* Dan Proft on Gov. Rauner’s “unity” speech earlier this week…
If Madigan calls [Rauner’s] bluff, he’s in a real trick back. Because if he signs what Republicans have proposed as their compromise budget with those massive tax increases, he’s done and so are Republicans for another generation. […]
Rauner’s focus is wrong, it continues to be wrong. He’s playing the inside game with the political ruling class and the elites which prop them up… The play is for the 95 percent of families that are not in the public sector, that are financing all of this… and receiving very little in return. That is his universe. He should speak to that universe. Yesterday he spoke to the political class.
* Meanwhile, Rep. Allen Skillicorn (R-East Dundee) was also on Proft’s show and said this about Speaker Madigan…
My goal is to stop this massive tax hike and I’m going to try to get as many Republicans to come along with me as possible. It depends on what Speaker Madigan wants to do. I’m gonna argue that he needs to put every single Democrat vote on this budget before any Republican should get on it. If he takes his targets and says, ‘Oh, I don’t want them voting for a tax hike,’ I don’t think any Republican should vote for it.
Yeah, that’ll be the structured roll call split. Right.
- A guy - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 9:33 am:
Conversation is very tight in that vacuum.
- perry noya - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 9:37 am:
No tax hike means no budget. No budget means . . .
Who in Springfield is thinking this through?
- LizPhairTax - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 9:37 am:
Allen Skillicorn’s biggest accomplishment in Springfield to date is taking the stairs. Good luck, Skilly.
- Pelonski - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 9:38 am:
I look forward to seeing Rep. Skillcorn’s budget bill.
- Hello - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 9:40 am:
So why hasn’t the Gov cut off the vast majority of IPI funding?! Why have GOP Legislators not demanded it?! It’s crazy.
- Henry Francis - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 9:42 am:
Danny boy is providing the perfect sham foil for the Guv.
The Guv is pretending he wants a budget and is compromisin’, so he can try to sell that to the people who understand that we need to get a budget.
But when we wind up with no budget, he can sell that to his base, that he was the only one strong enough to stop the all powerful MJM from raising our taxes.
- Ratso Rizzo - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 9:42 am:
Lol. Is Skillicorn new or something?
- Dozer - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 9:42 am:
Does this mean he’s giving back the money?
- FTR - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 9:43 am:
Don’t know much about Skillicorn, but I doubt he’ll be confused as the second coming of LBJ when it comes to building a roll call.
- DuPage Bard - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 9:43 am:
Is this the actual start of a revolt against Durkin for trying to negotiate? Sounds a lot like February when Proft and IPI started running a revolt campaign against the Senate, got Rauner scared,and undercut Radogno negotiating with Cullerton?
- Rich Miller - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 9:44 am:
===So why hasn’t the Gov cut off the vast majority of IPI funding?!===
Do you understand the IPI’s base? They hate tax hikes. Rauner can’t cut off all their money and he hasn’t given them any since he became governor. Do you think Dick Uihlein can be told to back off and swallow a tax hike?
C’mon. Take off your tinfoil hat.
- ILPundit - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 9:44 am:
And this, in a nutshell, is why so much of this mess falls on Rauner. As Governor-elect, he railed against the lame duck session extending the tax increase, effectively making it toxic. Then, even though he was quietly signalling his willingness to sign his tax hike in negotiations in exchange for “reforms” in Spring 2015, he was funding and stoking the fires from Proft, et al.
No one has done more to make the revenue part of this issue toxic than the Governor himself. The Democrats were never going to bail him out unless he provided significant political cover and votes. But everything Rauner has done has made that politically impossible.
There is no way Madigan passes a tax increase without a structured, bipartisan roll call. And because Rauner has made the issue so toxic with millions in ads, and millions more in funding to folks like Proft, I seriously doubt the Governor could deliver the necessary votes, even if he wanted to.
- Hamlet's Ghost - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 9:44 am:
== I’m gonna argue that he needs to put every single Democrat vote on this budget before any Republican should get on it. ==
Let’s save the per diem. Send everyone home.
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 9:45 am:
Proft has made clear many times that ideology Trumps governing, and realizing what has to be done to get a budget versus the ideological rip current that won’t allow the needed governing is Proft’s bread and butter.
I don’t fault Proft. I don’t. It’s who he is. It’s how he makes is living.
Saying all that, math is math is math. It’s always Slytherin thoughts that rip parties apart, not the move or vote that does it.
The smaller one wants to make a party, the purer one wants to make a party, the religion one wants to make a party… that’s what shrinks a party, not votes necessary for good governance.
Revenue is required. Good politics is good government… but good government is also good politics, meaning a budget, with cuts and revenues, balanced, and thoughtful, that’s good politics too. Only the “purist” fail to see that reality.
- Pelonski - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 9:48 am:
The sad thing is that Proft probably actually believes that his so called 95% get little for their taxes paid to government. The reality is that without taxes and government services we would live in the chaos that exists in places like Somalia where they effectively have neither. There are solid arguments to be made about the level of taxation that is appropriate, but this poisonous idea that all taxes are bad which has entered the Republican Party is not healthy for either the state or the country.
- anonymous - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 9:48 am:
IPI and Proft go where the money is. Just wave cash in front of their noses and they bow down low. Watch them switch before the election.
- Anon221 - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 9:49 am:
Maybe Rauner was listening to Brenda Lee back in that dark corner the night of the “Unity” speech…
All alone am I ever since your goodbye
All alone with just a beat of my heart
People all around but I don’t hear a sound
Just the lonely beating of my heart
- Jocko - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 9:51 am:
==[H]e needs to put every single Democrat vote on this budget before any Republican should get on it.==
If I’ve learned anything over the past month, it’s that “compromise” means getting 100% of what you want.
- winners and losers - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 9:52 am:
POINT: Many (most) DEM Representatives would be crazy to vote for a tax increase in this atmosphere.
COUNTERPOINT: Illinois faces a true crisis without tax increases and a State budget.
- Free Set of Steak Knives - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 9:53 am:
Allen:
This is your leader’s budget. Your leader’s bill. You leader’s tax hike.
Madigan’s tax hike was the Millionaire’s Tax.
You want $4 billion in spending cuts, or $3 billion in spending cuts?
Because if you can live with $3 billion in spending cuts, there are probably 41 Democratic votes.
- Roman - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 9:55 am:
- DuPage Bard - good question.
- Ducky LaMoore - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 9:55 am:
===Watch them switch before the election.===
Watch them switch before August!
- Rich Miller - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 10:01 am:
===IPI and Proft go where the money is. Just wave cash in front of their noses and they bow down low. Watch them switch before the election. ===
Again, Uihlein is Proft’s principal sugar daddy. And Uihlein is a “purist” when it comes to stuff like this. Dan Proft ain’t gonna flip-flop on a tax hike.
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 10:03 am:
===I’m gonna argue that he needs to put every single Democrat vote on this budget before any Republican should get on it.===
(Sigh)
Mr. Skillicorn, sir…
You would like to see ALL the Dems “Green” for Rauner’s Budget Bills too?
See, this premise that the HGOP will give these precious “4″ votes for the revenue vehicle for the Rauner budget bills is embarrassingly hyper-partisan and a flat out refusal of understanding how to cobble 71 in the House.
Dems! Give us 20 votes for the budget “stuff” Rauner wants… that sound good… but 67 for SB9… cause that’s how governing works!
Of course, for the hyper-partisans, this IS reasonable, lol
- Demoralized - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 10:05 am:
==and receiving very little in return==
Funding higher education, social services and making sure vendors get paid what they are owed is “very little in return?”
It’s too bad they can’t get past their ideology to recognize the reality of the situation. You cannot fix this problem without new revenues. Period.
- Rabid - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 10:06 am:
The self proclaimed leader of the GOP, lost a constitutional officer, us senator, destroying all competition. I don’t know who will ever be able to come out of his shadow
- Joe M - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 10:09 am:
As much as I dislike IPI, in not wanting any tax hikes, they at least came up with more or less a budget plan that didn’t rely on new taxes - as unrealistic as it was. That is more than those in the GA demanding no new revenue, have done. If they are going to argue for no new revenue, then they need to put their names to a balanced budget proposal that has no new revenue. And they also need to deal with paying down the backlog of bills, and not rely on phony pension savings either.
- Hamlet's Ghost - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 10:10 am:
This is an amateur hour attempt at playing the expectations game:
== If Madigan calls [Rauner’s] bluff, he’s in a real trick bag. ==
== He’s [Rauner] playing the inside game with the political ruling class and the elites which prop them up… ==
IMHO, Madigan needs to stand firm — there is nothing to discuss until Jim Durkin introduces a revenue bill with 30 and perhaps 36 IL GOP co-sponsors. Then discussions can begin.
No Democratic owned tax increase. Period.
= = =
But I also realize Madigan is smarter than me so I’ll wait and see what happens.
- Sue - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 10:20 am:
Don’t you wish we could fire everyone and start over. The Statt is circling a drain and these fools posture. Raising taxes to 5 and taking a two year property freeze is a win for Rauner. If he is Governor in 19 he can extend the freeze
- Annonin' - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 10:22 am:
Skilly — we like that — is silly. Apparently he does not understand who spends the money. In this case GovJunk. It seems very unlikely a lot of Ds are ready do that.
But every can have dream
- RNUG - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 10:22 am:
== Funding higher education, social services and making sure vendors get paid what they are owed is “very little in return?” ==
None of that is a give to the Democrats. All of it is just providing normal government services the public expects.
- wordslinger - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 10:23 am:
“Rauners bluff” is right.
There are a million ways for him to blow this up and still spin the high ground of “unity” and “compromise,” and “Because Madigan,” which is the propaganda objective.
For crying out loud, Rauner is still running anti-tax TV spots. Where is his spot for his alleged “compromise?” His actions are in opposition to his very few words on the subject.
As to Rauner’s “focus,” I think that is clear from his actions in office and their predictable consequences.
The Bad Wagner sturm und drang from the likes of Proft and IPI is just that.
- Simon Sez - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 10:25 am:
I don’t believe anything IPI or Proft says. They lost cred with the GOP base a long time ago - other than the people they are paying courtesy of Governor Junk.
- Original Rambler - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 10:25 am:
Jocko scores with the Civics lesson for today!
- Michael Westen - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 10:26 am:
Next thing you know, Profit will come out against the mob being in Cicero!
- Joe M - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 10:26 am:
==And this, in a nutshell, is why so much of this mess falls on Rauner. As Governor-elect, he railed against the lame duck session extending the tax increase ….==
Lets not forget that Rauner also said he would even lower the tax rate from 3.75% to 3% - and everything would be even greater.
- Winnin' - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 10:27 am:
There ought to be a special rubber room for people like Proft and Skillcorn who would like to see the state go down the tubes and perpetuate people’s suffering.
- MissingG - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 10:31 am:
OW,
You’re right. While individual pols will necessarily fall into a certain house (See https://www.buzzfeed.com/presidentialsortinghat/the-undisputed-hogwarts-house-sorting-of-american-2nt7u?utm_term=.agxyz9oAM#.uegO3va5j for data), a party as a whole should try to be as Hufflepuff as possible. Compromise can hurt you when you run as an extreme hard right/left politician, because your constituency will think you’ve lied to them, but compromise is necessary in some degree for things to ever work.
It’s when you’ve decided that you want to crash the system, no matter who is hurt by your actions, that we get into these messes.
- MissingG - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 10:34 am:
Also, Skillcorn is the Potions professor that replaces Snape, right?
- Conservative Veteran - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 10:56 am:
Since Dan Proft thinks that Gov. Rauner is done, I hope that Proft will endorse Willliam Kelly (a conservative Republican) for governor. If Kelly becomes governor, he won’t increase any tax rates. He’s pro-life, and he says that all police officers should help ICE arrest illegal aliens.
- @MisterJayEm - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 11:05 am:
“Since Dan Proft thinks that Gov. Rauner is done, I hope that Proft will endorse Willliam Kelly (a conservative Republican) for governor.”
LOL! I needed that!
– MrJM
- DeseDemDose - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 11:14 am:
Has Dan Proft said anything relevant or new over the years? Has he ever said anything positive that would help the good people of Illinois? Thank God, he isn’t on the radio anymore.
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 11:15 am:
- MissingG -
We could use more Hufflepuffs…
Is that really snark or just straight up honesty?
Yes.
:)
- Rich Miller - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 11:15 am:
===he isn’t on the radio anymore===
WIND.
- BigMac - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 11:17 am:
Silly crack Corn and I don’t care the budget gone away. That is their theme . Play all sides. If you look at Kansas it’s in a complete mess following what the governor and his children propose to do here.
- Stuck on groundhog day - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 11:45 am:
Here is a thought, Alan: why don’t you just vote your conscience. Vote for what is right. Vote for what IL needs.
Less politics and more leadership, please.
- GOPgal - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 11:46 am:
I love being lectured on fiscal discipline from a guy like Proft. His experience with Cicero and the mayor there certainly makes him an expert.
- Jose - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 12:10 pm:
= ince Dan Proft thinks that Gov. Rauner is done, I hope that Proft will endorse Willliam Kelly (a conservative Republican) for governor. If Kelly becomes governor, he won’t increase any tax rates. He’s pro-life, and he says that all police officers should help ICE arrest illegal aliens
I doubt Kelly wants anything from someone like Proft.
- ArchPundit - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 12:12 pm:
===Because if he signs what Republicans have proposed as their compromise budget with those massive tax increases, he’s done and so are Republicans for another generation
Proft has never come to the very basic understanding that Illinois is a blue state. The Republicans in Illinois can be a reasonable opposition that fights for more efficient government and hold Democrats accountable for ethics and excesses, or they can be ideologically pure and pretend they live in Mississippi. Proft will soon be starting southern accent classes paid for by the folks who light money on fire for him.
- Oh Boy - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 12:20 pm:
Proft’s comments should be VERY troubling for Republicans because all of Proft’s predictions come true. /s
- True Dat - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 1:32 pm:
= Proft’s comments should be very troubling for Republicans because all of Proft’s predictions come true. /s
LOL. Yes, all that Rauner moola Proft spent trying to defeat McCann. He must have used his big fat crystal ball for that one.
- wordslinger - Friday, Jun 23, 17 @ 7:39 pm:
In the 2010 GOP gubernatorial primary, Proft finished six out of seven candidates — even behind Adam Ant — with 7% of tne vote.
In the GOP primary, 7%,, this powerhouse on 5,000 watt Class B WIND, the voice of the Kenosha Corporate Welfare Pay to Play Bubble Wrap King.
No. 7 was Bob Schillerstrom, who had formally dropped out before fhe election after he made the mistake in debate of saying that governing legitimacy came from the Constituition instead of “The Lord” as all the other candidates did (sorry you “We The People” First Amendment types, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, unaffiliated, this club’s not for you..).
So given his track record, Proft knows from lost Republicans. They get lost on the way to the polling place for him.