the post office before the votes. That’s okay, you’ve got a position here. You’re not flip-flopping, just defending and rationalizing what the guys you agree with do. I got it. - A guy - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 11:20 am: ===RTW? Lower wage.==== Demo, it’s off the table. Whether he believes in it or not, it ain’t going anywhere. I’d suggest he knows that. If he believes in it as much as you think he does (and I’d agree with you on that), it’s a pretty big issue to drop. No corresponding movement…at all. Not even an inch. Now, it’s in another arena. RTW still off the table. Shoulda been a deal here. Opportunity lost for now. Still optimistic, but less so than yesterday. - Ducky LaMoore - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 11:21 am: Tick tick tick tick tick. With each passing day, Rauner appears more like a time bomb. He ain’t gonna like his job very much longer. - A guy - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 11:23 am: === walker - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 10:47 am: Tired of listening to the words. The numbers say that Rauner needs more tax revenue to balance his own proposed budget, just like the Dems do. He just cannot acknowledge that to his base.=== Walk, I think the base is ready to hear and accept this; but not for nothing in return. It’s got to be something meaningful. We’ll get there one way or the other. - A guy - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 11:25 am: Ducky, I think the opposite may be true. He doesn’t like the posturing as much as making progress. There’s nowhere to go but up from here. Down, is just part of that. - Arsenal - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 11:25 am: ==If he believes in it as much as you think he does (and I’d agree with you on that), it’s a pretty big issue to drop. No corresponding movement…at all. Not even an inch.== Yup, a pretty major miscalculation on Rauner’s part. At this point, even if a deal emerges on the exact terms that Rauner wants (term limits, redistricting, workers comp, tort, and property taxes in exchange for a tax hike), and it won’t, its going to be a pale shadow of the Turnaround Agenda. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 11:25 am: - Astrick -, Good luck with all that, considering Rauner hasn’t passed anything. That’s not revisionist’s that’s real. - zonz - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 11:26 am: Rauner’s Leadership Deception May 31, 2015 Rauner: “We’ll have constant communication as we have for a long time,” he said. May 29, 2015 - Rauner’s comments “followed the first face-to-face meeting in two months between Rauner and the four legislative leaders.” from http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-bruce-rauner-illinois-legislature-met-0530-20150529-story.html#page=1 (By Monique Garcia, Kim Geiger and Hal Dardick -Chicago Tribune) - Working Stiff - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 11:28 am: We knew his budget was phony when he was running for office. It’s time he lead instead of blame. - Harry - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 11:29 am: I guess some people here missed what Madigan and Cullerton said about Rauner, before Rauner unloaded. Stepping back and looking at the big picture, it’s clear that IL has been run into the ground over the last 20 years or so. That rolling fiasco has been more bipartisan than Rauner might like to admit (cf George Ryan), but can anyone really say that Illinois govt has been disciplined and well-run, and that Rauner doesn’t have a point, even if you disagree on his prescription? - Let'sMovetoTexas - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 11:31 am: I agree with Rambler. In the real world that I occupy - private employment and paying taxes instead of living off of taxes - Rauner is viewed as a crusading hero. ‘It’s about time’, say virtually all of my coworkers, even the Dems. I don’t think this will change anytime soon. - Gabe - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 11:34 am: “Government union bosses are doing well in Illinois,” said the man who made $60 million last year. - Arsenal - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 11:43 am: == In the real world that I occupy - private employment and paying taxes instead of living off of taxes== If you think public employees don’t pay taxes, or that private employees don’t depend on public expenditures, then you may occupy the real world, but you sure aren’t describing it. - Arsenal - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 11:46 am: ==but can anyone really say that Illinois govt has been disciplined and well-run, and that Rauner doesn’t have a point, even if you disagree on his prescription?== But his prescription is the issue. If he can’t fix the problem, then he can’t fix the problem, regardless of whether or not I agree with him that the problem exists. - Wordslinger - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 11:47 am: Guy, my consistent position is that both Madigan and Rauner wanted to go into overtime for different reasons. Your position changes from post to post, if you’d care to review them. Or maybe you should be like that guy from “Memento” and tattoo your last position on yourself so you can remember it. - Tone - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 11:47 am: Why has real state spending increased $1.5 Billion since 2010 when the state couldn’t even pay it’s bills then? - Juice - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 12:06 pm: Tone, because the pension payment went from about $2 billion in 2009 to nearly $7 billion today, which if you had not been galavanting around China or wherever you are this week, you may have known that. - How Ironic - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 12:07 pm: @ Tone “Why has real state spending increased $1.5 Billion since 2010 when the state couldn’t even pay it’s bills then?” Because things cost more? Why isn’t bread $.25/loaf and gas $.50/gal? Pension payments. - AnonymousOne - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 12:18 pm: Not pension payments. Pension DEBT payments. It hurts to borrow so much and then have to pay it back. Shouldn’t have borrowed………….. - How Ironic - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 12:25 pm: @Anon1, you are correct. However, that may be a bit more nuanced than Tone was looking for. - Anonymous - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 12:31 pm: Why not give him everything he want and let it blow up in his face, Quit saving people let the people take care of it. - A guy - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 12:48 pm: === Wordslinger - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 11:47 am: ==== Naturally you assume you’re correct about the reasoning. We disagree; no shock there. It’s all about the national stage says you many, many times. Yet RTW is one of the few things not back on the table. In Springfield the game changes day to day. In Oak Park I guess it doesn’t. Fair enough. - bluegrass boy - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 1:20 pm: Par for the course - Mouthy - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 1:52 pm: This is a demonstration of what Rauner and his ilk really have in mind for the middle class… http://www.lmnola.com/2015/05/28/cbs-head-honcho-les-moonves-sorry-valet-i-only-carry-hundos/ - Mrs. Ming - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 2:23 pm: I don’t agree with everything Rauner is pushing but I find his remarks exhilarating - its what I have long fantasized saying to the General Assembly. The one constant overshadowing the demise of Illinois has been Madigan. Its weird that reporters were aghast at his “incivility” when he is speaking truth to entrenched power. - walker - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 2:50 pm: @Tone: Don’t listen to the speeches, look at the numbers. The reason that Rauner and Madigan both need between 3 and 4 Billion in tax revenues to balance, is that both have already proposed significant spending cuts, and are not too far apart on that score. The biggest issues between them are not in the fiscal 2016 numbers, but rather in the Turnaround agenda. - A guy - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 3:08 pm: True Walk, And closing that gap requires revenue. Revenue one of them can enact the process to acquire more certainly than the other. That would require some compromise. They really did have a strong chance to get somewhere. MJM and JC are in the lesson teaching business. They’ve miscalculated here. No one’s a student, they’re all part of the faculty. Who exactly doesn’t get that? - A guy - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 3:09 pm: ===steve brown - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 9:23 am: Yup nothin’sez helpin’ the middle class like tellin’ the injured worker and their families to go on welfare til they get better. Folks are not that dumb==== No sir, they most certainly are not. They’re not buying that either. - Juice - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 3:10 pm: @Mrs. Ming, I don’t think the Governor was speaking truth to “entrenched power”. My guess is the Governor has consistently refrained from giving his harshest criticisms to the Speaker’s face. Instead, he saved it for a group of reporters, not exactly a profile in courage. - Juice - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 3:12 pm: A guy, if both the Governor’s budget, and the General Assembly budget require $3-4 billion in revenue to make work, how is that compromise on the Governor’s part? - Nick Name - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 3:27 pm: “In the real world that I occupy - private employment and paying taxes instead of living off of taxes” If you drive on public streets and roads, then you live off of taxes. If your kids go to public school (or even if they don’t) you live off of taxes. If you get $10 worth of gas when you pay for $10 worth of gas, then you live off of taxes. If you enjoy public parks or state parks or game preserves, you live off of taxes. If the person who cleans your teeth or heals your ills is a licensed, trained professional, then you live off of taxes. If you’re safe because the criminal justice system arrests, charges, tries, convicts, and sentences criminals to jail, then you live off of taxes. And the public employees who perform all these tasks, and hundreds more, every day, anonymously, while simultaneously getting denounced as leeches by people like you, or blamed for all the state’s ills by the elected officials — they pay taxes too. - Wordslinger - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 3:29 pm: – Revenue one of them can enact the process to acquire more certainly than the other.– Well, since you asked, I don’t get what that means. - AnonymousOne - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 3:46 pm: Nick Name said it well. I’ve often wondered if private sector folks have their own printing presses where the money is printed to pay their employees–kept separate from the money people like public employees are paying to the company. The way some talk, you’d think only public employees earn money taken from other peoples’ pockets. So I guess public employees are “giving” them their incomes and they’re making money off of public employee taxpayers too. I guess that makes anyone who earns money from other people leeches unless that secret printing press exists. - A guy - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 4:05 pm: Sling, let me make it as simple as I can. I’ll pretend that a smart guy like you can’t sort this out, even though I know you can. To get more revenue (tax increase of any size or kind), the Dems need Rauner. They cannot do it alone. He won’t give it to them without some changes. They had a great opportunity but they blew it when he offered them a chance to adopt 2 items of his agenda. They rejected it. They shouldn’t have. Now Rauner believes these guys won’t compromise, he’s taking it to the voters directly. If every district and state office gets pounded with phone calls, they’ll start squirming, especially a few of them in tougher districts. These are not the bravest of the brave out there. The Speaker and President have done their caucuses a disservice by being so strident. - West Side the Best Side - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 4:48 pm: Great comment by Nick Name. - How Ironic - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 4:59 pm: @ A Guy- “The Speaker and President have done their caucuses a disservice by being so strident.” Sure wish I had your crystal ball. The Dems most certainly do have the votes for the tax increase. But we ALL know they are not going to pass it until the GOP is screaming Uncle. If Rauner couldn’t manage the heat from $26M in secret, weekend cuts…do you really think he’s going to be able to carry $3B in cuts? Rauner is engaged in a fools errand. The Ad pop might make people look at Madigan with an unkind eye. When kids can’t go to school, and services are not being offered….that’ll be on the Gov. And my bet is he can’t afford the press, or the cost of trying to ’spin’ that his way. He’s the Gov. When the state stops, people are not going to be calling Madidgan, or Cullerton. Rauner’s phone will be going nuts. - Wordslinger - Monday, Jun 1, 15 @ 5:09 pm: Guy, you choose to ignore the fact that the governor wants and needs virtually the same amount of new revenue for his budget proposal. That’s why the bluff doesn’t work. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.