52 Comments - Fax Machine - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 9:34 am: Alexander Haig is spinning in his grave - someone looking like an idiot for saying they’re not in charge?! - Oswego Willy - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 9:38 am: Semi-Serious… If “Pat Quinn failed”, and now Bruce Rauner wants voters to believe that he (Rauner) isn’t in charge… … how could Quinn succeed? Quinn was in charge and Rauner is not? Rauner is weaker than Quinn? Rauner is “less” than Quinn? Rauner is feeble… Quinn was strong… but failed? Why vote for Rauner? Rauner is a feeble, weak, ineffective governor… by Rauner’s own admission. - Lucky Pierre Bot - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 9:45 am: Illinois is not a monarchy or a dictatorship We have three co equal branches of government and two are controlled by Democrats. Mike Madigan is the most powerful state legislator in the country. All the ridiculous spin in the world will not change that, No Governor is in charge, even when there is one party rule in Springfield for 12 years. Ask Blagoevich or Quinn, they will confirm. If you don’t see the hypocrisy of Senator Cullerton demanding Governor Rauner submit a truly balanced budget without any help from the legislature on cuts, I can’t help you. Senator Cullerton, who has been an enabler of smoke and mirrors unbalanced budgets for decades, only seems concerned about balanced budgets when a Republican is Governor. - Reality Check - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 9:47 am: This kind of blunder is especially damaging for a Republican. GOP base voters tend to want strong authority figures. One of the worst sins in their eyes is to look weak. See research on “strict parent” vs “nurturing parent” worldviews in politics and how they correlate to party ID. - illini - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 9:52 am: This statement will definitely haunt the remainder of his ( first and only ) term. Oof - indeed - Lt Guv - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 9:57 am: LP, you embarrass yourself. - ste_with_a_v_en - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 9:58 am: Rauner should just take the News-Gazette editorial and go with that instead. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 9:58 am: ===No Governor is in charge=== Then how did Pat Quinn fail? Quinn was the in charge. ===If you don’t see the hypocrisy of Senator Cullerton demanding Governor Rauner submit a truly balanced budget without any help from the legislature on cuts, I can’t help you. Senator Cullerton, who has been an enabler of smoke and mirrors unbalanced budgets for decades, only seems concerned about balanced budgets when a Republican is Governor.=== With respectful deference to Charlie Wheeler… “Asked and Answerd”… repeatedly. === - charlie wheeler - Wednesday, Nov 29, 17 @ 8:19 pm Points of Information re MJM budget history (repeated from 6/23/17): Gov. Rauner– “He (Madigan) had control of the spending through the General Assembly majority for 35 of the years .” Senate President, 1993-2003: James “Pate” Philip, R-Wood Dale. House Speaker, 1995-1997: Lee A. Daniels, R-Elmhurst. Gov. Rauner– “Illinois has never had a true balanced budget during those 35 years.” Illinois ended its fiscal year with a budgetary surplus (GF available balance > lapse period spending) in 7 of the previous 35 years: 1985, 1989, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001. Illinois had balanced budgets (current year GF spending less than current year GF revenues) in 20 of those years, as measured by declining budgetary deficits. If unfunded pension liabilities are included, Illinois likely has never had a balanced budget since the state assumed responsibility for certain public employees’ retirement benefits a century ago. Nor is the state likely to have a balanced budget under this concept for the foreseeable future, as the unfunded liabilities totaled $126.5 billion as of 6/30/16, roughly four times the estimated revenues for FY 2018. Sources: Illinois Blue Books, Illinois Comptroller Reports, Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability. Charlie Wheeler=== - Arsenal - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 10:00 am: ==If you don’t see the hypocrisy of Senator Cullerton demanding Governor Rauner submit a truly balanced budget without any help from the legislature on cuts, I can’t help you.== If you think asking the Governor to fulfill his Constitutional duty-to say nothing of the thing he promised the voters he’d do if they elected him- is hypocrisy, then you’re right, you can’t help anyone, up to and including yourself. Indeed, if you think asking the Governor to submit a balanced budget is an unfair attack on poor widdle Brucey, you’re entirely helpless. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 10:01 am: ===Governor Rauner submit a truly balanced budget without any help from the legislature on cuts=== Rauner’s own budget director, agency heads refused to name a single cut for their own budget they were submitting. Someone in charge woulda submitted cuts. Rauner is feeble and weak. Rauner proposed nothing. - Baloneymous - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 10:02 am: L - Baloneymous - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 10:04 am: Lucky== Are u saying Dems control they Illinois state Supreme Court? - Chicago Cynic - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 10:05 am: Governor’s are in charge even when they’re not in full control. And I have news for you LP, they are never fully in control. They always have to balance interests, woo opponents, find middle ground and produce a win. Rauner has utterly failed at all of those tasks which is why he feels that he is “not in charge.” And if you suggest one party rule means there’s no way to win, I would refer you to Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neill, and even the aforementioned Blagojevich. Rod was opposed at every step by Madigan and yet somehow, he actually got a lot of things done in his first term (pre-k for all, allKids, etc.). When Rauner took office, a lot of folks were advising him to find something he could do to get a quick win from Madigan. Instead he chose to declare war on not just public sector but all unions, thus uniting labor in the state in a way not seen in a generation. Rauner sowed the seeds of his own destruction and now all he’s got left to do is whine about how he’s “not in charge.” It’s pathetic. - VanillaMan - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 10:12 am: “I’m not in charge”, coming from a governor is a statement meaning that they are failures to such an extent that they publically admit it. It’s possibly the worst thing a governor could say. It is 180 of what a governor should do. The whole point of electing a cheif executive is to make them personally accountable for the well-being of each citizen. Rauner has publically admitted that he isn’t accountable to Illinoisans. Put away his running list of excuses, valid or not. Anyone in the office of governor was elected to be in charge. Rauner doesn’t want the responsibility or accountability of being governor. He said so when he told us that he isn’t in charge. He gutted his reelection and is a lame duck. - Blue dog dem - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 10:17 am: Lame. Lame. Lame. - VanillaMan - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 10:18 am: And Rauner isn’t being hammered merely for political reasons, he has thrown the Illinois government into chaos with that shocking statement. A government without a governor in charge is without direction, leadership or accountability. As a result Rauner must leave office as soon as possible. He defeated himself. - Arsenal - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 10:21 am: ==The whole point of electing a cheif executive is to make them personally accountable for the well-being of each citizen.== This is a really good point. It shows that Rauner is temperamentally unfit for this job. - @misterjayem - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 10:27 am: “Lucky Pierre Bot” Point of order: Did Lucky Pierre change his name? Is this a spot-on satire of Lucky Pierre? Or is it just the automated output of a web-scraper and 40 lines of code? – MrJM - Grandson of Man - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 10:27 am: What’s behind the impotent whining should be considered, that Rauner is dictatorial and can’t just impose his will onto people. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 10:30 am: They call it the Edgar Ramp because governors own, and governors are indeed in charge of the direction governing goes… as the head state agencies, make appointments to boards, propose budgets that weigh and measure the monetary value of agencies to those governors. Saying you’re not in charge as a governor borders on failing to fulfill the constitutional duties described and prescribed. If Rauner wins Janus… … then everything… the destroying of social services, the forcible attempted closings of state universities… misleading a Catholic Cardinal… … it will all be worth it. Rauner never *really* wanted to be Governor in the most honest or even the purest sense. Rauner wanted Raunerism. Destroy labor. Close state universities. End social services (not named The Ounce) and budgets, agencies, governing, legislative compromise… they were in the way of the destruction necessary FOR Raunerism. In a truly warped way, Rauner is/was never in charge of his own goals… because preventing Rauner’s destruction was blocked… many times… by the brave and true… and that pesky constitution. - Lucky Pierre - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 10:37 am: As CNN and every other media outlet that has covered the state of Illinois finances will tell you, Illinois problems are all due to the fact that irresponsible Illinois politicians have over promised state resources (at least 130 billion too as much as 250 billion) to labor unions. If you think labor and trial lawyers should run Illinois vote straight Democratic. - JS Mill - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 10:43 am: =Ask Blagoevich or Quinn, they will confirm.= Illinois government goes back a little further than Blago and Quinn. Just ask Madigan, he will tell you. So help me understand how Edgar, Ryan, Thompson and others were able to get things done? Two inept governor’s and now ad Rauner doesn’t mean you cannot get things done with MJM or Cullerton or others. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 10:48 am: ===As CNN…=== #FakeNews. Ugh. ===Illinois problems are all due to the fact that irresponsible Illinois politicians have over promised state resources (at least 130 billion too as much as 250 billion) to labor unions.=== Rauner going after Labor, uniting even trade labor against him, is something only a grossly inept Bruce Rauner could go, by including the trades when in reality, there was no need to include them. Rauner wanted all of Raunerism. Now Rauner has little or none of Raunerism; Labor, Social Services, Higher Education… They seem to realize… “anyone but Rauner”… is critical to keep Illinois strong. It was bipartisan members of the GA that turned on Rauner to save Illinois, not on Cullerton, Madigan, Rahm… Rauner is the worst Republican governor in America. Illinois deserves better. - SSL - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 10:50 am: Boy it is going to be painful having to listen to two billionaires beat on each other all the way through the election. The airwaves will be non stop negative ads. My ears are bleeding just thinking of it. Rauner hasn’t earned a second term, and the state can’t wait around for Madigan to finally shrivel up and blow away. It would be nice if another Dem could challenge JB, because I don’t think he has the answers. And he seems like a slimy guy for pulling toilets out of his house to avoid taxes when his is worth more than 3 billion. I get the Rauner is bad part. But exactly what is JB going to do to fix the fiscal disaster that is Illinois. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 10:52 am: ===But exactly what is JB going to do to…=== I’ve seen this movie. “Bruce Rauner failed”… it’s enough if hammer and shook enough. - City Zen - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 10:53 am: There is a Squeezy-type mascot just dying to be made here. Picture a double-A battery, red, little power slash near the bottom showing on low, always looks tired. Add Bruce’s face and generic arms and legs. Kinda like Bill from Schoolhouse Rock. - Rich Miller - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 10:53 am: ===painful having to listen to two billionaires beat on each other all the way through the election. The airwaves will be non stop negative ads=== You think Kennedy would run a completely positive campaign against Rauner? lol - VanillaMan - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 10:54 am: ==If you think labor and trial lawyers should run Illinois vote straight Democratic== As opposed to reelecting a guy who publically admits that he can’t run anything? Your governor has repeatedly proved that broken government isn’t as bad as government when he’s “not in control” as governor. “Worst Republican Governor in America” - Demoralized - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 11:02 am: ==All the ridiculous spin in the world will not change that, No Governor is in charge== Speaking of ridiculous spin. No matter what you say LP a Governor saying he’s not in charge is ridiculous. You can’t spin that away no matter how hard your Raunerite self tries. - Sense of a Goose - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 11:05 am: And then there’s that whole personal responsibility thing. Guess that only applies to poor people. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 11:07 am: ===No Governor is in charge=== Then why does Rauner want a second term? So he can still not be in charge? Makes no sense. Arguably, constitutionally, Illinois’ Governor is one of the most powerful executives in the United States. Rauner says he’s not on charge? Maybe Rauner is so grossly inept he can’t understand how he fails, or what “Pat Quinn failed” was actually about. Yikes that’s a scary thought. - Lester Holt’s Mustache - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 11:13 am: ===Rauner hasn’t earned a second term, and the state can’t wait around for Madigan to finally shrivel up and blow away. It would be nice if another Dem could challenge JB, because I don’t think he has the answers=== SSL, I think the inverse could actually be true. Regardless of whether Pritzker has “answers” (whatever that means), if he’s elected as gov he would be the only type of figure able to take power away from Madigan. With his billions he could afford to set up a parallel apparatus to Madigan’s IL Dem party, which up until now has controlled campaign money and endorsements. Dem candidates could turn to Pritzker for campaign money instead of Madigan, and would be able to afford (campaign-wise) to vote against him for speaker if they need to. This ability alone would do wonders for downstate members who have struggled over how to respond to the question of who they’re voting for, for speaker. Whether or not Pritzker would be any better than Madigan as leader of the Dem party remains to be seen, but if your sole purpose is to lessen Madigan’s grip on Illinois politics I would think JB has a better shot than anyone else. And it has a much better than Rauner’s “total war” strategy. - Langhorne - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 11:17 am: IANIC — then there is absolutely no reason to vote for him. Rauner has never understood the realities of the job. 30/60. He thought bec he bought an election, 177 others would fall in line. Or he would slash them til they caved. Do what i say, or we have a ****in’ problem. Persistent? No, clueless. So we wish madigan away, and rauner is an instant success? Utter nonsense. Still a supermajority. Just w a new leader. - @misterjayem - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 11:30 am: “All the ridiculous spin in the world will not change that, No Governor is in charge, even when there is one party rule in Springfield for 12 years.” No one gets reelected by claiming, “I am not in charge.” All the ridiculous spin in the world will not change that. – MrJM - Sir Reel - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 11:37 am: And if Madigan were gone tomorrow, what would really change? A Democrat would be Speaker. Maybe he or she would be more receptive to Rauner’s TA, but probably not much. The change would be incremental, not drastic. Rauner’s whinning about the all-powerful Madigan is silly. - VanillaMan - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 11:40 am: Even if MJM left, Rauner would still not be in charge. Madigan is not the problem when a weak spoiled man is governor and refuses to be accountable to the citizens of Illinois. Madigan out of office simply means that the House will get a new speaker. No Madigan replacement would suddenly no longer represent the party or the citizens who put them in charge. - XDNR - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 11:50 am: Rauner has never accepted responsibility for any of the problems he’s caused since he took office, even though he said from the start he would take the arrows. His MO has always been deflection and blaming someone else, specifically MJM. Now the BTIA let him off lease one to many times and he spews the ultimate political fatal error stating he’s not in charge. - IllinoisBoi - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 11:55 am: First Rauner made a bonfire of the state — now he’s jumping on the funeral pyre himself. There’s term limits for ya. - @misterjayem - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 11:56 am: “Madigan is not the problem when a weak, spoiled man is governor and refuses to be accountable to the citizens of Illinois.” Not only is this counter to “But… MADIGAN” pithy and simple for any voter to understand, it has the added benefit of being true. – MrJM - wordslinger - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 12:06 pm: I had no idea that Ives’ “chances for winning the Republican primary for governor “increase by the day” or “that she has the Republican base.” For that sort of fact-free babbling, you have to turn to John Kass. Last I saw, an October Cap. Fax poll showed that 83% of GOP voters had never heard of Ives. I don’t think Rauner will make the Eric Cantor mistake of running negative spots against an opponent no one has heard of. She’ll have to raise her profile on her own dime. - Keyrock - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 12:49 pm: Maybe he meant that Dr. Rauner is in charge. - Hickory - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 12:54 pm: I don’t know Mr. Pritzker but if he is elected the Speaker will let him know who is in charge. - RNUG - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 1:16 pm: Governor’s that want to can get things done. Let’s take the Waybac Machine to 1968-1972. Using his political cred, Richard Olgivie managed to get the most drastic overhaul of State government … that included imlemtimg the first ever income tax while totally rewriting the State Constitution and essentially reorganizing most of the Executive Branch of State government. The only things Rauner wanted to do was destroy most of State government. - Whatever - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 1:20 pm: ==All the ridiculous spin in the world will not change that, No Governor is in charge, even when there is one party rule in Springfield for 12 years. == This one did claim to be in charge of prison reform. ==If you don’t see the hypocrisy of Senator Cullerton demanding Governor Rauner submit a truly balanced budget without any help from the legislature on cuts, I can’t help you.== And someone who can’t see the hypocrisy of a governor trying to place all the blame on one house of the GA while not even trying to use his line item veto to cut the budget or having his agency heads propose any cuts is beyond anyone’s help. - wordslinger - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 1:24 pm: –No Governor is in charge, even when there is one party rule in Springfield for 12 years.– Who’s the guy who drafted the bid docs and then awarded $63 billion in Medicaid contracts a couple of weeks ago? Whoever it was — that’s serious power. - Michelle Flaherty - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 1:37 pm: The Cleveland Browns lost again yesterday. They are 0-13. Imagine if the coach had a news conference and said: I’m not in charge. It’s not my fault we keep losing. YOu know, we’d be a lot better if we got rid of the Pittsburg Steelers, and Greenbay Packers, and all of our other opponents. But let’s be clear, I should definitely get my contract renewed.” - resistanceisfutile - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 2:59 pm: I have a distinct recollection of a radio pieces in which Governor James Thompson told reporters to go talk to “King Mike” if they wanted to know what would happen with some potential law or policy in Ilinois. He added that nothing happened unless the Speaker approved it and there was nothing he, the Governor, could do without Madigan’s okay. (Or words to that effect.) Does anyone else remember this? - Rich Miller - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 3:14 pm: ===He added that nothing happened unless the Speaker approved it=== And yet, JRT still introduced and passed a budget every year and got a ton of other stuff done. - Three Branches - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 4:05 pm: ===Lucky== Are u saying Dems control they Illinois state Supreme Court?=== This follows the weird premise that any person or office that doesn’t give Rauner what he wants is a democratic pawn of Madigan. - A Jack - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 4:11 pm: The separation of powers excuse for Rauner not being in charge is totally bogus. Remember when he called the ILSC corrupt for not ruling in his favor? Remember when he tried to stop the GA’s pay (and succeeded for a few months)? Rauner cannot bully the other two branches of government and then say because his bullying didn’t work that he is not in charge. - Wensicia - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 4:24 pm: If his money can’t buy authority, why is Rauner still spending millions? - wordslinger - Monday, Dec 11, 17 @ 7:08 pm: –I have a distinct recollection of a radio pieces in which Governor James Thompson told reporters to go talk to “King Mike” if they wanted to know what would happen with some potential law or policy in Ilinois.– To be clear, you’re mistaking phone-it-in political rhetoric with reality? You must be among those some of the people, all of the time. For crying out loud, when did they stop the 8th Grade Constitution Test? Shared and separate powers? And you still think you can run the state out of the House? So Ken Dunkin, Scott Drury and Jack Franks must have been real powerhouses in the state, since they could shut down the dictator with a flick of the switch? How did you all get into high school? 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