134 Comments - Gruntled University Employee - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 1:56 pm: Speaker Madigan and the former Governors he controls. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 1:59 pm: I’m with Governor Edgar. All Day. Every Day. This is where I’ve been, what I see, and always “warmed” to know Republicans like Jim Edgar see, know, and say what Rauner is, and continues to be, worse for Illinois than even Rod Blagojevich. Thank you, Gov. Edgar. Thank you for lending your weight to the message needing to be said. Oswego Willy - Henry Francis - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 2:00 pm: So unlike 2014, Bruce won’t have the following this time around: The support of Edgar The support of 2 in 5 union households The support of pro choice moderates A poor incumbent to run against The benefit of the doubt That is a lot of wind being taken out of his sails. And I’m not even getting into all the negatives that will be used against him. - illinoised - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 2:01 pm: Absolutely. I have been saying that for some time. - XDNR - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 2:06 pm: Gov. Edgar just fed the Dems a message the can use all day/every day, please do not ignore! - 47th Ward - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 2:06 pm: Yep. I sure wish more folks in the IL GOP would wake up to this reality. The first rule, when you’re in a hole, is to STOP DIGGING! - blue dog dem - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 2:06 pm: I stand up and take notice every time Edgar speaks. Not. - Huh? - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 2:08 pm: Too bad 1.4% doesn’t listen to anybody. - Cubs in '16 - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 2:08 pm: Wholeheartedly agree. The Raunerite response is ‘the state has been on this downward trajectory for years and things will never improve until we reject the status quo and pass reforms that protect taxpayers and create jobs’. And the band plays on… - XDNR - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 2:10 pm: Sorry 0W just saw your “all day/every day” after the post. - Rogue Roni - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 2:10 pm: At least with the unbalance budgets of the past we got thinks (higher ed, social services). Now we just have a whole pile of debt with nothing to show for it - City Zen - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 2:11 pm: Which way does that ramp go? - Goober - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 2:14 pm: Thanks for the pension ramp! - FLEA - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 2:15 pm: the ramp! pension holidays! go away. - lake county democrat - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 2:16 pm: This is a little ironic given that Edgar attacked Dawn Clark Netsch for proposing a hike in the income tax rate to pay for education and lower real estate taxes, but I don’t see any mea culpas or “learn my lessons” here) Yes, we need a budget. Yes, we’re eating our seedcorn. I wish there was a person with the gravitas to move Madigan and Rauner, but at least for myself Edgar isn’t that person. - Albany Park Patriot - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 2:18 pm: If only Bruce Rauner was in a position to do something about this, such as openly pine for term limits but not introduce a budget! - Skeptic - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 2:19 pm: “Which way does that ramp go?” The question that needs an answer is “how does the Rauner agenda help us climb it?” So far the only answer has been “But Madigan!” - Blue dog dem - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 2:20 pm: I have located another $177k/yr in savings to the state. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 2:21 pm: - XDNR - It’s all good, nothing to that, bud. To the choruses of “Edgar Ramp”, were all the payments made? Read McKinney, he addresses the Edgar Ramp, with Edgar… - Gooner - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 2:22 pm: Sure, but given The Ramp, wasn’t that inevitable? The fact that we are worse now than under Blagojevich, even if we would have had talented governors, was to be expected. - Rich Miller - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 2:23 pm: ===Sure, but given The Ramp,=== Oh, please. Try thinking what the situation would’ve been like if there was no ramp, or if Blagojevich did a ramp. - AnonymousOne - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 2:25 pm: So for those who bemoan that Rauner is not the one and only person to blame for all the devastation done on his watch……..why has it never been this critical before? There were other legislatures with many of the same villains but with other governors and somehow we managed to avoid this rock bottom state. Is our governor a helpless victim in his role? Can’t help but let everything become worse each and every day? Doomed to be 50th among the states? - Responsa - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 2:34 pm: Was there also a governor between Blago and Rauner? I am trying to remember. - Arock - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 2:37 pm: “The first rule, when you’re in a hole, is to STOP DIGGING!” - But under Madigan & his minions watch they dug such a hole that things need to be changed drastically in the State going forward. School funding reform went untouched in favor of gerrymandering(while K-12 funding decreased) . Pension debt exploded with no reforms and now consumes 25% of the budget. Temporary tax increase which paid a little of the past debt but no spending reforms enacted. Madigan’s answer, business as usual in the future just continue to raise taxes. - Gooner - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 2:37 pm: “Try thinking what the situation would’ve been like . . .” If there was no ramp, Illinois Governors and the Speaker might have approached the budget as adults. Not likely, but we can’t rule it out. The Ramp gave them a feel-good excuse for kicking the can down the road. Ryan still would have looked for a way to fund road construction rather than paying pensions. Blago still would have refused to make payments. Quinn still would have looked for solutions and people would have cursed him for doing so. Rauner still would have held out on a budget, looking to bust unions. With our without the ramp, we would have been in trouble. However, the ramp served to set expectations low for the early years, making it even worse when those expectations were not yet. So yes, in many ways, the ramp did make things worse. Not as bad as Illinois voters seeking simple solutions to complex problems, but still, it did damage. - NeverPoliticallyCorrect - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 2:40 pm: Responsa-I believe you are thinking of Gov. Quinn and his pal “Squeezy” However,No more blame on the previous folks. the people in office now have to fix this now and all should be held responsible! - Rich Miller - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 2:41 pm: ===in many ways, the ramp did make things worse=== That was some of the most tortured logic ever. Edgar was an accomplished politician. The ramp, while certainly flawed, was the best deal he could get. No other politician except Quinn wanted to touch the pension issue. And Quinn was no Edgar when it came to legislative skills. - Arsenal - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 2:48 pm: ==So unlike 2014, Bruce won’t have the following this time around: The support of Edgar The support of 2 in 5 union households The support of pro choice moderates== There is no reason to take these three things as a given. - 47th Ward - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 2:48 pm: ===But under Madigan & his minions watch they dug such a hole that things need to be changed drastically in the State going forward.=== You guys are like a broken record. It would help if your governor could count votes. Since he can’t, his temper tantrum has made the state demonstrably worse-off. But by all means, please continue to live in the past. - Anonymous - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 2:51 pm: Funny, from the guy that helped create the mess. Edgar needs to keep quiet. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 2:51 pm: ===School funding reform went untouched in favor of gerrymandering=== I must’ve missed the whole “gerrymandering or school reform, one or the other!” issue. That sounds interesting. ===Pension debt exploded with no reforms and now consumes 25% of the budget.=== You must love Quinn, he made every pension payment, lol ===Temporary tax increase which paid a little of the past debt but no spending reforms enacted=== The backlog was taken back to 30 days, so there’s that. Rauner, instead of paying 30, 60, 120, 250 days late, Rauner wants Social Services to fold. That’s your “better”? You need to do better. ===Madigan’s answer, business as usual in the future just continue to raise taxes.=== So you will burn down the state to probe a point that Rauner can’t get 60 and 30? Are you Rauner? lol - @misterjayem - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 2:53 pm: “I wish there was a person with the gravitas to move Madigan and Rauner, but at least for myself Edgar isn’t that person.” The Constitution of Illinois (Article VIII Section 2(a)) requires the governor to submit a budget. One might think that should be gravitas enough. – MrJM - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 2:53 pm: People seem to forget the Edgar Ramp… Read Rich’s comment, get back to us. Also, the payments on the Ramp, how flawless was that? - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 2:56 pm: ===The support of Edgar The support of 2 in 5 union households The support of pro choice moderates=== Yeah, I agree… …none of these are a given to be flipped this time. The only way to ensure these things flip is to work tirelessly with ONE goal; Defeat Bruce Rauner… … if Democrats show up in 2018… - Ron - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 3:02 pm: Edgar really needs to shut it. He created the problem - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 3:08 pm: The argument that Edgar needs to keep quiet is hysterically funny… … given Rauner begged and pleaded for Edgar to travel with him the very last weekend of the campaign. So, Edgar was a problem, then ally, now critic of Rauner… and that’s on Edgar? lol. Which Rauner do I believe, the Rauner blaming Edgar, or the Rauner campaigning for Rauner. Edgar seems, to Rauner, credible until Edgar isn’t. So… all the Edgar critics… Why aren’t you upset Rauner wanted Edgar’s support? - Shake - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 3:09 pm: Sure Its Not The Retirees Fault. Ron? - wordslinger - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 3:09 pm: Candidate Rauner would certainly agree with Gov. Edgar. By the standards layed out by Candidate Rauner in his critique of Gov. Quinn, Gov. Rauner is a slam-dunk failure. - Arsenal - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 3:11 pm: ==The only way to ensure these things flip== Even that’s not going to flip Edgar. - Frondolet - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 3:12 pm: I weary of Edgar and have ever since he left office. His virgin at the orgy routine is tiresome and all the while he pulls down almost $400k a year in salary and pension benefits from the state. - ste_with_a_v_en - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 3:13 pm: “Regulators are unsparingly critical. In March 2013, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint against the state charging that the Edgar Ramp was the “primary driver” of Illinois’ worst-in-the-nation unfunded pension liability because its insufficient investments in the first 15 years merely shifted “costs to the future and, as a result, created significant financial stress and risks for the state.” Legislators also point the finger at Edgar. His ramp was “structurally flawed from the beginning” and amounted to “poor fiscal practice,” concluded a bipartisan pension modernization task force of the General Assembly in 2009.” - City Zen - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 3:14 pm: ==To the choruses of “Edgar Ramp”, were all the payments made?== Are you asking if the lowest payments of an escalating 40 year plan were made? Why, yes, yes they were. That’s like leasing a Porsche by making VW payments at first and Bentley payments at the end…except you’re not around for those Bentley-like payments. Then taking credit for the lease plan. - Gooner - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 3:16 pm: The Ramp gave Edgar and Ryan effectively a free pass to spend as they wished, and instead had future leadership deal with the problem. That was the best Edgar could get? Sounds like a good deal for Edgar. He gets to spend money where he wants and still gets credit for solving a problem, without taking any real action to solve it. Now that’s the problem. I can’t see how the ramp made things remotely better. Edgar was the first one who clearly and undeniably knew about the nature of the problem (yes, Thompson should have known but there is some small chance that just perhaps he did not realize the nature of the pension problem). Edgar, in contrast, clearly did know. That cannot be denied. His solution was to kick the can down the road. That’s not a good deal. That’s utter failure. - Ron - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 3:16 pm: - ste_with_a_v_en - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 3:13 pm: Exactly, but to some here, we really should care what Edgar says. He needs to go away. - Ron - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 3:18 pm: I despised Edgar in the 90s, even more now. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 3:19 pm: - City Zen - And yet Quinn made the payments…? - Valvino - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 3:21 pm: I’m sure Rauner is to pompous to even listen to someone in his own party. Very sad - Rich Miller - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 3:24 pm: ===I can’t see how the ramp made things remotely better=== Because without it, things would be infinitely worse. - City Zen - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 3:26 pm: OW - With an extra $8 billion in revenue coming in? Looks like it, although the liability still went up. But I cannot find mention of a tax increase in Edgar’s ramp plan. Seems like an important point in any long-term plan. - Rich Miller - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 3:27 pm: ===But I cannot find mention of a tax increase=== Oh for crying out loud. Everyone in power knew what the ramp was. They could’ve prepared. They didn’t. Now everyone wants to scream about the guy who passed the bill. - Sense of a Goose - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 3:28 pm: Democrats never made any spending reforms? How about $1.6 billion in cuts to Medicaid in 2012. One reason Quinn didn’t get reelected was because he stopped the rainbow and unicorns budgeting. He wasn’t my favorite and wasn’t the most skilled governor ever but he was responsible enough to try to stop the bleeding. That is not an easy vote for a Democratic legislature either. - wordslinger - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 3:28 pm: Lots of personal attacks and moaning about the past from the Usual Victims, but not one has disputed the actual points that Edgar has made about Rauner’s tenure. That says it all. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 3:28 pm: ===Everyone in power knew what the ramp was. They could’ve prepared. They didn’t. Now everyone wants to scream about the guy who passed the bill.=== Thus… Governors Own. - Rich Miller - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 3:29 pm: ===That says it all=== Agreed. Get back to the topic, everybody. - Rich Miller - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 3:30 pm: ===Democrats never made any spending reforms?=== That’s not what I said. Read what I wrote, not what you want to spin. And get back to the topic. Deletions will follow. - Michelle Flaherty - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 3:30 pm: No fan of the Edgar Ramp, but keep this in mind. There was no pension funding plan in place before the Edgar Ramp. Contribute to the funds, don’t contribute to the funds, who cares? The Ramp was a plan, a plan that made the financial choices pretty easy for the people voting for it and for the first several years. If you’d have proposed multi-billion dollar contributions RIGHT NOW - Cubs in '16 - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 3:31 pm: I have a question for those of you who “despise” Edgar and/or find him hypocritical. How does that make anything he said to WXAN any less true? - Michelle Flaherty - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 3:32 pm: (hit say it too quickly) If you’d have proposed multi-billion dollar contributions RIGHT NOW back in the mid 1990s, it would have never passed. And again, the ramp plan didn’t reduce pension contributions or scale back what the state had been paying. It was a plan to replace no plan. - Norseman - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 3:35 pm: Edgar speaks truth to power and power then goes whining and sics the trolls on him with the inane ramp mantra. - North of Normal - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 3:36 pm: Past and current administrations & legislature are to blame for the basic accounting problem. If your outgo exceeds your income, then your upkeep is your downfall. This great State had/has problems, but they have dramatically increased in the last 2 years. - JS Mill - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 3:37 pm: = And Quinn was no Edgar when it came to legislative skills.= Understatement of the year (so far). The debt payment is the issue, not the pension in and of itself. The year-to-year cost has fallen nearly 25% thanks to Tier II. Borrowing and diverting is what led to the debt. That is not on Rauner. But $13.4 billion and two years without a budget? Rauner owns, 24/7/365 (tip of the cap to OW) You can blame MJM all you want. Prior to Rauner’s arrival there was always a budget. Denial is futile. It is the truth. That is mostly on the governor. - Rich Miller - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 3:39 pm: ===and power then goes whining and sics the trolls on him=== It’s always thus with those types (including the Madigan bots). Attack, attack, attack the messenger. - Lou Kasper - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 3:51 pm: I would love to see a poll of Jim Edgar vs Bruce Rauner. Would Rauner even hit 10 percent? - Duder - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 3:51 pm: I typically despise OW because of the blatant bias. On this one he happens to be right. The only people pushing back and/or posting negative comments are raunerites doing what they are told. They dont know any better. soon they will. I wish they were around in the years when Illinois was an example to other states as a model. Now we are an example to other states on what not to do. I miss Schnorf! - Henry Francis - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 3:55 pm: ==The support of Edgar The support of 2 in 5 union households The support of pro choice moderates== I’m not saying those are going to be flipped. I’m saying the Guv won’t be able to count on the same level of support that he did in 2014 Does anyone think Edgar is going to be out on the stump for Bruce again? Think what you may of his level of influence and what he can deliver for the Guv. But whatever it may be, it won’t be as strong as it was in 2014. Union support? Are some people actually contending union support for Rauner will be as strong in 2018 as it was in 2014? Same with pro- choice moderates. His record on this has been tarnished by his opposition to HB40. Personal PAC and their ilk are totally going after Bruce now. They weren’t in 2014. And Diana telling us her hubby in the ugly shirts has no social agenda isn’t going to be as endearing in 2018 to moderates, is it? Candidate (clean slate) Bruce Rauner beat failed Governor Quinn by 142,284 votes. Any reductions noted above don’t have to be major to change the outcome. (And I’m not even talking about the massive negatives he has on his record now) - blue dog dem - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 3:56 pm: Here’s what I think about comparing present day politicians with past politicians. Its like baseball players from different eras. Its fun, but its not apples to apples. I don’t know if it was Hastert or whomever, but partisan politics has become so ugly, it seems no one, at any level can reach across the aisle anymore. Most of the voters are now the same way. Its makes me sick that there can be no civil conversation on the issues. Maybe Edgar was good,I personally didn’t like his style, but if others think that, its ok by me. But this much I am certain, no one is going to bridge the political divide in this country until we all do some soul searching. - City Zen - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 3:56 pm: @JSMill - Tier 2 won’t hold up over the long-term. Any perceived savings today are but a smokescreen until it runs up against safe harbor rules when those folks approach retirement en masse. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 3:57 pm: ===I typically despise OW=== The list is long and distinguished… lol - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 4:03 pm: ===…of the blatant bias=== Meh. I stand by my arguments. - Henry Francis - My point is this… Nothing in campaigns are ever guaranteed. While your premise seems sound, with some sound footing, the only way to beat a seated governor running for re-elect, they are incredibly tough, and add $100 million to that… crazy times. What if Dems beat themselves up so badly, no healing takes place and hard feelings vs. beating Rauner might lead to low turnout? - JS Mill - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 4:06 pm: @CZ- That is not a given, and the savings is going to hold up. There may be a need to tweak the plan if safe harbor comes into play but that is more than a decade away and not in any way a guarantee. I will say, there was a time I thought it was a forgone conclusion, but that was straightened out for me by Eric Madair. To the post- Edgar did the doable. Was it great? No. But, as Michelle Flaherty stated- there was no plan and this was a plan to replace the lack of one. It was…better than nothing. And nothing is what the GOP wants. - Arthur Andersen - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 4:08 pm: I was around when the ramp was passed. My actuarial expert almost blew up a computer running alternative scenarios for the big guys. We looked at no ramp, 10 year ramp, and the 15 year ramp, with 50, 40, and 30 year amortization. Guess what? The shorter paybacks and taller ramps were hundreds of millions of dollars more than the State could afford. We did the best we could with the dollar constraints. And, as always, the “Blagojevich Ramp” change in 2007 cost $2 billion in cash and tens of billions in new liability by extending the ramp to 2017. Anyone crunch these numbers and prove me wrong-I’ll buy you a bottle of good booze. - sal-says - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 4:11 pm: What Raunner has done and continues to do TO IL is unconscionable. Will take more than ‘years’ to recover; more likely a generation or two. If ever. And here is something very scary and thought provoking. The current scatter-brain-thinking Prez actually recognized a key concept about being in government and mentioned it during an AP interview. One that Raunner continues to fail to understand or will not accept. i.e. making Raunner heartless. One truly clearheaded idea coming from the Prez stands out. He said: “Here [DC], everything, pretty much everything you do in government involves heart, whereas in business most things don’t involve heart,” Trump told The Associated Press. “In fact, in business you’re actually better off without it.” And THAT is where IL stands today. - Arsenal - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 4:14 pm: ==Does anyone think Edgar is going to be out on the stump for Bruce again?== Yes. But I take your point on the other 2, and if nothing else, Rauner is going to have to work for them in a way he didn’t in 2014. - ste_with_a_v_en - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 4:26 pm: To the post In terms of not having an actual budget..he’s right. Even Blago managed to get that. But does that mean Blago was a better governor? Say what you want about Rauner, but he is not a crimonal. - sal-says - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 4:27 pm: And, I suspect, it’s a LOT easier to tell the dregs to ’stand strong’ when you, as a billionaire, know your lifestyle won’t change one whit, regardless of what you do to IL and your 13 Million hostages. - Demoralized - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 4:51 pm: I’m not sure I agree with his comparison of the Blagojevich years to now. Blagojevich did a lot of harm to this state, financially and otherwise. Rauner’s inability to get a budget passed in two years has made the problems exponentially worse. But I’m not willing to say it’s worse the Blagojevich. Two different beasts. - Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 4:53 pm: Total lack of any self awareness about his role in the pension debacle or reason for the decreased state funding for the world class university system because of the Increased pension funding. The bragging a couple of weeks ago about leaving office with a surplus (while shorting the pensions through the ramp) is just too much. I know he said he had a stint as a life insurance salesman earlier in his career but he acted more like a mortgage broker selling more house than you can afford because of a teaser rate. A lot of people figured out teaser rates are too good to be true in the past decade. - Anonymous - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 4:54 pm: == Blue dog dem - I have located another $177k/yr in savings to the state Probably significantly MORE than that if you include Munger & her entourage. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 4:58 pm: - Lucky Pierre - Then …if the Edgar Ramp… Then Rauner owns his own failures. Can’t have it both ways… - Chicagonk - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 4:59 pm: Now I would never expect Edgar to throw Madigan under the bus, but saying that the Rauner years are worse than the Blago years requires some significant mental gymnastics. Blago represented everything that is wrong with Illinois politics. Even Madigan recognized that. - blue dog dem - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 5:02 pm: Anony. Couldn’t agree with you more. - Anonymous - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 5:05 pm: == ste_with_a_v_en - Regulators are unsparingly critical. == SO….Whatcha think of ALL the bond rating downgrades since Raunner? - Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 5:05 pm: Since when are pro choice moderates for taxpayer funded abortion on demand? This is not a majority position even in a blue state which is the reason why only four states voluntarily pay for abortions with taxpayer money. Trump won Catholics by over twenty points. Mc Cain beat Obama with white Catholics by 5 points. What poll says voters support this? None they oppose it by huge margins and the DNC’s insistence that all Dems support abortion is hurting the party with the moderates you speak of - Anonymous - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 5:07 pm: == Ron - I despised Edgar in the 90s, even more now. OK. What’s YOUR take on Raunner NOW? - City Zen - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 5:10 pm: Congrats, Edgar and you all convinced me. You’re right…everything was better with the pension ramp and the 3% income tax rate. Time to follow both plans per everyone’s suggestion. - Norseman - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 5:11 pm: === But does that mean Blago was a better governor? Say what you want about Rauner, but he is not a crimonal. === Blago governed. Albeit incompetently and for self-aggrandizement and wealth. === Blagojevich did a lot of harm to this state, financially and otherwise. Rauner’s inability to get a budget passed in two years has made the problems exponentially worse. But I’m not willing to say it’s worse the Blagojevich. Two different beasts. === Shouldn’t we add up the number of jobs lost, nonprofits closed, businesses financially damaged, people who’ve lost services, students who had to change education plans, colleges harmed … I really, really, really … hate to say this, but YEA Rauner is worse than Blago. - Ron - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 5:11 pm: Anonymous, Rauner is the first adult to be governor in my lifetime. - Ron - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 5:12 pm: Norsemen, job growth under Rauner has been quite strong. - wordslinger - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 5:13 pm: –Congrats, Edgar and you all convinced me. You’re right…everything was better with the pension ramp and the 3% income tax rate. Time to follow both plans per everyone’s suggestion.– Great. So are you going to get around now to addressing the points Edgar actually made? Can you? How’s about you, Ron. Now that you’ve had your multiple daily tantrums, anything of substance? - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 5:14 pm: Oh - Lucky Pierre - Either Bruce Rauner lied to Personal PAC on the questionnaire and Diana Rauner to vouch for him… … or Diana and Bruce Rauner lied to Personal PAC in the questionnaire and in the Ads Diana knew were disingenuous. Either way, suburban women, thru Personal PAC will be reminded; When it comes to a social agenda, the words of Diana and Bruce Rauner betray those who think Rauner has no social agenda. The questionnaire and the possible veto tell suburban women so. ===… but saying that the Rauner years are worse than the Blago years requires some significant mental gymnastics.=== Really? Which state university during Blago wrote a letter they still plan to exist “next year” How many social service organizations closed due to Blago? Blago held a children’s hospital hostage, Bruce is holding a whole state hostage, not for campaign monies, but to destroy working union households. - Anonymous - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 5:14 pm: == Henry Francis - The support of Edgar… But whatever it may be, it won’t be as strong as it was in 2014. == With his comments MULTIPLE times in the last year & a half, point the blame, predict he WILL NOT be there. - Norseman - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 5:18 pm: Ron, so we should judge him based on job growth. Job growth that has been sluggish compared to almost everybody. Job growth that occurred without the TA. Job growth under a recovery versus job growth when all was heading into economic hard times. LOL - Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 5:23 pm: Not for taxpayer funding of abortion means Rauner is suddenly pro life? Rauner’s position is the majority position inspire of your obvious distortions OW. Even Eric Zorn agreers and he is not exactly a pro choice moderate. 46 other states agree with Rauner’s and a Zorn’s position - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 5:28 pm: - Lucky Pierre - When are yiuvhojngvti address the questionnaire and the veto in direct contrast of that? Did I mess that? LOL! The Legacy of Diana Rauner will also be two-fold… The Democrat that donated millions in her own name to destroy Democratic ideals… and the commercials where Diana told the state Bruce has no social agenda, and this possible veto that proves her own words to be obviously untrue. The questionnaire - Lucky Pierre -, can’t talk your way around that questionnaire. - Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 5:29 pm: Paying for a hamburger twenty years from today (when it will cost more than if you bought an entire cow) is very popular for the hamburger eaters. - wordslinger - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 5:31 pm: –Paying for a hamburger twenty years from today (when it will cost more than if you bought an entire cow) is very popular for the hamburger eaters.– That’s probably really killer spin in the original Macedonian, but you might not need to upgrade your Bot translator for it to make sense in this context. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 5:34 pm: “… decide to address… “ - Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 5:37 pm: So the Democrats big accomplishment this legislative session is not working to balance the budget through cuts and new revenues, but the advancement of a radical taxpayer abortion funding bill (that no poll says has majority support) increases spending even though we are almost 13 billion behind paying our bills. That sure sounds like a winning formula to me - City Zen - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 5:39 pm: ==So are you going to get around now to addressing the points Edgar actually made? Can you?== Sure. By masking the true cost of services in the present, things get much worse in the future. I don’t disagree with his point. Spot on. ““All our universities are great assets.” Again, he’s right. Why he spent 2017 dollars in 1997 to maintain those assets are beyond me. It will take years to undo that damage. 100% agree. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 5:41 pm: - Lucky Pierre - Bruce Rauner, who is rubbing statewide and today with 58% disapproval and not one signed budget… has no budgetary accomplishments. Rauner can’t run away from Rauner. “Bruce Rauner fails” That’s just how the Big Chair works. Ask Candidate Rauner - Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 5:59 pm: The head of the DNC as well as Illinois democrats tell the 30 percent of democrats that identify as prolife they are not welcome in the party and you think only Rauner is effected by this? Great even handed analysis by a true Republican - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 6:03 pm: ===Great even handed analysis by a true Republican=== Rauner is NOT a Republican. That’s why hearing Republicans like Edgar, it confuses you. ===The head of the DNC as well as Illinois democrats tell the 30 percent of democrats that identify as prolife they are not welcome in the party and you think only Rauner is effected by this=== Nope. It’s Personal PAC making quite clear to suburban woman; When it comes to trust on a social agenda, you absolutely can’t trust Diana Rauner, and you can’t trust Bruce Rauner as your governor. The Dem thing you ate trying, it’s a Red Herring. It’s about trust, and you can’t trust Diana, and you can’t trust Bruce… … and Edgar, a Republican, says Rauner governs worse than Rod. Hmm. - Big Tom - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 6:53 pm: Edgar’s opinion and persona is part of the problem, in no way is he part of the solution. - Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 7:19 pm: No downside to Democrats radical shift on taxpayer funded abortion as a party loyalty test? Did you see candidates who pushed this position succeed last election? Just the opposite. Nothing to see here folks, move along Rauner advocating the majority view is extreme. We Democrats are mainstream, despite every single poll tag says the exact opposite. Should be interesting next time Cardinal Cupich and cafeteria Catholics Madigan and Cullerton get together. Pretending like his divisive issue helps democrats is ridiculous I finally agree with Eric Zorn on something - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 7:32 pm: ===Did you see candidates who pushed this position succeed last election=== Rauner going to tout the veto? If he does, than Rauner magically has a social agenda. It’ll make Diana Rauner the least trustful person on Rauner. You keep avoiding that questionnaire, why? ===Should be interesting next time Cardinal Cupich and cafeteria Catholics Madigan and Cullerton get together.=== If you’re counting on Blase Cardinal Cupich to help Rauner… between the speech on Labor and the Social Service destruction Rauner is doing, and the money owed to Catholic Charities… ===Pretending like his divisive issue helps democrats is ridiculous=== That will be decided by suburban woman that Diana Rauner either purposely misled, or Bruce misled Diana. Why all the worry, you seem fixed on Bruce Rauner’s new social agenda and the falsehood that is now the Rauner questionnaire. You should be touting… Diana misled y’all, Bruce has a social agenda… - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 7:34 pm: Oh, and - Lucky Pierre - This post is about Edgar saying Rauner is worse than the Blago years… I guess you agree with Edgar and would rather talk about Bruce Rauner’s social agenda? Yikes. - Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 7:42 pm: The sanctimony from a guy who helped light a very long fuse that finally blew up lecturing everyone about the dangers of playing with matches is obviously appreciated by long time fans such as you. I did not hear Governor Edgar explain how in his infinite wisdom would solve the problem he had a hand in creating. Totally capitulate to the Speaker, raise taxes and settle for zero reform of state government. Neither he or any candaidate for Governor has explained how they would solve the problem or deal with the Speaker. They won’t even criticize him - Gooner - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 7:49 pm: Lucky Pierre, you need to get out of the far right echo chamber. You have no idea your complaints about abortion sound to most people in IL. Seriously, get out more. Talk to others. Go beyond your comfort zone. - Anonymous - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 7:51 pm: You seem to forget their are two sides to every coin and Rauner loses does not come up every time on every issue - wordslinger - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 7:55 pm: –The sanctimony from a guy who helped light a very long fuse that finally blew up lecturing everyone about the dangers of playing with matches is obviously appreciated by long time fans such as you.– That’s one, strange, interpretation. Here’s what he actually said: –“The fact that we have gone now without a budget for over two years has put this state in the worst condition I can ever remember. Even during the Blagojevich years it wasn’t this bad.”– It’s strange that you take that only as a criticism of your boss. Rauner isn’t mentioned at all. But, by all means, choose your metric and make the case that he’s wrong. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 8:00 pm: ===The sanctimony from a guy who helped light a very long fuse that finally blew up lecturing everyone about the dangers of playing with matches is obviously appreciated by long time fans such as you. Governor Edgar explain how in his infinite wisdom would solve the problem he had a hand in creating.=== But Rauner begged and pleaded and got a last weekend fly-around with Edgar. Now Edgar is bad? Edgar… Bad… good… Ok… bad… Pick a lane. ===Neither he or any candaidate for Governor has explained how they would solve the problem or deal with the Speaker.=== It’s Bruce Rauner’s turn right now, and “Bruce Rauner fails”. By nearly every measure Illinois is worse since Rauner took the oath, heck Edgar says Rauner has the state worse than when Blago was governor… … Your worried about others? That’s pathetic. If Rauner was anything like a governor, there wouldn’t be the worry how badly Rauner is failing. - justacitizen - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 8:02 pm: ===People seem to forget the Edgar Ramp… Read Rich’s comment, get back to us. Also, the payments on the Ramp, how flawless was that?=== Edgar’s pension ramp/backloading of state pension contributions “committed” future general assembleys. I’m not sure how Edgar got away with that. However, it gave future general assembleys ammunition to argue for pension holidays and to not fully fund the pension systems since ‘we did not agree with Edgars pension ramp’. - Norseman - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 8:58 pm: === Edgar’s pension ramp/backloading of state pension contributions “committed” future general assembleys. I’m not sure how Edgar got away with that. However, it gave future general assembleys ammunition to argue for pension holidays and to not fully fund the pension systems since ‘we did not agree with Edgars pension ramp. === LOL. And you probably can’t pick up on your contradicting yourself in the same paragraph. Try to focus on facts instead of blindly doing your Rauner troll work. - Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 9:12 pm: Gooner, feel free to cite a poll, any poll that says Illinois voters or any voters in the US support taxpayer funded abortion. Get out and talk to people who are not liberal democrats like the 30 percent of pro life democrats no longer welcome in their party - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 9:21 pm: ===Get out and talk to people who are not liberal democrats like the 30 percent of pro life democrats no longer welcome in their party=== I’ll expect a public Veto then, if it comes to that, promoting Rauner’s social agenda… … even though it’s completely in opposition to the response Rauner gave in the questionnaire. Hmm. - Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 9:26 pm: OW you think we should not ask the candidates for Governor how they would solve the impasse because Rauner is currently in office? Yes vote for me and the GA will solve the problem in a week but don’t ask me for any details about cuts or revenues, it’s Rauner’s fault. Everything was ship shape in January of 2015 Can’t wait to see the ads, and debates, it will be fascinating. No reforms and raise taxes vs Rauner. - Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 9:29 pm: Yes it should be very public veto and will benefit the Governor as a moderate who will compromise and not an extremist like the 4 states that allow taxpayer funded abortion on demand. Where is the big national wave for taxpayer funded abortion it does not exist? Why? Explain that. - JS Mill - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 9:44 pm: @LP- maybe you should answer a few of the questions directed your way that you have failed to address? Why hasn’t Rauner proposed a balanced budget? (Remember that one?) still no response. Afraid of the truth much? And the questionnaire? What about that one? I think I can hear you clucking. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 9:47 pm: ===…you think we should not ask the candidates for Governor how they would solve the impasse because Rauner is currently in office?=== I guess I wasn’t trying to embarrass you. The only way it would really matter is by first admitting Rauner has failed, and right now Rauner’s continued failure needs to be highlighted. Asking others that question, it reeks of “We know Rauner has failed, how would you not fail like Rauner?” Your obsession with it must be that you’re sick if Rauner failing and need better ideas, ideas Rauner can’t get 60 and 30 for. I feel bad for you. It’s like a child, when a toy is broken… “Oh yeah, you fix it!” - that’s adorbs. ===Yes vote for me and the GA will solve the problem in a week but don’t ask me for any details about cuts or revenues, it’s Rauner’s fault.=== “Pat Quinn failed”… in a nutshell, lol ===Everything was ship shape in January of 2015 Can’t wait to see the ads, and debates, it will be fascinating=== No budget signed, maybe a state university closed, Rauner having a social agenda, making his wife less personally credible… Fascinating indeed, lol - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 9:51 pm: ===Yes it should be very public veto and will benefit the Governor as a moderate who will compromise and not an extremist like the 4 states that allow taxpayer funded abortion on demand=== Welp, then that questionnaire that Rauner seemingly misled everyone and Diana Rauner, that will make Bruce look pretty foolish, according untrustworthy to suburban women. ===Where is the big national wave for taxpayer funded abortion it does not exist? Why? Explain that.=== You should be so angry then with Bruce Rauner the candidate. His questionnaire seems so… Well… lol - Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 10:09 pm: About the balanced budget canard Rauner proposed cuts unlike democrats- TRUE Rauner supports revenue to balance the budget with compromises- TRUE Saint Jim Edgar believes the passing the budget will involve “give and take”- Governor Rauner agrees, Speaker Madigan does not- TRUE - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 10:20 pm: ===Rauner proposed cuts unlike democrats=== … Except when the budget director and agrvcy heads said they have no cuts, in testimony, committee testimony… ===Rauner supports revenue to balance the budget with compromises=== A requirement can never be a give. Revenue is required, it’s not up for discussion or debate. Rauner IS the status quo, proposing 3 consecutive phony sham budgets, unbalanced. ===…Jim Edgar believes the passing the budget will involve “give and take”- Governor Rauner agrees, Speaker Madigan does not…=== … yet Edgar and Madigan did get 60… and 30 too to get to a signed budget, something Rauner has failed 3 consecutive times and both Edgar and Ryan see a governor needs to find those 60 and 30. #LuckyPierresAltFactsRebuffedAgain - Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 10:35 pm: Oh so Speaker Madigan agreed to compromises and give and take on the budget? Please let us know the details, you have a scoop! Give me the facts OW - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 10:40 pm: ===Madigan agreed to compromises and give and take on the budget? Please let us know the details, you have a scoop!=== You know as well as anyone, the budget is in the Senate. That’s where Rauner, himself, sees the discussion happening. If you really wanted Madigan in the box on this, you’d be cheering the Grand Compromise, but Rauner blew up the compromise and now is making up these “discussions” with Cullerton that equate to one discussion. #LuckyPierresAltFactsEvenIgnoreRaunersAltFacts - Norseman - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 10:42 pm: === Rauner proposed cuts unlike democrats- TRUE === Wrong The Democrats last passed full budget included cuts. Yes, it was about $4 billion short, but Rauner’s impasse budget ended up with around an $8 billion deficit. Democrats will cut, but they also note that revenue is needed as well. === Rauner supports revenue to balance the budget with compromises- TRUE === Wrong It used to be true, but recent pronouncements from the Rauner camp state otherwise. The re-election campaign must have them concerned. === Saint Jim Edgar believes the passing the budget will involve “give and take”- Governor Rauner agrees, Speaker Madigan does not- TRUE === Wrong Get out from under the Rauner rock and actually do some reading. The big bad Madigan has repeatedly discussed “give and take.” The problem for the State of Illinois is that both have different ideas of what they will “take and give.” - Norseman - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 10:50 pm: === Give me the facts OW === LP, you can’t handle the truth - Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, May 2, 17 @ 10:58 pm: No the last Madigan budget was 7 billion short There was an additional funding for CPS that added to a deficit that ended up being 8 billion. You think Rauner added the spending? Please explain you have a scoop too! - Rabid - Wednesday, May 3, 17 @ 1:14 am: Jim Edgar and Terry Branstad both ended their first terms in 1999 and are the same age - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, May 3, 17 @ 6:12 am: === No the last Madigan budget was 7 billion short There was an additional funding for CPS that added to a deficit that ended up being 8 billion. You think Rauner added the spending?=== … and yet, Rauner signed a stopgap, “worse” in a deficit, based on… Math. You should still be mad about Rauner signing that stopgap, with such huge deficit spending. Why aren’t you? lol - Lucky Pierre - Wednesday, May 3, 17 @ 7:40 am: I thought I was supposed to be happy CPS got their extra funding while the grown ups tried to reform pensions - Demoralized - Wednesday, May 3, 17 @ 7:49 am: LP: Perhaps if you engaged in honest discussion you wouldn’t be attacked so much. In addition to the stuff you continuously post about Madigan it would be nice if just ONCE you acknowledged the culpability of Governor Rauner for this mess. Unfortunately you just can’t seem to peel yourself away from your talking points. It would be a breath of fresh air if you could be honest just one time. - Demoralized - Wednesday, May 3, 17 @ 7:51 am: ==Why aren’t you?== When you twist around trying to fit your narrative into every situation you forget what you’ve said. - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, May 3, 17 @ 7:59 am: ===I thought I was supposed to be happy CPS got their extra funding while the grown ups tried to reform pensions=== Nah. You’re happy when the CPS money was veto, gleeful even. That’s why talking points never work, bud. Rauner would be better served focusing on 60 and 30, doing the doable, and if that means embarrassing Madigan by finding his 60 and 30, man, Rauner woulda been/could be better in making true governmental arguments beyond snarky “Goldberg” type back and forth. Hypocrisy is based on talking points that refute actual truth in the situation. Rauner can salvage the rest, if he works with Cullerton, gets something out of the Senate, the governor would be cooking with gas. Rauner’s style isn’t conducive to a want to compromise. CEOs aren’t wired that way. My hope is either Rauner finds Cullerton helpful to find a compromise, Rauner shows he has the votes to get a compromise, or Rauner just keeps quite and let’s any/all negotiators try to be fruitful, with a promise of votes and signature. Right now, trust is waning or gone… - Eight Ball - Wednesday, May 3, 17 @ 8:44 pm: No truer words were ever spoken, I just don’t buy that slap at Blagojevich, why not point to Madigan and his minions as the root cause of bankrupting Illinois, I thank Jim Edgar for all he did for Illinois Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.