* Yep. And it has been for two solid years…

In case you missed it yesterday, the background is here.

…Adding… Rex Huppke…

Chance is right. This is a wildly complicated mess years in the making. And you have Democrats and Republicans dug in deep, shaking heads and pointing fingers. And you have a stalemate.

And in the weeds of this financial nightmare are the children of Chicago, and they’re being overlooked by politicians and union leaders and all manner of adults who refuse to budge.

And the whole (expletive) thing is embarrassing.

Maybe the missing ingredient was a guy like Chance, a celebrity with the money to put some skin in the game and a voice loud enough to say to our political leaders: “What on Earth are you doing?”

       

28 Comments - Echo The Bunnyman - Wednesday, Mar 8, 17 @ 10:38 am: That’s a very accurate quote. I am glad that he is bringing attention to the masses how embarrassed all of the parties should be.. - Anonymous - Wednesday, Mar 8, 17 @ 10:41 am: When the “foul mouthed Rapper” is the adult in the room … - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Mar 8, 17 @ 10:45 am: Chance isn’t going away Rauner Crew. This isn’t going to stop. Good on Chance. - illini97 - Wednesday, Mar 8, 17 @ 10:47 am: Rauner Crew is probably wishing they hadn’t gotten on Twitter to seem “hip” by reaching out to a star. - Archiesmom - Wednesday, Mar 8, 17 @ 10:47 am: Amen. - Cubs in '16 - Wednesday, Mar 8, 17 @ 10:49 am: Rauner and crew are good at saying on message and ooda looping. It would appear Chance is good at that too and his messaging reaches a lot more people. Coupled with the improved messaging coming from Dems recently it does make one wonder if there is a behind-the-scenes, coordinated effort to fight fire with fire. - Cubs in '16 - Wednesday, Mar 8, 17 @ 10:50 am: ’staying on message’ - @MisterJayEm - Wednesday, Mar 8, 17 @ 10:51 am: “And it has been for two solid years…” Did somethin’ happen two years ago? – MrJM - VanillaMan - Wednesday, Mar 8, 17 @ 10:58 am: You can’t fake being a governor for two years, but expect a modern pop star to join in the fraud. What’s happening in Illinois is sickening. Everyone knows this. Normal political PR stunts are bad ideas. You can’t fail at governing yet expect us to smile when you do a photo op near a location that got wrecked by your governance. Blagojevich then Quinn, now Rauner? Those guys are lucky we’re too busy to think about them. In what sick little world do these guys think they’re relevant? I don’t listen to Chance, but I know he’s better doing his job than Bruce Rauner is in doing his elected one. - AlfondoGonz - Wednesday, Mar 8, 17 @ 10:58 am: The Rauner crew insists on stepping in it. Word to the wise: leave. it. alone. As an person who actively and openly loathes Rauner and his cohorts, however, I invite you to continue trying to one up the wordsmith. “Please proceed, Governor.” - Bobby Catalpa - Wednesday, Mar 8, 17 @ 11:17 am: Rauner’s problem here — and this doesn’t excuse him in anywa — but he *said he was going to do this*. He said he was going to drive a wedge between unions and social services. He said he was going to shut down the state for a while. And he’s done it. This was his method then — and this is his method now. This is no surprise. What’s surprising is that *this is what the voter’s wanted*. And they got it. And now he we are. That’s democracy. - MissingG - Wednesday, Mar 8, 17 @ 11:19 am: I’d like to submit my application as Rauner’s new spokesperson. Here’s a sample of my work (to replace the “Napoleon” response) “Yes yes, we understand that Chance the Rapper is frustrated, we’re all frustrated, and Governor Rauner is working hard every day to fight Speaker Madigan’s hold on this State. He hopes that we will end our budget crisis soon and ensure funding for all of our schools, and work with Mayor Emanuel to address the specific problems with CPS funding and pension issues. Also, Governor Rauner is WAAAAAAAAY taller than Chance AND Mike Madigan, tbh” - Deft Wing - Wednesday, Mar 8, 17 @ 11:19 am: Rauner did step in it on this one. Big time. His people simply have to get better at protecting Rauner from himself because he’s becoming more prone to these types of PR/communications gaffes. As to Chance’s contributions to an end game? Come on, he’s smart and well-meaning, but there are others just as smart and just as well-meaning who better understand all of the true challenges, including all of the political hurdles. #NoChanceThisEndsSoon - AC - Wednesday, Mar 8, 17 @ 11:24 am: C’mon Goldberg, challenge Chance to a rap battle! /snark /goad - Ok - Wednesday, Mar 8, 17 @ 11:24 am: Bobby Catalpa You mean this is what white republicans wanted. - @MisterJayEm - Wednesday, Mar 8, 17 @ 11:27 am: He said he was going to drive a wedge between unions and social services. He said he was going to shut down the state for a while. Please share any evidence of this in Bruce Rauner’s general election campaign. – MrJM - Stop It - Wednesday, Mar 8, 17 @ 11:31 am: Ok- What does race have to do with it? There were apparently a lot of misinformed voters. Lets hope that people have learned their lesson with Rauner and Trump! Be informed and don’t sit on the sidelines during any election. Facts matter! - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Mar 8, 17 @ 11:45 am: ===As to Chance’s contributions to an end game? Come on, he’s smart and well-meaning, but there are others just as smart and just as well-meaning who better understand all of the true challenges, including all of the political hurdles.=== … and yet - Deft Wing -, it’s Chance shining a spotlight on what’s going on. This is a good example where Social Media is being used for good. - wordslinger - Wednesday, Mar 8, 17 @ 11:48 am: Depends on your perspective. If you’re comfortable with running up billions in bills with the intent of never paying them or just paying a percentage on the dollar somewhere down the road, things are going swell. If you can put some of the folks out of business so that they never come back looking for the money you owe them, even better. Some people do business that way. Some later bring that code of ethics to high public office and even call themselves conservatives. - Higher Ed - Wednesday, Mar 8, 17 @ 11:51 am: I am happy this young man has helped draw attention to this horrendous, on-going problem. I think Chance has good intentions and really wants to see this resolved. It will be interesting to see if he involves himself in a gubernatorial campaign. He is a very influential guy and can possible swing votes. - winners and losers - Wednesday, Mar 8, 17 @ 12:02 pm: What a mess. So we are to accept a STILL SECRET Amendment to SB 1 to change all of school funding in Illinois? An Amendment that will have NO Committee hearing? An Amendment that has NOT had input from all the groups affected? A Grand Bargain no matter what the consequences? - allknowingmasterofracoondom - Wednesday, Mar 8, 17 @ 12:03 pm: Sorry, it has been embarrassing for a heck of a lot longer than 2 solid years. - Rod - Wednesday, Mar 8, 17 @ 12:19 pm: The CPS budget is about $5.4 billion and the money being discussed here is $215 million about 4% of that overall budget. CPS passed a purposely unbalanced budget, in violation of the school code’s requirement applicable only to CPS that it’s budget be fully balanced every year. Other districts are allowed to show a deficit with a corrective action plan submitted to ISBE. As Rich’s blog has discussed in the past ISBE cannot legally impose an oversight panel on CPS or seize the district by declaring it effectively bankrupt due to the language of the school code. CPS set up this crisis and is playing it out. The CPS Board could have made an additional $215 million in cuts back in August, which would have been painful to be sure. The reality of the situation is CPS and CPS alone has a separate pension fund for its teachers and charter school teachers. As Senator Cullerton pointed out on the floor during the debate on SB 5, that fund preexisted the TRS fund. Needless to say Senator Cullerton did not explain why the CTPF, the City, the CTU, and others are opposed to a merger of TRS and CTPF. It is because this big pool of money is controlled within the City and its investments to a degree have in the past been utilized for political purposes although their rates of return have been reasonable. An example being how the CTPF bought millions and millions of dollars worth of School Finance Authority bonds in 1979 to help bail out CPS, or current real estate investments (see http://www.pionline.com/article/20160226/ONLINE/160229886/chicago-teachers-pension-fund-plans-real-estate-transition-manager-searches ). In no way am I accusing the CTPF of not acting in the interest of retirees, but it is operating within an investment framework that benefits Chicago interests to the extent it can rather than statewide interests. Neither Chance, nor Rex Huppke have wrapped their heads around all of this. When there are billions of dollars to be invested, where they go becomes a major political issue. - Precinct Captain - Wednesday, Mar 8, 17 @ 12:29 pm: ==Neither Chance, nor Rex Huppke have wrapped their heads around all of this. When there are billions of dollars to be invested, where they go becomes a major political issue.== This might be your most ridiculous statement yet! - Illinois O'Malley - Wednesday, Mar 8, 17 @ 12:38 pm: @Rex, the state was a whole lot better financially when Quinn left versus today with Captain Rauner at the helm… - Reformed Public Servant - Wednesday, Mar 8, 17 @ 12:54 pm: Chance the Lt Gov? It will be interesting to see how he leverages his newly discovered political voice - molly maguire - Wednesday, Mar 8, 17 @ 1:10 pm: Like some of what Chance is doing by bringing a spotlight on education, however, giving $1m privately sends a mixed message about where equitable school funding should come from. This gives some taxpayers the notion that money can be raised privately for public education, and that is a bad idea. - Angry Republican - Wednesday, Mar 8, 17 @ 3:37 pm: Has Chancellor Bennett or Rex Huppke ever heard of Oprah? Or Mark Zuckerberg? Or Corey Booker? All of these folks spent way more than $1M on trying to solve education problems in Chicago, Newark and Baltimore, and all of them failed. The CPS problems (like the state) have been decades in the making, and won’t be solved on Twitter. Rauner made a big mistake getting into a twitter war with a professional entertainer and should cut his losses. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.