Mendoza demands Rauner propose real budget
Tuesday, Feb 14, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Comptroller Susana Mendoza…
“The Constitution is very clear. It says in Article VIII, Section 2, ‘The governor shall prepare and submit to the General Assembly a balanced budget proposal.’ … It does not say, ‘The General Assembly shall prepare and submit to the governor a balanced budget proposal,’” she said.
She’s right about the first part, but she’s wrong about the second part. From the same article and the same section…
The General Assembly by law shall make appropriations for all expenditures of public funds by the State. Appropriations for a fiscal year shall not exceed funds estimated by the General Assembly to be available during that year.
* From an op-ed by Comptroller Mendoza…
Anything less than a complete document with all the cuts and hikes spelled out will be more of the same abdication of responsibility that the governor has shown since the day he took office, which is why our backlog of bills has spiked to $11.3 billion in two years. Phony savings projections from pension-reform ideas he knows the courts have already ruled unconstitutional or from union-busting fantasies won’t cut it either. […]
On Wednesday, do your job, governor. Spell out your cuts and revenues. Face the criticism you knew you’d face when you ran for this job. Negotiate. Accept a compromise, sign a balanced budget, and start the healing process.
I don’t disagree, but after years of watching governors propose phony budgets that were balanced with never-gonna-happen “revenue enhancements,” the General Assembly barred governors from using any new revenue streams to balance their proposed budgets. And, like most all reforms, this one also had an unintended consequence. Now, the governor simply proposes imaginary cuts.
* SJ-R…
[Gov. Rauner] made it clear, though, that he wasn’t happy with the way the General Assembly treated his first two budget offerings.
“My budget was never discussed or debated by the General Assembly. It was ignored,” Rauner said. “A process needs to change. I don’t want to keep doing the same thing over and over, introducing a budget that just gets ignored and criticized. Either let me actually do it if I’m going to introduce it, or let’s do it together. No more I’m speaking in the wind and nothing changes. That’s a mistake.”
I’m not gonna introduce a real budget because it will be criticized or ignored?
Whoa.
* More…
Rauner also disputed the oft-repeated claim by Democratic lawmakers that he’s never introduced a balanced budget.
“I introduced a balanced budget my first six weeks in office,” Rauner said of his 2016 fiscal year budget plan. “Some people didn’t like it because it had some pension savings. Changes to pensions could have been done.”
Yeah, but his proposed pension savings were unrealistic and pretty much everybody knew it at the time.
- Driveby - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 10:02 am:
Mendoza would be wise to mind her own shop. It’s her job to get the CAFR done — the financials — which is now long overdue. We’re driving blind by working on the budget with no current financials.
- Deft Wing - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 10:03 am:
–”I introduced a balanced budget my first six weeks in office,” Rauner said …”
– “Yeah, but his proposed pension savings were unrealistic and pretty much everybody knew it at the time.”
Do the Dems mean if a governor doesn’t offer a TRULY balanced budget, the Legislature cannot do a thing?!? Wow, that’s a really debilitating and powerful thing a governor possesses. Wonder how all of those unbalanced yet passed and signed into law budgets ever got accomplished over the past few decades or so? /s
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 10:07 am:
Here’s what’s “Real”…
Rauner ran to “Shake up” and “Bring Back”…
Nothing would shake things up right now if Rauner proposed an actual real budget, with significant cuts, with required revenue, and decided to put on his favorite costume(s) to whatever audience Rauner wants; Colleges to discuss actuall funding them, for example…
… Rauner wants to tour Illinois, your the state forcing HIS budget, and honest budget, and show all 177 members who is the new Sheriff.
To the rest, Mendoza, Rauner, their answers… here’s the rub for me, same as it ever was;
No matter what Mendoza thinks, or Rauner thinks…
Any governor…any… willing to let anyone but themselves weigh and measure the monetary and budgetary values of their agencies, programs, agendas, in a budget… they are either unable to BE a governor, of they refuse to be a governor.
That’s the ball game.
No submitting a budget is gross negligence and malpractice to the office and the Oath.
Speaks volumes about Bruce Rauner and that an un-passable agenda is just more important too… than the oath Rauner took.
- August Spies - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 10:08 am:
Unconstitutional cuts don’t make a budget balanced.
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 10:09 am:
She would have a better chance demanding the governor ride a unicorn into the House.
–Yeah, but his proposed pension savings were unrealistic and pretty much everybody knew it at the time.–
How’d he do on that “waste, fraud and abuse?” There were tons of savings to be had there, if I recall.
Only Rauner and Katrina pretend that the governor has proposed balanced budgets. GOMB doesn’t even bother to pretend when they present to the rating agencies.
- Porgy Tirebiter - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 10:13 am:
Could the Dems. call his bluff and say they will pass any budget he proposes? Then let him wear the jacket with the press any voters.
- Juice - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 10:15 am:
Driveby, last year’s CAFR didn’t come out until March, and my guess is that you weren’t screaming about a delay then.
And since the bill backlog exploded in FY 2016, my guess is that its awfully hard to turn around a CAFR when those bills don’t actually get paid until December.
- AC - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 10:16 am:
If Quinn could provide a “do not recommend” budget and another one with added revenue, so could Rauner. It’s not a high bar, Rauner would only need the competence and vision of Pat Quinn to prepare such a set of budgets.
- Echo The Bunnyman - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 10:17 am:
Rauner has to propose a budget that can be passed. He either does that, or he has wasted alot of money and more importantly, faith. If he proposes a budget that has common sense reforms attached, he can save us. Not offering a real solution is NOT an option. He has time to be sure the budget can pass. Use these precious hours. We all need it.
- Echo The Bunnyman - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 10:20 am:
Even though OW thinks I can’t read… I still think he needs to throw his hat in the ring for the race… The Cannoli Party can save us all!
- Jocko - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 10:21 am:
In the first six weeks, Bruce (1) proposed billions from pension reform & WFA, (2) created a PowerPoint, and (3) got mad at Rich for being asked to show his math.
In the next 98 weeks, he visited towns, toured high schools, and bankrolled the IPI and ILGOP to “Blame Madigan”. Am I missing something?
- City Zen - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 10:21 am:
==Mendoza would be wise to mind her own shop. It’s her job to get the CAFR done==
Comptrollers gonna comptroll…
Wonder what Mendoza’s voting record was on all those unbalanced budgets back when she was a state rep.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 10:30 am:
- Echo The Bunnyman -
- Norseman - handles all inquiries on the status of myself and this race. While your idea for a Cannoli Party has significant merit, a candidacy based on a write-in opportunity has a better chance than forming an outlier party.
All is well, bud. OW
To Mendoza,
The Comptroller’s duty is to write checks off of accounts that also have budgetary requirements for distribution.
This is actually her job. Didn’t both Munger and Mendoza “complain” about a lack of opportunity to do the job?
- Anon - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 10:38 am:
What are the odds Gov. Rauner will propose a balanced budget on Wednesday? Slim to none? And slim just left town.
- A Jack - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 10:38 am:
Paragraph (a) also tasks the proposed expenditures not to exceed funds estimated to be available during the fiscal year.
The Governor’s pension reform proposal would not realistically yield any savings during the first year it was proposed since even if there was a remote chance it was constitutional, it would be challenged in the courts and take at least a year or two to make it through the court system. So pension reforms should never be part of a current budget proposal. Submit the reform bill, get it passed, and then if it makes it through the courts, you can include it in a budget proposal.
And it’s the same thing with the imaginary turn around savings.
- Cook County Commoner - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 11:03 am:
So if Rauner introduces an honest budget, it must include cuts and additional taxes, without touching gov pensions which seem pretty sacrosanct based on the state constitution and recent ISC rulings. And he would do this in a state with a stagnant, likely deteriorating, economy where the citizens are already heavily taxed and probably more needful of government services.
And, of course, the honest budget would be the cornerstone of his undoing. It would be like President Trump disclosing his income taxes. No end to the negative spin from adversaries.
And Leona Helmsley’s “little people” and Hillary Clinton’s “deplorables” cannot comprehend they are cooked whatever happens.
- titan - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 11:12 am:
Perhaps he should introduce 3 alternative budgets.
1. The no tax increase one - with ultra-drastic cuts to everything.
2. The “palatable” tax increase/level of cuts one.
3. The “no cuts” one - with monstrous tax increases.
- NoGifts - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 11:29 am:
It’s all going a little like “repeal and replace.”
- Archiesmom - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 11:44 am:
Actually, titan’s idea @11:12 is interesting. It would be pretty illustrative to the public to show them the real effect of those options. People and groups toss out percentages and numbers seemingly in a vacuum or with little context. I wonder how the average guy or gal in the state would feel about budgets if they saw the effect of what they prefer on themselves and others.
- Not It - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 11:46 am:
Yup, totally independent there. Totally.
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 12:08 pm:
Hmm. It took the same Mendoza 57 days to pay an invoice that Munger paid in 15 days. That’s why Mendoza is an budgetary efficiency expert.
- Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 12:42 pm:
Comptroller Mendoza outrage about the Governor’s lack of a balanced budget seems a bit hypocritical as the majority of the budgets she voted on in her decade as a legislator appropriated far more than the revenues the State took in.
What good is the constitution if it’s provisions are not enforced
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 12:52 pm:
===This woman is clearly a total fool.===
Hmm.
So, that whole Constitution thingy, foolish too?
Also,
===Comptroller Mendoza outrage about the Governor’s lack of a balanced budget…===
Why aren’t you outraged? You’re fine with the governor not having produced a balanced budget? If that’s the case, you must be fine with Mendoza’s votes too, with that thinking, lol
- Beeker - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 12:58 pm:
Willy, you can run in those rambling circles with yourself. Your shtick is old.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 1:00 pm:
- Beeker -
Your drive-by about my neglected to address that whole constitution thingy.
But, you already knew that. I hope the drive by made you feel better.
- Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 1:05 pm:
OW you seem to also suffer from selective outrage that is only directed at a fellow Republican - Governor Rauner for his two year violation of no budget while defending the Speaker like a whack a mole anytime someone points out that he has unconstitutionally spent more money that Illinois had for decades
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 1:11 pm:
===…you seem to also suffer from selective outrage that is only directed at a fellow Republican - Governor Rauner===
Rauner is NOT a Republican. Rauner is a Raunerite.
===…he has unconstitutionally spent more money that Illinois had for decades===
The Speaker didn’t spend the money, it was budgeted for and signed by governors.
I’ll remind you again, this will be the first time today, but it’s a continues reminder, read McKinney if you’re confused where I stand on the budgets and blame for “decades”
I see you ignored the whole mess of not being outraged with Rauner lacking a balanced budget, that’s fun.
- Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 1:16 pm:
OW you sure sound like a Madiganite day after day and not. Republican. Maybe you missed the the most recent Mc Kinney article that puts the wood on the Speaker pretty hard.
You seem to miss day after day the the legislature is a co equal branch of government and compromise is essential in divided government. Seeing as the Speaker cannot compromise with the other chamber or a Governor from his own party for 12 years you only seem to blame the current Governor for the state’s problems
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 1:23 pm:
- Lucky Pierre -
Nah, I’m a Republican. Raunerites squeeze the beast, crushing social services. They don’t fund Higher Education and Raunerites don’t pay bills, but want state workers paid, all without a budget.
I’m a Republican. Rauner is not.
===Maybe you missed the the most recent Mc Kinney article that puts the wood on the Speaker pretty hard.===
Maybe you missed my comment on Rich’s post on it, use the search key, LOL.
===Seeing as the Speaker cannot compromise with the other chamber or a Governor from his own party for 12 years you only seem to blame the current Governor for the state’s problems===
Which Rauner quote do you want;
“Shutting down the state”
“Social Services vs. Labor to crush”
The tweet?
Reforming Illinois more important than a short term budget stalemate thingy?
Rauner is holding the state hostage by refusing to fulfill Article VIII, Section 2, (a)
You know all this and you continually ignore the next day these truths.
- Rauner Did It - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 1:57 pm:
Tough day for Oswego Willy, the Tribsters laid into the foolish at Chicago State again, a problem that he blames on Rauner. The CSU Faculty Voice placed the blame for the crisis on Quinn’s doorstep, but according to Willy, Rauner owns it because Quinn broke it. Almost a sixty percent decline in enrollments too.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 2:04 pm:
===Tribsters laid into the foolish at Chicago State again, a problem that he blames on Rauner.===
No governor, None, since 1858, funded Higher Education at a level of zero.
So there’s that.
===The CSU Faculty Voice placed the blame for the crisis on Quinn’s doorstep, but according to Willy, Rauner owns it because Quinn broke it.===
You do realize Rauner sent Vallas over there. Because… why?
Any governor that has a state university close on their watch owns that problem. If Rauner could blame someone else for a state university closing, while Rauner doesn’t fund… Higher Ed… Rauner would’ve already done it. Why hasn’t he? Rauner will own it.
===Almost a sixty percent decline in enrollments too.===
What student wants to go to ANY university with significant (Zero is significant, lol) funding issues.
See: Eastern Illinois University too.
That all ya got, or… lol
- Whatever - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 3:10 pm:
The whole budget game these last two years has been about Rauner trying to get the Democrats to take the entire blame for the tax increases necessary to support continuing spending at the FY16 levels, or to take the hit by adopting budget cuts that hurt the unions and other traditional allies. The Democrats (especially Madigan, for whom it is Plan A every year for tough issues) have been trying to get Republican votes on tax increases and budget cuts to spread the blame. Rauner has been winning this game by saying “you first”, not doing anything that is not absolutely necessary to avoid a revolution (e.g., funding schools), and criticizing anything the Democrats do propose. His game will fall apart if he can be forced into making real tax increase or spending cut proposals himself. And, of course, he has to keep 100% of the Republican legislators in line, which will be hard to do if he has to actually make realistic proposals that they can then support.