25 Comments - Mama - Monday, May 23, 16 @ 12:12 pm: “Guv - Reforms are not partisan issues, they’re good government solutions” If this is true, show us the numbers (give us real numbers - not doctored numbers). - Thoughts Matter - Monday, May 23, 16 @ 12:13 pm: governing by press conference - Mama - Monday, May 23, 16 @ 12:14 pm: “Radogno: What we’re asking for is a rebalancing of the system” Rebalancing what system? - Mama - Monday, May 23, 16 @ 12:24 pm: “Guv - These reforms ARE related to the state budget.” How? Show us the numbers. - Anon221 - Monday, May 23, 16 @ 12:26 pm: Rauner- microphone- press play. Same, almost exact, talking points and innuendoes. The “change is hard” could easily become a drinking game! - Norseman - Monday, May 23, 16 @ 12:28 pm: Thump, thump. That’s the sound of Elaine Nekritz being run over by the Rauner bus when he pointed to her as one of his Dem supporters of change. - Anon221 - Monday, May 23, 16 @ 12:29 pm: Norseman- why does he keep singling her out??? - Mouthy - Monday, May 23, 16 @ 12:29 pm: The Gov’s defiantly doing some sweating. Only thing he’s missing is a couple of ball bearings and a few strawberries… - Anon221 - Monday, May 23, 16 @ 12:34 pm: Connecticut or Mass??? SuperStar quality??? http://www.courant.com/business/hc-ge-layoffs-20160506-story.html http://www.reuters.com/article/us-ge-headquarters-idUSKCN0UR27P20160113 - Mama - Monday, May 23, 16 @ 12:35 pm: Everyone knows you can not balance the budget without raising taxes. One is not possible without the one. - Norseman - Monday, May 23, 16 @ 12:35 pm: Anon221, I suspect it’s that Nekritz and Biss have been more often quoted acknowledging that economic growth changes are needed. However, Biss at least, has clearly stated he opposes Rauner’s anti-middle class changes. I haven’t seen specific Nekritz quotes in opposition to union changes, but I’d be surprised if she supported them. - DuPage - Monday, May 23, 16 @ 12:35 pm: Force the WC insurance companies to open their books, like most other states do. Show us the numbers, then let’s talk. WC reform should be voted on it’s own, not part of a budget. - Mama - Monday, May 23, 16 @ 12:39 pm: “Cullerton reported to have said he won’t do pension reforms until AFSCME contract negotiations completed. Rauner rolled his eyes and laughed.” Passing a budget for FY16 & 17 isn’t looking good. - Mama - Monday, May 23, 16 @ 12:41 pm: “Gov.Rauner: “We can’t raise taxes and kick the can along with the promise of balancing the budget later.” Governor Rauner, you have been kicking that can for a whole year! - Grandson of Man - Monday, May 23, 16 @ 12:44 pm: I phoned my GA members and left messages urging them to not vote for Rauner’s anti-union TA proposals. No way should Rauner and Republicans try to get this change and budget on the backs of many thousands of working class people while he, Griffin and the IPI get away with not paying higher state income taxes for the highest earners. By the way, good on Cullerton to stand up for AFSCME. Rauner has particular loathing for this union, and it’s important that elected representatives try to put a buffer between Rauner and the overwhelming majority of workers who chose to be full union members. - Formerly Known as Frenchie M - Monday, May 23, 16 @ 12:44 pm: Hooray for Cullerton and the AFSCME comment. Goofy to Rauner? Yeah — to any rich guy, it’s a “goofy” statement. But to thousands of state workers — it’s not. It’s critical that the contract gets settled and the workers are given a fair wage for their labor. - Mouthy - Monday, May 23, 16 @ 12:46 pm: Different day same message. Doesn’t look like a budget anytime soon unless legislators on both sides come up with a master plan. Will get dicey if K-12 doesn’t get funded. - Lucky Pierre - Monday, May 23, 16 @ 12:47 pm: It is not a negative to support pro business reforms for a representative from Northbrook. I am sure there are many other Democratic representatives from swing districts who feel exactly the same way - RNUG - Monday, May 23, 16 @ 12:53 pm: There is no legal pension reform action that can be taken for existing workers that will significantly reduce the pension liability. It is a pipe dream. There is no Tier 3 or 401K plan that can be cheaper than the existing Tier 2 plan. They will most likely cost more, especially in the short run. The only legal things left are: 1) where there is a body with taxing authority, cost shift the normal pension costs to that entity, mostly school districts and community college districts. But all that does is move the cost, it doesn’t reduce or eliminate it. 2) limit raises, period. You can’t play games and call part of it non-pensionable. All you can do is stop raises, period. 3) offer a voluntary valid consideration trade deal, but realize it won’t save much money By insisting on pension reform, Rauner either doesn’t understand the current systems and Supreme Court decisions or he does understand and is using the issue to prevent a budget deal. - Grandson of Man - Monday, May 23, 16 @ 12:59 pm: I’m not one of those cheering for the catastrophic consequences of no budget for two years in a row. I really wish Rauner and Republicans would focus on reforms that they can get right now. Or else show us the economic benefits of pushing down wages and bargaining rights–how we will go from the bottom to the top. - Original Rambler - Monday, May 23, 16 @ 1:26 pm: All these attempts to reduce Tier 1 pensions, I wonder whether with money being so cheap presently (many people I know in refi process) if there would be some fiscal sense to offer an early retirement plan to remove a chunk of them from the payroll. Something considerably less generous than 2002. Fund it with a new bond issue. If Tier 1 headcount can be drastically reduced, you think at some point they would stop these goofy schemes to reduce what the ISC has said is irreducable. Plus one less issue for them to disagree on. Maybe gets us closer to an agreement. - Anon221 - Monday, May 23, 16 @ 1:30 pm: Thanks Norseman. I’ve seen her speak a couple of times on the floor, and it really doesn’t seem that she is a Rauner supporter, but he definitely seems fixated on her for some reason. - Mama - Monday, May 23, 16 @ 4:17 pm: ” If Tier 1 headcount can be drastically reduced, you think at some point they would stop these goofy schemes to reduce what the ISC has said is irreducable. Plus one less issue for them to disagree on. Maybe gets us closer to an agreement.” Original Rambler, another early out will never happen because Rauner does not want the Tier I folks to ‘retire with a pension’. - James - Monday, May 23, 16 @ 6:26 pm: “We will not accept any more tax increases until these things are dealt with,” Radogno said. Was she referring to AFSCME employees? - Grandson of Man - Monday, May 23, 16 @ 7:40 pm: What if they passed TA items and people still leave the state? Why should someone stay in frigid Illinois when they can get the same thing in low-tax, low-union Texas and Florida, which have warmer climates? Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.