31 Comments - walker - Thursday, Aug 20, 15 @ 10:38 am: Mendoza’s wasn’t hyperbole. Biss’ certainly was. As with yesterday, what folks say at their party’s Day at the Fair ought to be taken with a big grain of something. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Aug 20, 15 @ 10:41 am: ===Mendoza says if elected she won’t be Rauner’s “wingman” on hurtful budgets.=== This. Just this. If Labor and Democrats want to make the Munger race a referendum on Bruce Rauner, Munger isn’t helping herself by saying, herself mind you, words like “wingman” while being “independent”, “I support the Turnaround Agenda” while the state has no budget. Not even close, the Comptroller race will be THE most fascinating. There isn’t a second race in the rear view mirror. Munger’ tact is a campaign decision now. Rauner’s gonna give her the cash no matter what, but why force the referendum? - Chi - Thursday, Aug 20, 15 @ 10:42 am: I guess Rauner doesn’t want to push down everyone’s paycheck, but he sure wants to push down a lot of them. - burbanite - Thursday, Aug 20, 15 @ 10:44 am: You knew when she made the “wingman” comment it was going to come back and bite her, and this is just the start. - Arizona Bob - Thursday, Aug 20, 15 @ 10:59 am: Gee, raising payroll taxes “pushes down” paychecks overall far more than what Rauner is proposing, which may slow the growth of increase of union paychecks, but I’m not aware of pay cuts being involved, at least not yet. Funny thing. When a Governor slows paycheck growth for less than the 15% of union workers in Illinois, he’s reducing the paychecks and “hurting the middle class”. When Madigan, Cullerton and Quinn gouged taxpayers with a 67% income tax increase on the remaining 85% (AND the unions)and took profits away from business that at least partially could’ve be spent for middle class workers’ raises, and the resulting drop and middle class paychecks for the benefit of their union funders and crony vendors and contractors, they were only “enhancing revenues”. C’mon, folks, what Rauner’s doing is far less damaging to the vast majority of middle class taxpayers in Illinois than what those of you feeding at the public trough want to do with tax increases…. - VanillaMan - Thursday, Aug 20, 15 @ 11:02 am: C’mon, folks, what Rauner’s doing is far less damaging to the vast majority of middle class taxpayers in Illinois than what those of you feeding at the public trough want to do with tax increases…. We’re not changing the subject Troll Bob. - Michelle Flaherty - Thursday, Aug 20, 15 @ 11:02 am: Bob, Bruce wants to drive down wages AND raise taxes. In that order. - AlabamaShake - Thursday, Aug 20, 15 @ 11:03 am: **Biss says Rauner is “focused like a laser on destroying unions, shrinking the middle class and pushing down everybody’s paycheck.”** Call it hyperbole if you want, but Rauner, behind closed doors, has made it very clear that he wants to crush unions and lower wages. He wants unions gone. Period. And he wants wages lowered. He’s said he wants a lower minimum wage. He wants to end prevailing wage (which would lower wages). It ain’t hyperbole. - Nickname#2 - Thursday, Aug 20, 15 @ 11:03 am: Arizona Bob, keep in mind that the increase in tax was partially due to underfunded pensions. Taxpayers are merely paying back taxes that were spent for their benefit out of monies that should have been invested in pension funding. For decades taxpayers have received the benefit of additional spending to the detriment of the pensions. Now, as a taxpayer, you’re complaining that the pensions are too expensive and the people who should suffer are the ones who you short changed in the first place? That doesn’t seem fair. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Aug 20, 15 @ 11:09 am: The Governor of Illinois, in touting his Turnaround Agenda had slides, and pitched, that Illinois workers make too much. The Governor of Illinois, at every turn it seems, wants the ideal and actual collective bargaining to end in Illinois. Legislation supported by the governor, “introduced” by the governor, time and again had the collective bargaining poison pill(s) This isn’t opinion. This is fact. - Henry Moon - Thursday, Aug 20, 15 @ 11:09 am: Great quote from Cullerton. The best of 2015. - VanillaMan - Thursday, Aug 20, 15 @ 11:11 am: Bruce Rauner is not someone you want to be politically tied to. When he was just a bag of money for both political parties, he was not listened to by those who took his millions. Now that he is elected, he is proving that the politicians from both political parties who used him as a sugar daddy - were right not to listen to him. Munger will lose this election if she remains Rauner’s wingman. She shouldn’t be anyone’s frat-friend. She shouldn’t be anyone’s soul sister. Comptrollers aren’t supposed to be someone’s bud, they are supposed to be an organization’s adult. Comptrollers and Treasurers need to be adults surrounded by politicians. That is how they get elected and how they remain in office. If Munger thinks we want a Comptroller who can do a keg stand at a sorority, she is wrong. She signs checks. We don’t want a wingman doing that. Munger needs to display better adult traits which separate her from others on the ticket. Even a people’s champion with bipartisan support - barely won in 2014. Simon came close to knocking off JBT. Judy could have lost. Munger needs to remember that. - Anonin' - Thursday, Aug 20, 15 @ 11:14 am: Better than look in the mirror, the mug you see is Mr.Cut? Hardly - Wordslinger - Thursday, Aug 20, 15 @ 11:30 am: I guess Rauner knew what he was doing when he picked Maverick Munger. No comptroller should be in the tank for any governor. That defeats the purpose of the office. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of one who ever was. I’ve always found that office to be highly professional, credible and independent, whoever the elected head was. Anyway…. does Munger realize the connotation of “wingman” in common usage today? I really hope not. - Strangerthings - Thursday, Aug 20, 15 @ 11:34 am: Okay so say the whole collective bargaining issue is dropped. Then what? I doubt we would see Dems agree to the other items if he dropped the one. No I think it would convince them they are breaking him. That they could eventually defeat all of his agenda and have to surrender on nothing… hmm…so both sides come to the table together and Dems offer redistricting reforms and Rauner drops the collective bargaining issue. Progress made let’s move to more important things. - Strangerthings - Thursday, Aug 20, 15 @ 11:38 am: an agreement or a settlement of a dispute that is reached by each side making concessions. Definition of compromise. We should engrave it on the door of the state building force em to read it every day. - AC - Thursday, Aug 20, 15 @ 11:39 am: Word, I also wondered, who is Munger helping Rauner chat up? Back to the post, compare today’s hyperbole to yesterday’s. The diffences are astounding. Soviet dictatorship vs a truthful if slightly overstated commentary on Rauner’s priorities and the Comptrollers Independence. - Wordslinger - Thursday, Aug 20, 15 @ 11:42 am: Stranger, the governor would plotz if the Dems gave him redistricting reform. Same with term limits. What do you think the GOP is banking on as wedge issues in 2016? Do you think Rauner’s term limits question last time was obviously unconstitutional because of a mistake? He didn’t want to lose the issue; it’s the goo-goo perfume to the odious anti-union stuff. - Strangerthings - Thursday, Aug 20, 15 @ 11:53 am: Listen I understand and agree that it is totally rauners wedge issue. I didn’t say it wasn’t. What I said was essentially by agreeing to drop that issue and the Dems agreeing to just one item of the turn around agenda with no added strings on either side….we could all feel good and have a budget before christmas - Cold - Thursday, Aug 20, 15 @ 12:07 pm: Dan Biss the pension thief has so much credibility here. - Annonymous on Thursday - Thursday, Aug 20, 15 @ 12:20 pm: Munger is in over her head. She is threatened continuously, in person, in the Governor’s office, with a political beheading if she doesn’t comply with his bogus and possibly illegal demands. Anyone would be a better comptroller to defend the office against Rauner’s abusive tactics. Or, maybe she will get a little more defiant … - UIC Guy - Thursday, Aug 20, 15 @ 12:21 pm: Why, whenever someone is focused, is it always ‘like a laser’? Talk about a cliché. - Formerly Known As... - Thursday, Aug 20, 15 @ 12:28 pm: Mendoza would be a disaster. She literally couldn’t even run a parking sticker competition as city clerk. - Formerly Known As... - Thursday, Aug 20, 15 @ 12:35 pm: ==Dan Biss the pension thief has so much credibility here.== The irony is thick. Biss was a main sponsor of the pension theft plan, but he has the audacity to criticize someone else for ==destroying unions, shrinking the middle class and pushing down everybody’s paycheck==. - Politix - Thursday, Aug 20, 15 @ 12:47 pm: “She literally couldn’t even run a parking sticker competition as city clerk.” That was an unfortunate situation but I wouldn’t blame her for that. It was a child’s drawing. I don’t think it would occur to most logical people to run it past CPD for gang symbolism first. Chicago lives and learns. - Strangerthings - Thursday, Aug 20, 15 @ 12:50 pm: Let’s put this in simple terms. Debt means you owe money when you owe money your required to spend money you make on paying off the debt. When you do that you have less money. Therefore we can imagine if we stop hedging and pay off the debt we can fund programs again without issue or complaint. And before someone feels the need to say we don’t have the money. Remember 60-70% of funding is all you really need at any given time to maintain the pension fund properly. Because not everyone is suddenly going to retire all at once. - Ducky LaMoore - Thursday, Aug 20, 15 @ 1:53 pm: ===Cullerton: “we are willing to work with Gov. Rauner but we don’t work for Gov. Rauner.”=== It is truly amazing that somebody actually has to say that. - Just Observing - Thursday, Aug 20, 15 @ 2:07 pm: What Politix @ 12:47 said. - Demoralized - Thursday, Aug 20, 15 @ 3:47 pm: ==but I’m not aware of pay cuts being involved== What he has proposed is most certainly a cut in take home pay. - walker - Thursday, Aug 20, 15 @ 4:47 pm: ==it’s the goo-goo perfume to the odious anti-union stuff.== There’s a reason we call it the Wordslinger award, - morty - Thursday, Aug 20, 15 @ 6:29 pm: Dan Biss voted to reduce my future retirement benefits by approximately 1/3…and I’m in the middle class…my votes not likely to go Munger’s way, but it’s definitely not going to Biss Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.