47 Comments - LizPhairTax - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 11:35 am: Did Representative Bellock literally clutch her pearls? It’s strong talk from Representative Ford, but present some evidence that he’s wrong. - ste_with_a_v_en - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 11:37 am: Slow clap for Rep. La Shawn Ford. - Flynn's mom - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 11:38 am: Just when you thought things couldn’t get worse or more convoluted. Now we have the West Side vs Hinsdale. We need to try to find common ground not have class warfare. - Flynn's mom - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 11:39 am: @LizPhairTax….that made me laugh. - Alex P. Keaton - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 11:43 am: You need evidence that Governor Rauner doesn’t want people to die? Are you kidding me? - Scamp640 - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 11:44 am: @ Flynn’s mom. We already have class warfare. Rauner wants to kill unions and working class families. Have you not noticed this? So many of the “turnaround agenda” items target working class families. What is wrong with low and middle income fighting back against wealthy attacks on the poor? Did the West Side representative use strong words? Yes. Has Rauner caused real, physical pain, along with financial pain to working class Illinoisans? Absolutely. LaShawn Ford used appropriate words to call out the Republicans for their intransigence and willingness to let the Governor hurt working class people of Illinois. - wordslinger - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 11:44 am: Meh, Rep. Ives waxed nostalgic on the old Confederacy on the House floor, portrait of Lincoln hanging on the wall. - LizPhairTax - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 11:45 am: APK, No. And that says a lot. I’m a reasonable person. Demonstrate one thing that the Governor’s administration has done that shows that he cares about the people Representative Ford is talking about. One. - Oswego Willy - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 11:46 am: Vetoes (less K-12 Approps) have consequences. Only a governor can veto legislation. - Amalia - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 11:49 am: concrete and dirt and he wants them to die. come on. I think Rauner is a terrible governor, but this statement is empty rhetoric. and the response is not necessary especially as the comment should stand alone in the corner. - Skirmisher - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 11:49 am: Rep. Ford pretty well hit the mark, even if she was over the top by normal standards of political decorum. These ain’t normal times. - cdog - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 11:54 am: Mr Ford needs to realize that there is a problem with his argument. If I am to believe that Illinois Democrats and the democratic progressive Obama Administration have superior policies, why is his district suffering so terribly and been “living on concrete and dirt.” Maybe it’s time to try something new. These folks need compassionate and concentrated help, not fake politicians that have no clue and are more worried about hiding than taking courageous votes. - LizPhairTax - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 11:56 am: @cdog what courageous vote is Representative Ford hiding from? Term limits? Work Comp reforms? Property tax freeze? - Puddintaine - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 11:57 am: Farmers, coal miners, landscapers, construction…. oh, sorry, they WORK in the dirt. And concrete. And, well both. Let us not speak metaphorically now… The budget passin is gettin late (Go sweet rift) - Grandson of Man - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 12:01 pm: Around a million people lost social services because of the lack of budgets. Rauner inserted nonbudget items into the process since Day One. He should not have done that. We should pass budgets and do the other stuff separately. Then we can fight like heck (or not) over the nonbudget issues while not causing so much damage to the state. - The Dude Abides - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 12:01 pm: @cdog are you suggesting that the Rauner reform agenda might improve the lives of the middle class and those living in poverty? - lake county democrat - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 12:01 pm: Rauner may deserve a lecture in morality, but a convicted tax cheat isn’t one to give it to him. - lake county democrat - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 12:03 pm: So if it’s wrong to want term limits before a budget, is it wrong not to offer term limits - wait, make that a vote on term limits - to get a budget? After all, it’s effectively free and 80% of the citizens say they strongly support it. Naw, can’t do that. - Responsa - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 12:03 pm: ==These ain’t normal times.== And one of the prime reasons these ain’t normal times are idiotic over the top statements like LaShawn’s. - cdog - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 12:04 pm: Liz, a balanced budget would be a good place to start. I believe the last budget passed by the House was $7b upside down. No courage there. All those other issues have some merit, too. - Flynn's mom - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 12:05 pm: @scamp640-yes I have noticed and I apologize, I was not very clear in my comment. I was hoping that members of the legislature would start to see that many of their constituents are being sold down the river by the governor and that they would band together and fight on behalf of our citizens. Rauner’s hatred toward the working and middle classes has been evident for quite sometime. - Deft Wing - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 12:10 pm: Ford’s comments are shameful. And so are those “slow clapping” here or otherwise. When political hyperbole turns into deliberate political hysteria … is when you know the Dems their & Ruling Political class friends do not even know they’ve crossed the line. - Postbot 5999 - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 12:12 pm: Have we learned nothing from Kathy Griffin? The race to prove you hate your political enemy more than the next guy doesn’t end well. - Oswego Willy - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 12:17 pm: I’m confused as to how Vetoes are not the sole tool used by governors and that Raunerites are confused that Vetoes have consequences. The argument that Ford is right or wrong, hyperbolic or in point, the veto(es) that deny monies are consequences. - NeverPoliticallyCorrect - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 12:18 pm: Rep. Ford is yet another poster child for why all of them need to be replaced. This isn’t about getting a budget, it’s about revenge and hate for them. The citizens of Illinois deserve better, even if they keep re-electing people like Ford who won’t do the jobs they are elected to do. - cdog - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 12:18 pm: Dude, I’m saying having a budget will improve the lives of everyone in the state. Dems and blue states already are known to be tax and spend types. Why are Dems so afraid of passing a balanced budget on their own if higher taxes are in their nature anyway? You can’t have it both ways, like they’re doing. Pass the tax, the dem constituents already know that’s central to the ideology. Also, Madigan should not have a monopoly on “keeper of the middle class.” His base mantras are void of any real effects on the middle class and for some reason folks buy that garbage. - northsider (the original) - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 12:23 pm: Not so much that he wants them to die, but that he doesn’t care one way or the other. “Bruce doesn’t have a social agenda”, remember? - Lucky Pierre - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 12:31 pm: Are poor west side residents not getting their federal section 8 housing vouchers and being forced to live on the concrete and dirt? - Grandson of Man - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 12:31 pm: “After all, it’s effectively free and 80% of the citizens say they strongly support it.” Oh, stop. The millionaire surcharge was also popular. People actually voted for it in the 2014 election as a ballot question. Not being able to enact it is no reason to refuse to pass a budget. Rauner and the GOP won’t vote for it, so a similar argument can be made against them. Term limits have nothing to do with our current need for a budget. A millionaire surcharge is actually far more helpful fiscally than term limits. Marijuana legalization is also popular and far more fiscally and economically beneficial than term limits, but we can’t pass it now. Nobody is insisting on holding up the budget for legalization. - ste_with_a_v_en - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 12:32 pm: @LizPhairTax signed legislation that will prevent non-violent offenders from sitting in jail simply because they can’t pay their bail. Does that count? - Rich Miller - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 12:34 pm: ste_with_a_v_en, nice copy and paste job from the governor’s tweet. lol - Ron Burgundy - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 12:37 pm: –He should know that people on the West Side have been living on their concrete and living in the dirt for a very long time– Sounds like a multi-generational failure by many levels of society, including government bodies and the people that represent those areas at all levels and of all parties. - HistProf - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 12:43 pm: - lake county democra @ 12:01 pm: “Rauner may deserve a lecture in morality, but a convicted tax cheat isn’t one to give it to him.” Beg to differ. Rauner’s entire business career consists of tax avoidance. It is the chief activity of his class. If you are born rich and can avoid taxes, you’re set. OK, L.P. Time for you to chime in and tell me what great productive enterprise BKR has established for the benefit of the rest of us. - efudd - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 12:48 pm: The party of Clint Eastwood and Charleton Heston can sure be delicate at times. - Oswego Willy - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 12:57 pm: Oh - LW - When Quinn and Daley were both in power funding was not halted by a Quinn veto. Are you saying I should “wake up” that no funding is making things worse? - walker - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 1:01 pm: LaShawn is in close touch with his constituents, and sees tragedies up close that some others can only imagine. Patti is one of the most broad-thinking and compassionate reps.In the House. They should be working together and not let rhetoric about a third party get in their way. - Jack Kemp - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 1:30 pm: “The argument that Ford is right or wrong, hyperbolic or in point, the veto(es) that deny monies are consequences.” This is neither a coherent sentence nor thought. - lake county democrat - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 1:33 pm: HistProf - I doubt anyone has commented about the lack of progressive taxation in this state than I have. Close tax loopholes for the rich? I’m with you there too. But gaming the tax system is different than out and out tax fraud. I’m sure JBP and CK have benefited greatly from the same kinds of things Rauner has. - Oswego Willy - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 1:33 pm: “The argument that Ford is right or wrong, hyperbolic or in point, the veto(es) that deny monies are consequences” “The argument that Ford is right or wrong,… the veto(es) that deny monies are consequences” “hyperbolic or in point”, shoulda been on not in, but surrounded by commas take nothing away from the sentence that exists. Good try - Jack Kemp -, lol - DeseDemDose - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 1:40 pm: Does Rainer hope they die or does Rainer not care if they die? Either way I guess that would just be a business decision…. - Jimmy H - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 1:43 pm: Rauner has said the pain is worth it. He owns the pain and the consequences. Rauner acts as if he’s doing no harm; he acts as if he’s not responsible for anything bad. Rep. Ford knows very well the consequences of Rauner’s actions. There hasn’t been a governor in the 18 years Rep. Bellock has served willing to cause this kind of “pain” but Rauner. At this point calling what Rauner is willfully causing merely pain is a manipulation, minimizing what he is doing to some level of acceptance. I agree with Rep. Ford. - Anonymous - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 2:05 pm: I agree with Representative Ford. - Nick Name - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 2:17 pm: “Rep. La Shawn Ford (D-Chicago) called for a recall of Gov. Rauner” Did no one notice that, in all the hubbub of Ford’s other comment? - Ma'at's Feather - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 2:59 pm: Kudos to Representative Ford! It’s about time someone broach the subject of appropriate action when it comes to a governor who refuses to do his job and holds the entire state hostage to his demands, causing irreparable damage going on three years now. And it doesn’t compare to Kathy Griffin (not a bloody Rauner head in sight!) - Juvenal - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 3:21 pm: Rep Bellock- You should have gone to the funeral for Baby Semaj. Governor Rauner continues to defend The former DCFS director. Children who are rape victims are waiting six weeks to receive services. If this is your idea of wanting people to thrive… - DuPage Bard - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 3:50 pm: In her 18 years? How big is that leadership pension going to be? - Anonymous - Friday, Jun 9, 17 @ 3:56 pm: lake county democrat - “But gaming the tax system is different than out and out tax fraud. I’m sure JBP and CK have benefited greatly from the same kinds of things Rauner has.” Point taken! But that only speaks to the weakness of the Democratic contenders here. YIKES. Hillary all over again. How about we search the gutters and shelters for a real Dem and put her up for Governor! Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.