Somebody’s not telling the truth
Tuesday, Sep 29, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Tom Kacich…
A spokeswoman for Senate President John Cullerton said there have been no budget meetings with Rauner in September although Cullerton is willing to talk anytime, anywhere.
Likewise, Rauner spokeswoman Lyndsey Walters said that since May the governor “has invited the four (legislative) leaders to meet as a group and members of the majority party have declined. Despite their unwillingness to meet as a group, the governor has held individual meetings with the leaders whenever and wherever they’ve agreed to meet.”
* Bernie…
Phelon also said there have been no such meetings with all four leaders and the governor since May, and she denied that Cullerton has turned down any meetings since the last one took place.
“At this point, we’re ready to work with the governor to resolve the budget issues in whatever forum that works,” Phelon said. […]
Asked if Madigan has turned down any requests for a full meeting of the governor and leaders, Brown said, “I’m not aware of anything like that, so … that doesn’t hold any water either.”
- Not Rich - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 9:51 am:
the silence from Durkin and Radogno is deafening
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 9:53 am:
At some point, trust is lost and just can’t be regained.
What does Rauner get by saying the Democratic leaders won’t meet?
“Dear Rauner Superstars,
This idea of saying whatever you want publicly and it really doesn’t effect what is said privately… this tact ends with that person… just being labeled a liar.
Signed,
Your Integrity”
- Robert the Bruce - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 9:55 am:
Good to see this is becoming a bigger story - might pressure both sides to start meeting.
How many more weeks/months can they play the “He wants to meet to talk about non-budgetary items” / “We need to talk about structural reform along with budget” game?
- Wordslinger - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 9:56 am:
The Rauner crew claims they have made invites and Madigan and Cullerton blew them off.
Surely the superstars who made those invites know the dates that they did so and who in the Madigan and Cullerton camps delivered the regrets.
- Aldyth - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 9:57 am:
Illinois is going to have to crash and burn before somebody blinks.
- Skeptic - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 9:57 am:
Wait, I thought the whole Holocaust FOIA kerfuffle was about meeting with the leaders?
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 9:57 am:
===the silence from Durkin and Radogno is deafening===
Yep.
The mere fact… neither Radogno and/or Durkin never stepped in front of this to say, “I know where the Governor was, he was with me.”… or… that after Rauner’s Ketchup Maven said there was a meeting, neither decided to confirm?
At this rate, Blago’s word seems to be held in higher regard, I mean, geez Louise, these statements seem like a child blaming the Cookie Monster for the cookie crumbs on their R-shirt…
- Robert the Bruce - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 9:58 am:
Could one of the five please send an evite? Aside from picking the right festive theme, it really is quite easy. Pretty nifty: it lets you track who responds!
- The Captain - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 10:00 am:
Instead of budget meetings they should have costume parties where they get dressed up and talk about the budget.
- From the 'Dale to HP - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 10:00 am:
Seems like it’s pretty common knowledge that Rauner is not in a rush to get the budget done. So I think we all know who is lying here…
- Streator Curmudgeon - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 10:01 am:
I’m shocked…shocked that an Illinois politician would not tell the truth.
- Facts are Stubborn Things - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 10:01 am:
MJM has from day one, over and over, indicated that the number one problem facing Illinois is the budget and that any thing that detracts from that such as non budget items (i.e.. “turn around agenda”)is not helpful. He also has indicated repeatedly, that it will take a combination of cuts and revenue and that the problem of the budget must be solved in moderation and not the extreme. This is playing out exactly as MJM indicated, and my point has been that you eventually need a budget but you don’t need a turn around agenda, at least not right away. The “Turn around agenda” will take multiple elections and is not a one year item like the budget. Certain elements of the “turn around agenda” have been voted on. The Gov. has to realize what is possible with super majority of Dems in both houses of congress. The Gov. needs to propose a balanced budget with cuts and revenue and call on the Dems to come to the table.
- hisgirlfriday - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 10:03 am:
So if everyone is willimg to meet, then meet!
Do we the Illinois taxpayers have to arrange such a meeting by sending out invitations?
- illinoised - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 10:05 am:
Petty political machinations. Juvenile behavior from grown ups (which pretty much describes political behavior).
- anon - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 10:05 am:
So now it is perfectly clear–Rauner never had any intention of signing a tax increase–so he hides behind the turnaround agenda–items he knows the Dems can’t support so he NEVER HAS TO SIGN A TAX INCREASE while claiming in this blue state he is prepared to do so. It’s the most dishonest form of governing. He can’t meet with leaders with a track record of compromise because it will be perfectly clear to all that he is unwilling to do so–this has been the game plan since his first speech on the House floor.
- sal-says - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 10:06 am:
== …not telling the truth. ==
Yeah, well, that goes back to before the election when raunner was hiding the real ‘agenda’ pretty well back then. Then there was growing the caucus under the is. We get it. What’s changed since?
- Abe the Babe - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 10:06 am:
Dear Leaders,
I would like to meet with you in early October, not to discuss the dire straits resulting in our failure to enact a budget. No, instead I would like to discuss the prevailing wage and why its too high. Also, I would like to discuss the amount a working person should receive when he or she loses an arm in the factory. Again, I think you will agree that whatever that amount is, its too high.
Lastly, we could discuss labor rights. They had their time and place. It was in the early 20th century. No need for those pesky workplace rules anymore.
Gentlemen, it is clear to me that these issues are the burning issues of the day and I will refuse to discuss those sideshow issues you keep bringing up like no energy assistance for the poor, kicking children out of autism programs, and forcing working mothers to stay home with their kids.
Please accept my cordial invitation for a meeting.
Compassionately,
BVR
- Anonin' - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 10:09 am:
As Bernie reported The Speaker met with TeamBungle last week…it produced no progress or developments….Perhaps TB could sign up for some Clueless Anonymous meetings to plan their next gambit.
- sal-says - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 10:11 am:
Shouldda been: throwing the caucus under the bus.
- Jimmy CrackCorn - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 10:15 am:
==the silence from Durkin and Radogno is deafening==
They are busy working on the Scott Walker Prez campaign
- anon - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 10:16 am:
Yep, everyone should believe every word spoken by folks with a D associated to their name.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 10:24 am:
It’s still a wonder that I worry for the GOP GA?
I wake up every morning, after getting myself ready for my day, and I hope that the GOP Caucuses look at what is happening, where things are going, where we actually find ourselves… And then I see this;
@RonSandack: I’m frustrated 2, but taking steps towards reforming IL more important than short term budget stalemate.
Yep. The Owl.
That’s and Agenda that’s … “more important”… than people.
There are more worries than lyin’ about meetin’, not meetin’… but it’s the Agenda that’s … “more important”… than people.
It breaks my heart every day.
- Abe the Babe - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 10:25 am:
==Yep, everyone should believe every word spoken by folks with a D associated to their name.==
Perhaps the one making the accusation bears the burden of proof? When was the request made? To whom?
- OurMagician - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 10:36 am:
I have a conference room table at my office that’s private and fits 10. I’ll even provide the bottled water.
- anon - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 10:37 am:
You can’t make someone meet with you when he or she has no desire to meet or fix the problem. The status quo fits one side. Abe, I’ll let you figure out which side.
- 47th Ward - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 10:42 am:
===taking steps towards reforming IL more important than…===
-Caring for veterans
-Providing services for autistic children
-Treating mentally ill in someplace other than jails
-Helping fund childcare for the working poor
-Providing drug treatment for the addicted
-Providing health care for the elderly and poor
-Helping middle and low income kids pay for college
See you in church Rep. Sandack.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 10:44 am:
- anon -,
Rauner does not… does NOT… have 71 and 36 to get an Agenda passed. If Rauner wants to hold the budget hostage to get that agenda, that’s on Rauner, all day.
These meeting have to be hysterical;
Rauner, “I want to eliminate collective bargaining and prevailing wage”
Cullerton/Madigan, “Do you have the votes to pass that?”
Rauner, “I won’t sign a budget till I get the votes.”
Cullerton/Madigan, “Good meeting.”
It’s as though the idea of Math is going to change. Rauner’s name is on all agencies’ letterhead. These are Rauner’s Agencies Rauner refuses to fund.
Wrap your head around that.
If you were appointed by Rauner to run one of his agencies, Rauner doesn’t want you to have a budget to do the agency’s work. Simply amazing.
- Anon - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 10:45 am:
===The governor has held individual meetings with the leaders whenever and wherever they’ve agreed to meet.===
So, this may not technically be a lie. This is simply saying that whenever the leaders have individually agreed to meet with the governor, he has met with them. It is not a statement that the governor has met with any of the leaders individually, or that the leaders have ever agreed to meet with him individually.
It’s possible for the number of times that they have agreed to meet to be zero and for the government to have met with them every time that they’ve agreed.
I know that’s a convoluted explanation, but just from a technical standpoint they’re not lying. They’ve just creatively worded the statement without addressing that they’ve never agreed to meet.
This is the kind of phrasing someone uses who has a lot of experience with giving depositions.
- anon - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 10:49 am:
OW, I’ve wrapped my head around it and it is VERY clear one side does not want the way of business disrupted. Because of that position, they are disrupting everything. You know their position has devastated this state.
Its on them. They own the pathetic condition this state possesses!!
- siriusly - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 10:50 am:
Rauner is correct about one general concept. The state needs fixing.
But it didn’t get broken in one year or one decade. And it isn’t going to be fixed in his first year as Governor. He’s ignorant, impulsive and too emotional to be an effective governor.
Someone on Team SuperStar needs to start a discussion with him about incremental change and moderation.
- Mama - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 10:52 am:
“Illinois is going to have to crash and burn before somebody blinks.”
Why do the people of Illinois have to crash & burn because Rauner hates unions?
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 10:57 am:
- anon -
So your response to people effected by this impasse is;
“Too bad, so sad… ”
And that “Math” thing is lost on you too?
Rauner can NOT get his agenda passed. Can’t. It’s on him for holding people hostage because Rauner can’t count to 71 and 36?
I mean, - anon -, Ounce of Prevention and the Rauner YMCA mean nothing to Bruce Rauner.
How terribly pathetic that the “millions and millions” Rauner personally invested in that YMCA and the time and hard work and personal equity Diana Rauner has put into Ounce is being gutted and destroyed by… Bruce Rauner.
- anon -, the votes aren’t there. Rauner’s continued fibbing, that’s not getting more votes for an Agenda. Politics is about doing what is possible, not polarizing sides and encouraging gridlock.
- Mama - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 10:58 am:
++- anon - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 10:05 am: “So now it is perfectly clear–Rauner never had any intention of signing a tax increase–so he hides behind the turnaround agenda–items he knows the Dems can’t support so he NEVER HAS TO SIGN A TAX INCREASE while claiming in this blue state he is prepared to do so. It’s the most dishonest form of governing.”++
Anon, it appears you are onto the guv’s game plan.
However, I still believe the guv also wants to destroy the unions in IL.
- AC - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 10:58 am:
==it is VERY clear one side does not want the way of business disrupted==
anon, presumably this is the destruction of collective bargaining as we know it in Illinois. A “way of business” is such an obfuscated way of describing union busting.
- AC - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 11:04 am:
==Politics is about doing what is possible, not polarizing sides and encouraging gridlock==
OW, how I wish this were true, but in Illinois and nationally this seems more like an ideal from the past, when party leaders haggled out deals in smoke filled rooms and worked toward gaining the trust of their opponents.
- Mama - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 11:10 am:
“polarizing sides and encouraging gridlock.” This is what the Tea Party in the U.S. Congress has been doing for at least the past 6 years. Rauner is part of the same ultra-right-wing Tea Party. Read “Boehner slams some GOP hard liners as ‘false prophets’ ~by Laurie Kellman in The State Journal-Register
- Austin Blvd - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 11:12 am:
One context of what Rauner’s spokesman Walters is saying is:
Bruce goes to lots of stuff and the four leaders are always welcome to tag along. And Bruce would be happy to give them some access to discuss things.
This is how “business leaders” think.
- Georg Sande - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 11:18 am:
Conclusion: Someone’s not telling the truth here. And that would be Sen. Cullerton and/or his spokeswoman.
- My New Handle - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 11:23 am:
If the governor would begin speaking with real numbers on just how much money would be saved by each item in his agenda, how those savings will help businesses large AND small to prosper, and how he would run each state agency and pay vendors at least he would then let the voters in Illinois be able to assess what his agenda actually is and its effects on the State. No pro-rauner commenter here can state those numbers, or can they? Let us all in on the details please.
- thoughts matter - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 11:30 am:
I believe the House and Senate schedules are posted on Illinois.gov. Seems to me that the Governor would then know exactly where his 4 leaders are on those dates. His Springfield office is just a short walk away from the chamber. He could actually show up and MEET with them. It’s not as if they are going to refuse him entry to the floor or turn their back on him. If he truly wanted to meet with them, then just show up.
- How Ironic - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 11:38 am:
@ Georg Sande,
Yeah…I’m going to disagree with that. Rauner has been caught in several lies. He has zero credibility, and can’t be trusted. Period.
- Skeptic - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 11:39 am:
“Bruce goes to lots of stuff and the four leaders are always welcome to tag along.” LOL…I can just see it, BVR expecting an “elevator pitch” from MJM? (On the elevator from the 1st to the 2nd floor no less.)
- Demoralized - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 11:41 am:
==Conclusion: Someone’s not telling the truth here. And that would be Sen. Cullerton and/or his spokeswoman.==
And you believe this why? I’m assuming it comes from your hyperpartisan stance.
@anon:
I can think of something else that’s pathetic. Your goofy drive bys come to mind.
- Norseman - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 11:42 am:
Now we know why Rauner is in to secrecy. That’s to keep people from finding the evidence that he’s lying.
- Michelle Flaherty - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 12:00 pm:
So in reality we’re still back at election night and whether or not the governor made the calls and talked to the people he said he did.
- Anonin' - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 12:10 pm:
MF
Shame on you for mentioning the election nite U- turn…shame shame
- Georg Sande - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 12:20 pm:
At around 8:00, when the Senate President quickly pivots, pretty much settles this (non)issue. #Next
http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2015/09/28/state-budget-standoff-reaches-90-days
- anon - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 12:51 pm:
Demo, make sure your boss doesn’t walk by your cubicle while you are posting on this site. You know, that use of public time for private matters thingy.
- Demoralized - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 1:17 pm:
anon:
When you have something intelligent to add to the conversation other than your constant drive by goofy partisan comments then we’ll take you seriously.
- Liberty - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 1:19 pm:
When Rauner says they won’t meet that means they won’t go along.
- anon - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 1:41 pm:
Demo, I don’t give a rip what you think. Laughing at you accusing me of partisanship. That is a good one!!!
- VanillaMan - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 1:44 pm:
I think I remember Rauner claiming that he spoke to Madigan and Cullerton election night, which he really didn’t.
So he’s on record of saying things that are not true.
- Mama - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 1:48 pm:
++- Skeptic - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 11:39 am:++
It appears you missed your civic classes. Bruce is not the CEO of IL.
- Skeptic - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 2:04 pm:
Mama: I didn’t say he was…I was laughing at the image of him thinking he is.
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 2:34 pm:
If we read the statements carefully and interpret them literally, then no one technically lied.
However, with glossing over, weasel words, and misleading implication, neither side is clearly telling the whole truth.
Rich’s headline is correct.
- walker - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 2:36 pm:
Anonymous 2:34 above was me.
- Demoralized - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 4:03 pm:
And for pete’s sake anon, take Rich’s advice. Take a half second to come up with a nickname.
- Enviro - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 5:56 pm:
“What is truth?” Pilate asked.
- Yellow Dog Democrat - Tuesday, Sep 29, 15 @ 8:16 pm:
I would like to revive my earlier suggestion that we balance the state budget by turning the Five Tops meetings into a pay-per-view event.