28 Comments - Union Dues - Monday, Nov 28, 16 @ 10:34 am: The gov should simply give them his budget proposal and get things moving. Take away their argument. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Nov 28, 16 @ 10:37 am: ===* But, hey, we can’t even get to budget negotiations until the governor is placated with some Turnaround Agenda “wins.”=== This. All Day. What is real is Rauner says… “After… after, THEN we can negotiate.” How do I know? I can hear and I can see. What is Higher Ed getting for the Rauner “wins”… “… Well, we can decide that… ” No. No, that’s not how it works. What is the trade? Where o where are the numbers? “Well, we can decide that after…” Nope. - wordslinger - Monday, Nov 28, 16 @ 10:37 am: – But, hey, we can’t even get to budget negotiations until the governor is placated with some Turnaround Agenda “wins.”– That is one man’s irresponsible choice, nearly two years in. The magic of google reveals: –Placate, verb, make (someone) less angry or hostile.– What price to nearly 13 million citizens to make the governor less angry or hostile with “wins?” Are we past the binky or pudding cup stage? - Anonymous - Monday, Nov 28, 16 @ 10:38 am: The gov’s failure as a governor is not his best traduced budgets but his refusal to be th grown up in the room in 2015. Had he line item vetoed that first budget, I’d be lauding his courage, instead I lament his callousness. His desire to avoid blame by players by chicken with MJM set the stage for all that has followed. - Norseman - Monday, Nov 28, 16 @ 10:38 am: === But, hey, we can’t even get to budget negotiations until the governor is placated with some Turnaround Agenda “wins.” === Pretty much sums it up. - Ares - Monday, Nov 28, 16 @ 10:39 am: Sounds like negotiating with the Russians and Chinese: “What’s mine is mine. What’s yours is up for negotiation.” Might the problem here be a Governor who insists on defying the will of the people? 2018’s theme may be “Is leadership in Illinois bought or earned?” - 47th Ward - Monday, Nov 28, 16 @ 10:40 am: ===now they claim they can’t do their work without one.=== Rod Blagojevich made a budget address each and every year, and went through the process of delivering a budget to the GA for consideration. Pat Quinn did the same. Both Democratic governors watched somewhat helplessly as Democrats in the GA re-wrote the budgets and passed them. Then you know what happened next? Both Governors signed the budgets, rarely invoking the line-item veto power that nearly every other executive covets. Were these budget always balanced? Of course not, mostly because pension payments were skipped. Truth is, the Democrats didn’t invent the deferred pension payment trick, but they might have perfected it. What the Democrats are saying, as anyone who has been paying the slightest bit of attention over the past two years knows, is that they are not going to raise taxes alone. They are saying, simply, “you first, Governor.” The Governor decided that, rather than raise taxes right away, he’d see if he could use the inevitable crisis as leverage to get anti-union and anti-consumer “reforms” in a back room deal rather than at the ballot box, where for now those are off-limits to him. From my seat, which is pretty far up back from the action, this is what the impasse is about. Democrats will ultimately vote to raise taxes (let’s face it, that’s what we do), but only after Governor Rauner tells us how much they need to go up, and what he’ll do with the money. Frankly, that’s not too much to ask. - Annonin' - Monday, Nov 28, 16 @ 10:43 am: BigBrain busy on mornin’ TV in CHI….same old dribble…meetin’ everyday that will get it done. - Pot calling kettle - Monday, Nov 28, 16 @ 10:54 am: A balanced budget proposal sets the stage and starts the process. The other side has to vote for it or make changes. Even if the final budget looks very little like the original submission, that does not mean the original was ignored. Rather, it forces the process to move forward. In this case, the Governor was elected on the promise to lead. That leadership requires putting forth a budget almost no one will like. He wanted the job; he has the job; he needs to do the job. - Anon221 - Monday, Nov 28, 16 @ 10:57 am: How do you placate someone you don’t trust? If Rauner’s main end goals are to destroy Madigan and ASFCME, then his reforms 1-5 or 1-44 are only tools in his bigger game by his rules. The budgets, stop gap or otherwise, are just pawn pieces. - Deft Wing - Monday, Nov 28, 16 @ 10:59 am: Meh. Countless Governor’s PROPOSED budgets (that’s what they are, only) have been flatly rejected and/or ignored by the Legislature. In fact, that’s really what Madigan does until the waning hours of session. Typically, he passes an unbalanced budget & adjourns. But not the last couple of years because, supposedly, of Rauner’s Turnaround preconditions. Yeah, right. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Nov 28, 16 @ 11:01 am: ===But not the last couple of years because, supposedly, of Rauner’s Turnaround preconditions.=== Nope. “But not the last couple of years because, supposedly, of Rauner’s Turnaround preconditions” This. You’re welcome. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Nov 28, 16 @ 11:02 am: “But not the last couple of years because of Rauner’s Turnaround preconditions” - Huh? - Monday, Nov 28, 16 @ 11:04 am: Ares- “Sounds like negotiating with the Russians and Chinese: “What’s mine is mine. What’s yours is up for negotiation.” Negotiations with 1.4% is more like “What’s mine is mine. What’s yours is mine too. And if you don’t like it, too bad because I don’t care what you think because you don’t matter.” - Earnest - Monday, Nov 28, 16 @ 11:21 am: I struggle with the basic premise of the discussion, that Rauner wants there to be a budget. He wants to squeeze the beasts of higher education and human services to a smaller level and not have enough money to be able to afford AFSCME pay and benefits. He does want the government to keep running and K-12 to open in the fall. There are good issues to debate within his aims, but I do oppose his methods of distraction from his true intentions. Democrats…not sure what they want other than keeping Madigan in power. They aren’t advocating for any specific revenue increases and seem to have run away from the millionaire’s tax. They aren’t advocating for any cuts or increases in spending. They aren’t advocating for methods to improve economic conditions in the state. If Rauner had control of the Democratic Party instead of the Republican, there’d be an Agenda out there, probably with imaginary numbers, but even so, a strong message. Perhaps Democrats don’t need a different Speaker of the House as much as they need a new chair of the state party. - Whatever - Monday, Nov 28, 16 @ 11:24 am: Union Dues @ 10:34 == The gov should simply give them his budget proposal and get things moving. Take away their argument. == But the cuts he would have to make AND the tax hikes he would have to make in order to produce a balanced budget would give them much better arguments. - Joe M - Monday, Nov 28, 16 @ 11:28 am: ==The Rauner people point out that they did talk about a budget with the Democrats last May, but the Democrats wouldn’t agree to any of their reforms== In other words, Rauner held the budget hostage, but his ransom demands were not met. - Jocko - Monday, Nov 28, 16 @ 11:31 am: Outside of Lincolnshire, where is this groundswell of support for the TA agenda? Last May, Bruce called MJM’s plan “The biggest unbalanced budget in Illinois history” then surpassed that number with his stopgap. - Anonymous - Monday, Nov 28, 16 @ 11:36 am: I’m curious about the K-12 strategy. We are seeing a significant increase in K-12 funding right now and, as a result, some districts are using it for raises after not being able to do much for several years. There is some talk of a pension cost shift to local districts, yet at the same time there is a push to freeze property taxes. How will districts respond when they are on the hook for pension payments, at higher salaries now, and property taxes are frozen? Will we see classrooms with 40 students and the loss of all arts, music, and even many sports? - lake county democrat - Monday, Nov 28, 16 @ 11:37 am: Wordslinger: Price of two turnaround agenda items strongly supported by the overwhelming majority of the state: Put redistricting reform and term limits on the ballot. Just put them on the ballot. Price: $0.00. - Cassandra - Monday, Nov 28, 16 @ 11:37 am: We don’t know who Rauner’s opponent will be in 2018, but we can guess that Rauner’s handling of any income tax increase will be up for discussion-and campaign ads. If he’d only kept Quinn’s tax increase, Quinn was right, Rauner was wrong, really wrong, and so forth. The longer it takes to re-institute this tax increase, the harder it may be for Rauner the candidate to agree to it in the face of increased attention to campaign strategy. - Dr X - Monday, Nov 28, 16 @ 11:55 am: It is true that other governors had budgets ignored. But this guy claimed to be different, a “mornin’ in Illinois” moment, a revolution and freedom from business as usual. So put together a budget with real cuts and real numbers and live up to your promise. Many supporters took you seriously and literally. Do it or shut it. - RNUG - Monday, Nov 28, 16 @ 4:13 pm: == Sounds like negotiating with the Russians and Chinese: “What’s mine is mine. What’s yours is up for negotiation.” == Sounds like trying to deal with a soon to be ex-wife. - Mama - Monday, Nov 28, 16 @ 4:18 pm: I think the biggest problem at the state capitol is untrustworthiness. The governor has a track record of not doing what he says he will do - so why would the Dems trust him now? - Chicago 20 - Monday, Nov 28, 16 @ 5:06 pm: Placate or appease? None of Rauner’s turnaround agenda will benefit 99% of Illinois residents and will actually damage Illinois economy. If Rauner had research to submit for public analysis to support his extremist plans, he should have done so well before now. Otherwise it’s just another delay tactic for Rauner’s personal financial benefit and outright contempt of the citizens of Illinois. - Anonymous - Monday, Nov 28, 16 @ 7:29 pm: == “We can’t even get to a real budget deal until the governor is placated with some Turnaround Agenda ‘wins.’” == Perfect. Now we’re favoring coercion & capitulation rather than bending & negotiat I ng. Swell. - blue dog dem - Monday, Nov 28, 16 @ 8:58 pm: RNUG. Say it ain’t so. - RNUG - Monday, Nov 28, 16 @ 10:41 pm: -blue dog-, I’m happily married to wife #2 and fully expect to stay that way. Now as to divorce proceedings with #1 … let’s just say each of us were aggressively looking out for our own interests. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.