37 Comments - Saluki - Thursday, Mar 3, 16 @ 10:59 am: I would love to see a poll of likely voters that asked “If an election for Governor was held today, and your choices were Bruce Rauner, or Rod Blagojevich, who would you vote for?” - Ahoy! - Thursday, Mar 3, 16 @ 11:04 am: This trajectory was made long before Rauner was elected. While he might not be addressing it in the most productive way, we have massive problems that Madigan has not yet acknowledged. Admitting is the first step. - Chucktownian - Thursday, Mar 3, 16 @ 11:05 am: Saluki, I love that. Blago was much better at this job. How hard would it be to have a “non-binding advisory question” on the November ballot that read something like this: Should Governor Bruce Rauner resign his position as governor and be replaced by another officeholder who would actually pursue a budget agreement with the General Assembly? I think that would be a great idea. - AC - Thursday, Mar 3, 16 @ 11:06 am: It was a rookie mistake, poor Bruce got firefighter and arsonist mixed up. /s - jim - Thursday, Mar 3, 16 @ 11:07 am: Chucktownian, You deserve congratulations for the completely non-loaded question you’d like to submit to voters. One more thing — it’s too bad Blago isn’t available. Where is he now? I forget. - Lucky Pierre - Thursday, Mar 3, 16 @ 11:08 am: “Blago was much better at his job” Ok Governor you have the roadmap to be “better” Don’t fund the pensions, don’t raise taxes, continue to spend money we don’t have just like Blago. Why don’t you sell some Senate seats while you are at it - Anon - Thursday, Mar 3, 16 @ 11:09 am: ===You’re going to get stuck with high taxes.=== The most offensive thing to me is the state’s subtraction of retirement income which basically lets a whole generation run out on the bill. Decades of not paying enough for their services, followed by literally sharing none of the burden of the debt. - Langhorne - Thursday, Mar 3, 16 @ 11:10 am: I thought that was supposed to be a warning, not a promise. - Beaner - Thursday, Mar 3, 16 @ 11:11 am: Rauner February 2015 “…with this budget I end the era of financial irresponsibility.” What a figurer. This thing wont end without a significant bond issue at a lower credit rating than when he took office. Failing on purpose. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Mar 3, 16 @ 11:13 am: “… And college? Forget about college… ” Bless his heart. - 47th Ward - Thursday, Mar 3, 16 @ 11:13 am: This is all intended to roll back collective bargaining rights, make it harder for injured workers to get compensation and lower wages for working families. Really, truly, seriously. This is what Governor Rauner wants before he will do his job. How many times do we have to tell him “no” before he figure this thing out? - mokenavince - Thursday, Mar 3, 16 @ 11:15 am: Blago playing Elvis and singing back ground on WLS I really am starting to miss him. Rauner who I supported is really a disappointment . - Wensicia - Thursday, Mar 3, 16 @ 11:20 am: “..but, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Wait until I take over and start dropping my “g”s along with your education and income.” - NoGifts - Thursday, Mar 3, 16 @ 11:27 am: Reading Plunkitt of Tammany Hall…”I’ve been studyin’ the political game for forty-five years and I don’t know it all yet. How, then, can you expect what they call “business men” to turn in to politics all at once and make a success of it? …Do you understand now why it is the reformer goes down and out in the first or second round, while a politician answers to the gong every time? It is because the one has gone in without training and the other trains all the time and knows every fine point of the game.” - wordslinger - Thursday, Mar 3, 16 @ 11:32 am: –Don’t fund the pensions, don’t raise taxes, continue to spend money we don’t have just like Blago. – Yes, the governor is doing that and more. What’s amazing is that the governor is running up record deficits at the same time he’s cut billions from higher ed and social services. That sort of thing can’t happen by accident. - Abe the Babe - Thursday, Mar 3, 16 @ 11:34 am: The doctor misdiagnosed the patient. He then demanded that the patient be forced to ingest the unhelpful medication which the patient refused. The doctor proceeded to force the patient to remain in the hospital and took all his food and water away until the patient agreed to take the flawed medicine. Rauner = Medicine Man 2016 - relocated - Thursday, Mar 3, 16 @ 11:37 am: who says his agenda isnt workin out - Daniel Plainview - Thursday, Mar 3, 16 @ 11:45 am: - It’s time to find another way, governor. - Another way to what? I wish you’d share whatever evidence you have that there’s a point to all of this besides gutting social service infrastructure, public institutions, and collective bargaining. - RNUG - Thursday, Mar 3, 16 @ 11:45 am: ==The most offensive thing to me is the state’s subtraction of retirement income which basically lets a whole generation run out on the bill. == The current retired folks, both public AND private sector, paid the state taxes they were asked to pay at the time. That was the deal, pay the taxes we ask now and we won’t tax your retirement. It was the GA and Governors at the time that failed to ask for sufficient tax revenues. - AnonymousOne - Thursday, Mar 3, 16 @ 11:47 am: I just want to know where all the money has gone. We learned that the public pension funds were stolen from but the funds are a real entity. Nothing hidden from anyone. So when these holidays were taken, over many many decades, where did the money go? My children are millenials. They have asked the question themselves. - burbanite - Thursday, Mar 3, 16 @ 11:54 am: Wordslinger +1 - Michelle Flaherty - Thursday, Mar 3, 16 @ 11:56 am: See, the governor clearly outlined his higher ed policies back in 2014. - frisbee - Thursday, Mar 3, 16 @ 11:56 am: “Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?” ~ Bluto BVR: In other words with super$tars like Arduin millennials will paying for a while. - RNUG - Thursday, Mar 3, 16 @ 12:07 pm: == I just want to know where all the money has gone. We learned that the public pension funds were stolen from but the funds are a real entity. == It was spent on delivering State services every year. Was some of it wasted on inefficient programs and pork projects? Most likely, but the majority was just spent on services. Shorting contributions to the 5 pension systems has been occurring off and on ever since FY75 … as the alternative to raising taxes. - Louis G. Atsaves - Thursday, Mar 3, 16 @ 12:23 pm: - It’s time to find another way, governor. - Another way to convince those who buried this state financially to change their attitudes? I know, I know, we are supposed to place “bipartisan” blame on everyone to make the chief offenders feel better, but . . . I see Democrats sitting back and allowing social agencies to close, schools spend down their money, then layoff and threaten closure. Pretty heartless stuff. But then again, to be “bipartisan” and “fair” everyone is to blame, no one has a solution, this once great state is just up the creek without a paddle. And we wonder why the voters are busy picking angry people who promise action? - @MisterJayEm - Thursday, Mar 3, 16 @ 12:36 pm: “You kids like ‘The Hunger Games,’ right? Sure you do. Well, just like in ‘The Hunger Games,’ I don’t have a social agenda.” – MrJM - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Mar 3, 16 @ 12:43 pm: ===I see Democrats sitting back and allowing social agencies to close, schools spend down their money, then layoff and threaten closure. Pretty heartless stuff.=== @RonSandack: I’m frustrated 2, but taking steps towards reforming IL more important than short term budget stalemate. - Ron Sandack, 9/28/15 Rauner chose to inflict pain, until the Turnaround Agenda is passed. Rauner chose. “Pat Quinn failed… ” - Candidate Rauner Governors own, you know that. Find another way, governor, you’re failing. - 47th Ward - Thursday, Mar 3, 16 @ 12:51 pm: ===those who buried this state financially=== You mean the guys who gave AAA ratings to mortgage-backed securities packaged by lenders who didn’t verify any of the info on the mortgages they sold to unsuspecting rubes who had not realistic way of repaying the borrowed money? Because correct me if I’m wrong, I didn’t go back to check my figures, but the global financial collapse cut Illinois’ revenue by many billions of dollars over a 2-3 year period. After the Democrats raised taxes and cut spending, Illinois began to catch up on its backlog of bills. Then your wife’s boss got elected and asked that the income tax be allowed to sunset. So who were you referring to again Louis and what color is the sky in the fantasy world you live in? - Demoralized - Thursday, Mar 3, 16 @ 12:52 pm: ==I know, I know, we are supposed to place “bipartisan” blame on everyone to make the chief offenders feel better== Don’t some of you get tired of playing the victim? Don’t some of you get tired of engaging in this incessant blame game? Who cares who is to blame? It might make us feel better and more superior if we can blame someone for what happened but, really, who cares now? It’s not relevant anymore. The only thing that matters is where we go from here. It would be nice if people spent half as much time trying to figure out a solution as they do telling us all who is to blame. - Watchman - Thursday, Mar 3, 16 @ 1:06 pm: Between this post and the one going gaga over an “epic smackdown”, this blog just decided to say “to heck with it” and go all in, huh? - Rich Miller - Thursday, Mar 3, 16 @ 1:09 pm: ===and go all in, huh? === On what? - RNUG - Thursday, Mar 3, 16 @ 1:15 pm: Politics is (a) war by another name, (B) intelligence gathering, AND (c) the art of compromise. If you don’t have the troops on the ground to win (60/30), then you have to compromise and take what you can realistically get. Rauner has miscalculated his odds from day one. He didn’t (and apparently still doesn’t) have good intelligence on what the D’s would or could conceed. He doesn’t have the troops. He erred by not AVing the budget that was presented. He erred in not building trust. All he has is money and his conviction he knows best. Until he can buy 60 & 30, it appears nothing is going to change. - Daniel Plainview - Thursday, Mar 3, 16 @ 1:18 pm: - So who were you referring to again Louis and what color is the sky in the fantasy world you live in? - Green, to the tune of $125k annually. - GA Watcher - Thursday, Mar 3, 16 @ 1:32 pm: Governor Rauner is going to make a fine conservative radio talk show host in a few years. - Anonymous - Thursday, Mar 3, 16 @ 2:02 pm: Rauners quote is spot on. - JimO - Thursday, Mar 3, 16 @ 3:02 pm: In would not call this prescience. Gov Bruce knew in 2014 (during campaigns) that he planned to cause crisis(s) in payments so that he would have leverage! The video and statements were publish on CapitolFax sometime last year. - Huh? - Thursday, Mar 3, 16 @ 4:00 pm: “You guys … are going to suffer the most. And what you don’t know is that I’m the one who’s gonna do it to you.” said 1.4%. Fixed it. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.