85 Comments - Nikolas Name - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 12:47 pm: The bloating has likely come from the interest now owed on the mounting backlog of bills. What else can you do? We are about at a point of no choice - P. - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 12:48 pm: $2.75 and whatever Grant Swehrli says will get you on the bus. - Richman - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 12:50 pm: Stop quoting Illinois policy institute…they are apart of this problem…. - Pacman - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 12:50 pm: Let’s see your balanced budget proposal Rep. Ives. - A guy - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 12:51 pm: No surprise on those reactions. Wehrli must not understand how bond houses and markets function. They react to nuances as a rule, not an exception. My guess is that they will get a short reprieve as a result of that letter no matter who it’s from. They care more about the vote of the body than the signature of any one member, no matter how powerful. Want to send the market crashing? Announce McSweeney is the new Speaker. - The Real Just Me - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 12:53 pm: Care not we what say you, Rep. Wehrli. - SinkingShip - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 12:53 pm: Hmm… IPI? Rep. Ives? No thanks. - Ginhouse Tommy - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 12:54 pm: IPI can go suck on an egg. This was critical to get this done. Adjustments can come later. There’s hope now. - Richman - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 12:55 pm: Maybe rauner will resign. Best outcome. - anon2 - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 12:56 pm: Rep. McSweeney is positioning himself as the leader of the “Illinois-has-a-spending-problem-not-a-revenue-problem” conservatives in the House. - GOP Extremist - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 12:56 pm: ^^^^^^^ My Peeps have spoken!! - Anonymous - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 12:56 pm: Must be nice to be able to take insane positions and yet not have anything to be accountable for… - Arock - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 12:56 pm: “Want to send the market crashing? Announce McSweeney is the new Speaker.” - That was said about Trump if elected, 26 downgrades with Madigan in charge and will not recover much with a tax increase with no major reforms. - James Knell - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 12:57 pm: “Politics is the art of the possible.” Otto von Bismarck, 11 August 1867 - Interim Retiree - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 12:57 pm: =this budget is the death knell for Illinois= So having NO budget is better? Perhaps some of IPI members SHOULD try living in Iowa for a few years & pay the graduated income tax rate of 8.98% on income of $69,236. And they are having fiscal issues as well. - The Dude Abides - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 12:57 pm: These folks re an example of why Illinois got to this point in the first place. Parroting what the uninformed voter wants to hear instead of doing what must be done. This huge state income tax rate they speak of is still lower than all of our bordering states except Indiana, which has a local income tax. - Henry Francis - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 12:58 pm: Rep Ives, doesn’t the current proposed budget have less spending than the one the Guv was supportin? - 360 Degree TurnAround - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 12:59 pm: Grant Wehrli and his two and a half years experience here in The General Assembly should stop tweeting and learn about the process. he hasn’t even seen a full budget passed. - Oswego Willy - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 12:59 pm: Mr. Wehrli’s trolling is legendary. Thing is about trolls… They are read and dismissed out of hand. Mr. Wehri felt better tweeting it, lol I respect Rep. McSeeeney. He is who he is, but will work collaboratively with anyone… Now, Ms. Ives… she also is who she is too, lol - Demoralized - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 1:00 pm: Arock: Rauner blamed the credit downgrades under Quinn on Quinn. The current ones, at least according to Rauner’s thinking, would then be on Rauner. Once again we’ve heard from the “it’s not Rauner’s fault” caucus. - wordslinger - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 1:01 pm: Per McSweeney’s suggestion, Quinn should send out a posed photo of himself at his desk, earnestly “preparing” to receive that apology. Speaking of, anyone checked on the governor? Is he still at his desk, “preparing” to receive a budget? Somebody bring the dude a glass of water or something. - Demoralized - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 1:02 pm: Anyone that thinks you don’t have to increase revenues to balance the budget right now isn’t a serious person. - GOP Extremist - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 1:02 pm: Arock How many downgrades with Rauner in charge? Complete failure. - Oswego Willy - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 1:04 pm: Oh - Arock -, lol Candidate Rauner made crystal clear… Governors own downgrades. Want me to show you where? - James Knell - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 1:05 pm: wordslinger - that is really funny. Thanks for the chuckle. - Iron - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 1:05 pm: Illinois policy institute and the Koch bros want desperately for Illinois to collapse. - anon2 - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 1:06 pm: Though McSweeney is wrong in believing the State doesn’t need more revenue, he’s right in saying that Republicans voting for a bigger tax increase than Quinn’s owe the former governor an apology. I doubt the Quinnster will hold his breath. - Fixer - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 1:06 pm: Zero respect for Wherli. The guy can’t handle any pressure when it comes to people questioning his stances. Nothing more than a Twitter keyboard warrior. - Dandy Edward - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 1:20 pm: This is the budget Illinios should pass. The Illionois Policy Commission gets it right. Here it is. https://www.illinoispolicy.org/reports/budget-solutions-2018-balancing-the-state-budget-without-tax-hikes/ - SAP - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 1:22 pm: The Tribune rails against Dem. legislators for being Madigan’s puppets, unless it’s a tax increase vote. Got it. - Jocko - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 1:22 pm: Where do David and Jeanne plan on finding 15 billion…under the couch cushions? - Captain Ed Smith - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 1:22 pm: How can the Tribune retain any credibility? This is a budget for the Governor of the State of Illinois. Asking for 30 votes in the House from his party is quite reasonable. - Three-Finger Brown - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 1:22 pm: Rep. Ives represents everything that is wrong with US politics in 2017. Weaponizing fear and anger. That kind of hyperbolic rhetoric (”death knell”, “disaster”) will have some people legitimately believing that IL is headed for a Mad Max scenario if the budget is passed. At least the other dissenters used more rational tones. - Texas Red - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 1:24 pm: Give these folks a break - haven’t you ever heard of political Cover? Wehrli and Ives are performing a necessary evil to save face. Just let the process move through all the steps of political theater all ready !! - JS Mill - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 1:25 pm: To those commenting on Wherli I say huzzah! He has done little of merit and is purely a twitter troll, not an adult. The sad part is, I thinks he believes that is what the role really is. Grant, put on your big boy pants and do something. It isn’t easy sticking your neck out and proposing something of substance only to have the twitter trolls jump on you. You won’t be a big boy until you drop the trolling and do something of substance. - VanillaMan - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 1:25 pm: Look on the bright side guys! Governor Rauner has, without a doubt, clearly demonstrated that needed reforms in policies, funding and taxes cannot be enacted by blackmail, hostage taking, million dollar hateful TV ads, walking away from negotiating, lies, siege budget starvation, and more lies. Next time get a leader who respects government enough to know how to cut deals, use the governor’s office, sell policies, build bridges, compromise and be a leader for citizens living in parts of our state with a population over 100,000. Inch by inch, government moves in your direction a cinch, but believing in Rauner’s craps, makes your state collapse! - Grandson of Man - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 1:26 pm: Those who threaten professionally that others will leave Illinois if we pass a full budget with adequate revenue should leave by example. We’ll do fine without them. Chicago was built out of the mud and muck. We just have to pass a full budget that is responsible. But they won’t leave Illinois and the Chicago metro area, with those high incomes and great amenities. If they wanted to leave they would have done so already. - walker - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 1:29 pm: IPI at least proposed a tax-increase-free budget outline that people could favor or oppose. The other two will publicly stand for exactly nothing except political slogans. - DeseDemDose - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 1:35 pm: G of M, you nailed it. - 47th Ward - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 1:36 pm: Meh. McSweeny, Wherli, Ives, this is standard pandering to purity politics. Par for the course, and ultimately harmless and unsurprising. - Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 1:40 pm: Core principles, not core principals. Should we trust your fiscal judgment when you can’t spell? - 47th Ward - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 1:44 pm: ===You know the scene in the movie “Goodfellas”=== A good editor would have told her to stop typing right then and there. Oof. If her tortured analogy continued, then does that make the babysitter’s hat the reason that Henry got arrested? Is the hat a metaphor for W/C reform? Plus, Henry’s brother was keeping an eye on the sauce and Karen dumped the cocaine into the toilet before the cops could seize it. Sure, he still got busted, but it wasn’t the cops in the helicopters or on the street that Henry feared. It was wiseguys, and then he wouldn’t have heard a thing. It was too late for Henry once he decided to work with his Pittsburgh contacts after he got out of prison. That’s when he started selling junk behind Paulie’s back, that’s when he made his big mistake. It was long before the meatballs went into the sauce. Did she even see the movie? - T Sowell - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 1:45 pm: =Grandson= The damage has been done and even with this potential budget,the ill-will so many of my fellow Illinoisans have for this state is palpable. Lots of them are planning to move the minute they retire (like me). Death by a thousand paper cuts. - Capitol View - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 1:45 pm: I would welcome IPI leaving the state, if it cannot responsibly advocate for state needs. I would urge everyone to give any IPI representative they encounter a copy of the state constitution and have them read the Preamble, which sets out what the purpose of state government is. And I invite all legislators to speak out on the chamber floor that taxes are not intrinsically, evil, but the means of distributing the cost of essential state services through the general population. IPI needs a high school civics refresher. - Atsuishin - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 1:48 pm: ==But they won’t leave Illinois and the Chicago metro area, with those high incomes and great amenities. If they wanted to leave they would have done so already== 200,000 have already left Chicago as of the 2010 census. And 2020 census will probably see a larger number. Chicago is hermerrging people and on track to be smaller than Houston,TX. - annony - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 1:53 pm: I’m old enough to remember when Kristen McQueary was an actual journalist. - Norseman - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 1:53 pm: Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner, no, he probably does mean principals. Remember that principal means: the person with the highest authority or most important position in an organization, institution, or group. So McSweeney is simply sticking with the folks that tell him what to do. - wordslinger - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 2:12 pm: The trönclodytes are hysterical in every sense of the word. It’s like a Monty Python bit. - Ducky LaMoore - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 2:14 pm: ===I’m old enough to remember when Kristen McQueary was an actual journalist.=== You must be prenatal. - Oswego Willy - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 2:22 pm: ===I’m old enough to remember when Kristen McQueary was an actual journalist.=== McQueary was very talented and understood Springfield and the politics and was hard hitting and fair. As a columnist and an Editorial Board member and contributing writer, her lack of true writing talent couldn’t be hidden with the facts and quotes that helped her for years and years. That… and ignoring everything someone who has been in Springfield actually knows… purposely… McQuearly purposely lacks to be a shill. It’s her gig and her schtick. It’s who she is. McQueary was talented with reporting, quotes, facts… … as a thoughtful writer/columnist and Editorial Board member, she decided to forget the talent. - A guy - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 2:22 pm: ==Chicago is hermerrging == Calling out spelling is mostly out of bounds on a blog with quick responses and auto-correct and all, but this one just can’t be excused. You must not have even gotten close enough for spell check on this one. Hemorrhaging is the word. And for the record, Chicago and the area have lost some population, but hemorrhaging would be far too strong a term. - Original Rambler - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 2:28 pm: After reading a tronc editorial like this one, I always wonder if they tie up Page and Chapman before a final approval vote. This is so out of line with their columns. - common_sense - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 2:33 pm: having no budget is better than continuing down the same path … doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. That sums up the nonsense these folks expect us to digest. It is an insult to every citizen of this state when anyone from this legislature speaks. ABI -> anywhere but Illinois! - Rich Miller - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 2:36 pm: ===having no budget is better than continuing down the same path=== That is the stupidest comment ever posted on this blog. - Anonymous - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 2:37 pm: @McSweeney Quinn’s tax went from 3.0 to 5.0 percent. This tax is going from 3.75 to 4.95 percent. It’s smaller - not a larger increase. - Echo The Bunnyman - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 2:43 pm: Ok.. Is this just the Governor by proxy? I think we are in trouble… - Anonymous - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 2:43 pm: I’d love to hear what ELSE we need to eliminate! Consolidate all K-12 schools in the state so we only have half the number of districts? BUs everyone all over the place? One and only one administrator per building? Wow, the money we could save! Better yet, no buses. Too expensive. If you want your kids to get one of those fancy elementary edykations, get them there yourself. Taxpayers don’t need to be a transportin your kids. Cut salaries of state employees by 50%. No retirement plan, no insurance offered. KA-CHING! Close down all universities except maybe 2 or 3? The cash in our pockets! Half these kids don’t need those high tootin’ edykations anyway. ELiminate all help to preK at risk children–autism, speech, disabilities? Eliminate all senior help too? Whatever happens to them, happens to them………. The cash is rolling in! Taxpayers are a-smilin No road repair. Most SUVs are built for the rugged roads! A few potholes won’t hurt anyone. Pockets overflowing! Horrible snark. So embarrassing to be touted on national news as a deadbeat state. Doesn’t pay it’s bills, cuts programs to those in need. Who cares about people anyway it seems is ILlinois motto That’s now. How’d we get here? With those outrageous taxes we pay? That searing 3%? When people like Ives say we haven’t made cuts, ask some of the casualties Rich lists almost daily. Ask them if they’re better off on our state’s way to trimming the fat. WHat would Ms. Ives propose and be willing to put her name to? Whatever those propositions are, they should be called the IVES bill. We should be ashamed that a great state has sunk to junk status in ways more than just bond ratings. The interest on the debt is suffocating. I don’t think depriving granny of her meals on wheels deliveries will magically get us out of that hole. A leadership to be proud of. Say what you will about Madigan over the years. Not a perfect record. But what is different about our state in the last 2 years than all the years of Madigan rule? Something sure is? What could it be? - Three-Finger Brown - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 2:52 pm: “Is this just the Governor by proxy?” Durkin is the closest thing to governor by proxy, and he was relatively sanguine. The dissenters seem to be neophyte Tea Party types that will vote against any new taxes. - Trapped in the 'burbs - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 3:04 pm: Come on, is there anybody left in Illinois that thinks the Tribune is a credible news source? - Norseman - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 3:15 pm: === Come on, is there anybody left in Illinois that thinks the Tribune is a credible news source? === I do. They have a lot of quality reporters. It’s the editorial board that is the embarrassment and totally lacks credibility. - Oswego Willy - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 3:21 pm: ===I do. They have a lot of quality reporters. It’s the editorial board that is the embarrassment and totally lacks credibility.=== This. There is a huge difference between the two, and the reporters and especially the statehouse crew, they are stellar. - SAP - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 3:33 pm: ==Quinn’s tax went from 3.0 to 5.0 percent. This tax is going from 3.75 to 4.95 percent. It’s smaller - not a larger increase. That’s only half true. Quinn’s tax went from 3% to 5% temporarily. Only 0.75% of the Quinn tax increase was permanent. - lake county democrat - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 3:37 pm: The mocking of Statehousechick reminds me of how stunned liberals were in the 1970s when California elected Jerry Brown governor and less than 2 years later passed a budget measure Barry Goldwater would be proud of. Blue taxpayers are indeed starting to get restless. Just because your nemesis says the sun is going to rise in the east, it doesn’t mean the sun is going to rise in the west. - Grandson of Man - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 3:38 pm: We’re in the worst of all situations. People are leaving and the state is collapsing fiscally. How about we begin to repair the state’s finances with a full budget? That will put is in a much-better position to address the state’s other problems. “TX” No thank you for me. Texas just passed a law allowing child welfare providers to be able to discriminate based on their personal religious beliefs. That means adoptions can be denied to LGBT people, and even people of non-Christian faiths. Colorado, on the other hand, has a 4.63% flat state income tax. Denver is booming, with growth and construction cranes everywhere. Union membership rose in Colorado and is near an all-time high. http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2017/02/22/union-membership-rises-in-colorado-nownear-27-year.html So, as the old saying goes, there is more than one way to skin a cat. I hate the saying because I love pets, but it applies. We don’t have to follow the IPI/Rauner/Koch brothers/Trib Editorial Board policies in any large way to solve our problems. - Anonymous - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 3:41 pm: Does Wehrli always speak like Yoda? Reversing word order not makes one sound smart! - Union Man - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 3:42 pm: The Illinois Policy Institute can’t get PRESS passes and should NOT be considered anything other than a Libertarian propaganda factory. Nearly every state has one…Wisc Research Policy Institute, Kansas Policy Institute, etc. It’s not prudent to refer to the IPI as an authority on anything except their funded opinions. - Mokenavince - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 3:44 pm: We should start rebuilding our state. Texans by the way relocate to Colorado to get on their Medicaid. You just move in with a relative. The drama in Illinois never ends. - it'smyopinion - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 3:45 pm: McSweeney looked to be in physical pain when the House was standing up and applauding during that vote. - Signal and Noise - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 3:45 pm: The Trib continues its long running tradition of Madigan double-speak: Mike Madigan Has Too Much Power! We Demand He Now Use That Power Against His Own Interests! - Anonymous - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 3:46 pm: What we really need from McQueary is another pulitzer-worthy “what we really need now is another Hurricane Katrina column.” - anon2 - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 3:47 pm: === It’s smaller - not a larger increase. === If the revenue package includes permanent new service taxes, then it’s bigger than Quinn’s. - Oswego Willy - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 3:49 pm: Saying I missed the mark on @StatehouseChick when her biggest claim to fame is that people… people… misread that she wrote a hurricane is needed… and destroying lives is a logical solution, no matter if the hurricane comes from the east or not. - anon2 - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 3:50 pm: === Tribune Editorial: In this overtime session, they need four GOP votes — not 30 — to pass a tax hike. === The Trib’s definition of responsibility is 100% of Democrats voting for a tax hike, but fewer than ten percent of Republicans. - Fight Fair - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 3:57 pm: No matter what we think about the issues, the ad hominem attacks against Kristen McQueary and others — ever notice how many are women? — on this blog should be policed, and the attackers warned once, then banned. We get pious platitudes about civil discourse here, then these personal assaults. Rich, you can’t have this both ways. - Oswego Willy - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 3:59 pm: She wrote what she wrote. I stand by my critique too. - Fight Fair - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 4:04 pm: You didn’t critique what she wrote. You attacked her. Over and out. - Arock - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 4:28 pm: “Candidate Rauner made crystal clear… Governors own downgrades. Want me to show you where?” - It is campaign rhetoric and everyone does it. As far as my response it is fact, dispute the fact and get off this “Own it” response that is no argument to true facts. The problem was mainly caused by the failure to fund pensions that is the albatross around our necks and Madigan had a lot to do with it. Dispute that fact, I don’t care who owns it. Twenty 23 years since the failed Edgar Pension ramp that Madigan signed onto too and still no fix. Reforms to Illinois could have started two and a half years ago and we could possibly could have been headed in the right direction by now. But know we are scrambling to try and get some reforms passed so we can get a budget. - Oswego Willy - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 6:18 pm: ===“Candidate Rauner made crystal clear… Governors own downgrades. Want me to show you where?” - It is campaign rhetoric and everyone does it. As far as my response it is fact, dispute the fact and get off this “Own it” response that is no argument to true facts.=== lol, … and yet, the “Edgar Ramp” is the language best used to describe the ramp… to the governing, not the campaign. Good try. You can’t escape that governors own. It’s part and parcel of the job. ===The problem was mainly caused by the failure to fund pensions that is the albatross around our necks and Madigan had a lot to do with it. Dispute that fact, I don’t care who owns it.=== Yeah, um, governors, they skipped pension payments. What’s exciting, for me… You cite… ===Edgar Pension ramp=== So, thanks for refuting your own argument for me, lol The rest is “Because… Madigan!” and hyperventilating so hard you even cite “Governors own”. - wordslinger - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 7:32 pm: LCD, your post on Katrina and 1970s Cali politics reminds me of the time I went to a Bears/Packers game at noon on Sunday and then woke up to a cup of coffee and McDonalds cheeseburger in the Forest Park lockup at 5 a.m. Monday. How did we end up in those places? - RNUG - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 8:23 pm: == Yeah, um, governors, they skipped pension payments. == Not that it makes any difference at this point, but the Governor who should get the most blame for the pension funding mess is Dan Walker. Remember him? He shorted the recommended pension funding for FY75 … which lead to IFT filing suit … which led to the IL SC decision that the pensions had to he paid when due BUT the State could fund the pensions in ANY manner they choose. - Oswego Willy - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 8:31 pm: - RNUG - It’s all good, and it’s important to the story too. Thanks. - Richman - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 8:45 pm: I repeat. Illinois policy is part of problem. - The Equalizer - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 9:28 pm: Again, they are not a “news service”, they are a paid propaganda service. No sign of journalism there. - Richman - Friday, Jun 30, 17 @ 10:02 pm: Equalizer, you are righr. So why does Capitol fax quote them. - thechampaignlife - Saturday, Jul 1, 17 @ 8:47 am: 50 years ago it was the Republicans ramming through a tax hike: http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2017-07-01/area-history-july-1-2017.html Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.