“This guy, he’s a target-rich environment, and we’re going to light him up in November,” said Rauner of J.B. Pritzker, his Democratic opponent in the governor’s race, during the McLean County Republican Party’s annual Lincoln/Reagan Day Dinner. “He’s as corrupt a political insider as you can find.”
Rauner also took time to address Ives’ claim that Rauner signed legislation to make Illinois a “sanctuary state.” He said law enforcement in fact asked him last summer to sign the Trust Act, which stops police from arresting residents based solely on their immigration status, because they feared Democrats would pass something more restrictive in its place.
The attack was a centerpiece of Ives’ campaign for governor, which came within three percentage points of defeating the better-funded and incumbent Rauner.
“I am passionately against sanctuary states and against illegal immigration,” he said Wednesday.
* The Question: Your own “simple message” suggestions for the gubernatorial campaigns? And let’s just stipulate that “Rauner failed” is a given since it’s used so often in comments. Come up with other stuff.
Breaking: The SIU Board of Trustees did not pass item GG, which would’ve shifted $5.125 million in state allocations from SIU Carbondale to Edwardsville.
The Carbondale Chamber of Commerce opposes the idea. Interim director Jennifer Olson says it could stifle the city’s efforts to grow.
The chamber sent an opposition letter to the board of trustees citing a 2011 study, that said for every dollar of state funding, seven dollars would be spent annually. Olson says a cut over $5 million dollars could damage the local economy by nearly $39 million in revenue. […]
SIUC Chancellor Carlo Montemagno said in a blog post that the university had already cut over $31 million in funding since 2014 and more than $5 million in additional cuts would be equal to 110 layoffs.
During a meeting with The Southern Illinoisan’s editorial board Tuesday, Dunn said that the operating policy for the two campuses has dictated a 60/40 percent split in appropriation distribution between SIUC and SIUE since at least as far back as 1979.
Over the years, that split has gotten skewed by virtue of state cuts and loss of certain programs, Dunn said.
According to figures provided by Dunn, the appropriation distribution for Fiscal Year 2018 was $91,287,400 (63.9 percent) to SIUC and $51,565,000 (36.1 percent) to SIUE. […]
To reflect a 60/40 percent split, the adjustment would be about $5.6 million.
Nine months after Carlo Montemagno left a position as director of Ingenuity Lab to assume the chancellorship at SIU’s Carbondale campus, some members of the Alberta community are still picking up the pieces of what they call a failed project brought to life and then abandoned by its director. […]
Some individuals who worked closely with Montemagno said the employment of his family members, combined with poor leadership, may have contributed to the early downfall of what was intended to be a 10-year-long $100 million project to bolster innovation within Alberta’s oil-reliant economy. […]
“How could we blow this so bad when it looked so good?” a former research associate said. “How could it become so controversial, so dominated by hostility toward others? It became the thing that it was supposed to break. It became this extremely siloed, extremely closed environment that is exactly what that thing was designed to bust up in the broader context of the university.”
This ain’t rocket science. And we keep having unbalanced budgets. We still have an unbalanced budget, even though they overrode my veto on a tax hike last year. We’re still $3 billion dollars in a deficit. This is nuts. Totally nuts.
I vetoed the budget because even after the tax hike it was still out of balance. We’re still running billions of dollars of a deficit. This is fiscal irresponsibility at its worst.
However, because we’re now paying down the Medicaid bill backlog with bonding, one-time federal reimbursements are netting the state an additional $1.2 billion. Factor in one-time borrowing proceeds to pay off other parts of the bill backlog and subtract carry-over costs from last fiscal year’s unappropriated spending and it works out to be a $2.025 billion “surplus,” according to GOMB’s own figures. Yeah, that’s not truly a surplus, but it’s also not a $3 billion operating deficit. Not even close.
* Speaking of the backlog…
Rauner says that the bill backlog is "still climbing" after legislators overrode his veto and passed a bipartisan budget.
…Adding… From retiring GOP Rep. Steve Andersson, who voted for the tax hike and budget last year…
Well we know the Governor isn’t very good on facts, or accuracy or truth. I’m glad the facts are showing what we knew when we overrode him!
* The governor also said today that he was not insisting on his pension cost-shift proposal to schools and higher ed. As long as the final budget agreement is balanced, he said, he’ll sign it. That idea was just a placeholder anyway. He knew he couldn’t pass it, so it was basically designed to kick the can to the General Assembly.
And House Republican Leader Jim Durkin even admitted yesterday that his own caucus is “lukewarm” on the issue…
So, they’re gonna have to find a way to patch that $630 million hole.
Kankakee High School will help pilot an evolving education trend that measures student growth based on competency rather than time spent sitting in a classroom.
Last week, the Illinois State Board of Education named Kankakee School District 111 one of the 12 schools that will pilot a competency graduation program.
Essentially, the program allows high schoolers to advance at their own pace. For instance, a student who demonstrates mastery of ninth grade English requirements can move on to 10th grade English immediately rather than having to wait an entire school year.
“This is going to be more skills-based rather than time spent in the classroom,” said Felice Hybert, the district’s assistant superintendent of curriculum. “If a student can show competency in certain skills, they can move on and get credit. It’s not tied to a year of instruction. They can move on in 30 days, 60 days – whenever they show the ability to move on.”
Superintendent Genevra Walters believes the program will help improve the high school’s graduation rate. It will enable advanced students to challenge themselves. It will also measure skill sets for students who are not as engaged in school. At the same time, the district plans on providing more support for students who struggle. […]
Walters said the district plans on forming partnerships with Kankakee Community College, Olivet Nazarene University and local businesses to help students advance into careers.
At Kankakee Public Schools in Illinois, we’ve introduced 16 different career paths to about 70 percent of our K–5 students using Defined STEM’s career wheel. Some of these topics include agriculture, communication and information studies, human services, and health science. Each grade has a designated topic, paving the way for every student to explore and become familiar with a wide variety of career possibilities.
Three years ago, this began the transformation of Kankakee’s general education track into the College and Career Academy, which is 100 percent focused on using with PBL to prepare students for future jobs. With our new focus, we are one of 10 high school districts in Illinois that have started to move to competency-based learning. We’re also working to report on students’ mastery of skills with progress levels, rather than a traditional report card at the end of each semester.
“I don’t know why a district like yours that is struggling academically is willing to buy into this entire idea that we are going to now learn outside of school when they haven’t mastered obviously the requirements for in school,” Ives said.
Hybert countered by saying the numbers prove students have disengaged with the traditional school setting and need a change,
However, Ives still was not convinced, and said the risk of taking $2 million to fund a pilot program with no proven success is a no for her.
“I am sorry I am just not buying it,” Ives said.
Um, the whole idea is to try to help the kids who have trouble learning the traditional way. Left up to Ives, the kids would have to first learn the traditional way before being given the option to participate in an alternative educational format.
Illinois residents could enjoy lower taxes if their squabbling leaders tackle the debt-riddled state’s biggest problem — its massively underfunded pension system. But that’s a big if.
Republican Governor Bruce Rauner, who’s running for re-election this year, says he could lower taxes by as much as $1 billion. First, lawmakers must address a crisis that’s vexed the state for years, and get a plan cleared by the courts soon.
“When I sign it, we’ll get that in front of our state judiciary,” Rauner told reporters in Chicago this week. “Once they bless it as constitutional, then we will have a billion dollar income tax cut for the people of Illinois.”
But if history is any guide, that’s not likely to happen.
The gist of the rest is that the proposal is constitutionally suspect and is also unlikely to pass the House.
The governor has constructed a trick bag for the Democrats. Senate President John Cullerton says his bill is constitutional. Rauner says he believes Cullerton and says Madigan is now standing in the way of a billion-dollar tax cut, which wouldn’t really amount to much but it sounds nice. A billllion dollars!
* Rauner campaign…
#TBT Pritzker Paid No State Income Tax in 2014, but Wants to Raise Your Taxes
JB Pritzker has made raising taxes on hardworking Illinoisans the defining issue of his campaign. But his personal history shows that he doesn’t put his money where his mouth is.
In 2014, Pritzker received a series of tax credits from his investments that ensured he paid no state income tax that year.
It’s crystal clear that Pritzker wants everyone else in Illinois to pay more with his immediate, destructive tax hike on Illinois families, but he will do whatever he can to avoid paying the taxman himself.
From the Chicago Sun-Times:
In May, Sun-Times reporter Tim Novak reported that Pritzker had saved nearly $230,000 on his property taxes by arguing that a Gold Coast mansion he bought for $3.7 million, began to renovate and then halted the work was “uninhabitable.”
Under the state angel investor program, four Pritzker businesses got a total of more than $1.2 million in tax credits in 2012. He got more state tax credits in 2013, 2014 and 2015, when two of his companies claimed a total of more than $537,000 in credits.
One Pritzker company that got a $250,000 tax credit later contributed $82,000 to the Illinois Democratic Party; the party’s chairman, state House Speaker Michael Madigan of Chicago; and three Democratic candidates for the Illinois House.
Taxes, Madigan, Taxes, Madigan, Taxes, Madigan, Taxes, Madigan, Taxes, Madigan all the way to November.
* Related…
* Editorial: Tax issues big in election year - Republicans have wasted no time speaking out against Democratic gubernatorial candidate J.B. Pritzker’s income-tax proposals.
* Three press releases from JB Pritzker’s campaign…
Bruce Rauner’s FY19 budget proposal attempts to “balance” the budget on the backs of working people. With the General Assembly holding budget hearings this week, the Pritzker campaign is highlighting the different communities that would be hurt by this failed governor’s unbalanced budget.
While 3.2 million Illinoisans rely on Medicaid, Bruce Rauner proposed a $150 million cut to the program in his FY19 budget. The failed governor made a 4% provider rate cut in his latest proposal, threatening the children, seniors, and disabled Illinoisans that rely on Medicaid for their healthcare needs.
“While Donald Trump proposes over a trillion in Medicaid cuts nationally, his local partner Bruce Rauner is following suit and proposing $150 million in cuts here in Illinois,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “This failed governor’s unbalanced budget deals a blow to the healthcare system that millions of Illinoisans rely on to build better lives.”
Bruce Rauner’s agency directors followed their boss’ lead yesterday at a legislative hearing, pointing fingers and blaming others for Rauner’s fatal mismanagement of the Quincy Veterans’ Home.
The directors of Rauner’s public health and Veterans affairs departments were unwilling to talk about the emails at the center of the Legionnaires’ crisis and told lawmakers to direct their questions to the Adams Country Health Department and the governor’s legal team. One agency head even lied about Rauner halting construction of the Chicago Veterans’ Home that has been delayed years by his budget crisis.
“While Bruce Rauner and his agency directors claim they’re not in charge, their fatal mismanagement of the Quincy Veterans’ Home continues another day,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “Illinois Veterans and their families torn apart by this failure of leadership deserve immediate answers, but all they’re getting is the runaround from Rauner and a team of people trying to shield him.”
Today, the Pritzker campaign released the results from Rauner’s leaked ‘Illinois Priorities Survey’ draft. Here’s what Illinoisans think about their failed governor:
To: Interested Parties
From: Pritzker campaign
Re: Leaked ‘Illinois Priorities Survey’
Date: April 12, 2018
A new survey conducted in Illinois details the extent of Bruce Rauner’s failure as governor. After polling underwater for quite some time, the incumbent faced a heated primary campaign that almost cost him his party’s nomination. Called the ‘Worst Republican Governor in America,’ Rauner barely squeaked by with less than a 4-point margin against insurgent challenger Jeanne Ives. Now failing to consolidate the Republican vote, let alone the support of independents or Democrats, an uphill battle faces the nation’s most vulnerable incumbent governor, and the results of this survey show why.
The Illinois Senate on Wednesday voted to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, renewing a push from decades ago amid the #MeToo movement to guarantee that rights can’t be denied because of a person’s sex.
The vote came about 36 years after the amendment appeared to die after just 35 states ratified it, three short of what was needed by the 1982 deadline. That means Illinois’ approval could be largely symbolic. Still, advocates have pushed for a “three-state solution,” contending Congress can extend the deadline and the amendment should go into effect if three additional states vote in favor.
The amendment passed on a vote of 43-12, with no debate on the Senate floor. It now heads to the House, where sponsoring Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie, says he is working to build support but warned it’s far from a “slam-dunk.” The House and Senate each have voted in favor in the past, but it has yet to clear both in the same year.
An effort to limit the amount of tax breaks the state would give to Amazon as officials seek to lure the company’s second headquarters to Chicago will not move forward.
Rep. Kelly Cassidy, a Democrat from Chicago, said Wednesday she was told her proposal would not get a committee hearing, which essentially kills the effort for the spring legislative session.
She was seeking to limit potential tax credits to $50,000 for each job the company would create in Illinois, saying lawmakers must be careful to balance incentives.
“The reality is when we talk about these amazing opportunities, like with Amazon, it’s almost like pie-in-the-sky predictions without any concrete proof of what it’s going to be like,” Cassidy said. “Which is why I talk about relating the incentive to the kinds of jobs that will be created and the kinds of salaries that will be paid by them because otherwise we are buying a pig in a poke.”
* Press release from a couple of days ago that I forgot to post…
Ensuring teachers earn a livable minimum salary is one significant step Illinois can take to recruit more educators into rural and downstate classrooms and address the ongoing shortage, State Senator Andy Manar said today.
The Senate Education Committee approved his measure raising Illinois’ minimum mandated salary for full-time teachers for the first time since 1980.
“Fewer talented young people are going into the teaching profession for numerous reasons, one of which is pay. Would-be teachers can get a higher salary right out of college in other areas of the workforce, which his opposite of our priorities and our needs in this state,” he said.
Senate Bill 2892 updates Illinois statute by increasing the minimum mandated annual salary for full-time teachers to $40,000.
The statute has not been updated in 38 years. Currently, minimum mandated salaries are set at $11,000 for a teacher with a master’s degree, $10,000 for those with bachelor’s degrees and $9,000 for teachers with less than a bachelor’s degree.
Manar said there are teachers in his Senate district who have master’s degrees but live under the federal poverty level.
“To me, this is an issue of respect – for the teaching profession and for the credentials we ask teachers to bring to the table,” Manar said.
“Today, Illinois is investing record amounts of money in schools that tend to have the least competitive salary schedules. There are hundreds of empty classrooms all over the state in communities with enormous challenges and the highest rates of poverty because they can’t recruit teachers,” he said. “Updating Illinois’ minimum mandated teacher salary is a good place to begin addressing the problem.”
* BGA press release…
Sen. Tom Cullerton (D-Villa Park) introduced Senate Bill 3604 which will limit exorbitant severance packages for public executives in a move aimed at restoring taxpayer trust in government.
Not only do Illinoisans face years of budget deficits, cuts to social services, and tax increases, they also foot the bill for six-figure severance packages, known as golden parachutes, for public executives who leave their jobs under questionable circumstances. Cullerton introduced the bill after the Better Government Association (BGA) examined public severance limitations in other states and outlined multiple cases of golden parachutes in recent years that left Illinois taxpayers footing millions of dollars in payouts to make bad executives go away.
Senate Bill 3604, the Government Severance Pay Act, will stop employees fired for misconduct from collecting a severance altogether and it will limit severance packages for other public executives to a maximum of 20 weeks’ compensation. The legislation gives governments in Illinois the ability to remain competitive while eliminating abuses that fuel taxpayer distrust.
Elected government officials frequently are advised to grant rich severances in an attempt to head off employment litigation. By adopting the Government Severance Pay Act, state lawmakers can set a clean, clear plan that will eliminate those thorny decisions for elected officials, just as is done in Florida and other states.
“It’s time to get control of these huge buyouts for public executives and institute some best practices,” Cullerton said. “Taxpayers deserve to have their hard-earned money protected. Let’s end these golden parachutes now.”
“Time and time again,” said BGA President and CEO David Greising, “government officials who are found abusing the public’s trust are allowed to walk away not just unpunished, but, in fact, rewarded. The Government Severance Pay Act acknowledges that severance packages are a part of today’s competitive employment market, while at the same time protecting taxpayers from six-figure giveaways.”
The BGA examined golden parachute packages last fall and found nine recent instances at Illinois universities, Metra and elsewhere that cost taxpayers more than $5 million.
Since that time, Des Plaines Elementary District 62 officials granted a $127,000 severance to former superintendent Floyd Williams Jr. following accusations he denied that he had sexually harassed employees. In northwest suburban Vernon Hills, elected officials asked the long-time village manager John Kalmar to leave recently, but have provided few details on a financial settlement or the reasons for it.
If Gov. Bruce Rauner achieves the anti-union, pro-business reforms he has made the hallmark of his administration, he plans to travel the world to promote the state — and the first country he’ll visit will be Poland, he said Sunday. […]
“We are working hard in Springfield on reforms so we can grow our economy and get more value for taxpayers and fund our schools properly,” he said. “I hope soon we’ll have those reforms accomplished, and then I’m going to travel the world to create stronger ties with the people of Illinois with nations across the globe.”
Gov. Bruce Rauner says he’s traveling to Germany and Poland next week to try to draw more companies to Illinois.
Rauner talked about the trip Wednesday during a question-and-answer session at an Illinois Chamber of Commerce luncheon in Springfield.
Rauner says Illinois is “expanding German investment in the state.” And he says Poland has been growing larger companies and “the No. 1 state where they should be investing when they come to the U.S. is Illinois.”
* Snark aside, I’m told the schedule for the Germany leg of that trip is brutal. Unlike his Asia trip, which looked like it was thrown together at the last minute by the since-ousted BTIA™, this one will feature lots of meetings. The governor told the Chamber yesterday that he hopes to make several announcements about companies moving jobs to or investing in Illinois.
So, good luck, Gov. Rauner. Get something done, please. Prost!
Rauner also took time to address Ives’ claim that Rauner signed legislation to make Illinois a “sanctuary state.” He said law enforcement in fact asked him last summer to sign the Trust Act, which stops police from arresting residents based solely on their immigration status, because they feared Democrats would pass something more restrictive in its place.
The attack was a centerpiece of Ives’ campaign for governor, which came within three percentage points of defeating the better-funded and incumbent Rauner.
“I am passionately against sanctuary states and against illegal immigration,” he said Wednesday.
Upset that the only choice Republicans in the 3rd CD have on the November ballot is a known Nazi sympathizer, a group of Cook County GOP members of the Jewish faith called on Cook County GOP Chairman Sean Morrison to step down in a letter sent to Cook County GOP committeemen
Thumbs Down: To Gov. Bruce Rauner and state Rep. Jeanne Ives for not contacting each other since Election Day.
It’s been more than three weeks since the two battled it out on the ballot for the Republican gubernatorial nomination. The two still haven’t talked. Frankly, the person who loses usually calls to concede the race. It seems clear Ives isn’t interested in doing that. Rauner also hasn’t shown any desire to mend fences.
No one expects these two to be buddies. But even Little League players shake hands and say “good game” after the innings have all been played. The two primary opponents need to talk and put this in the past.
* The electronic Twitter machine…
Gov. Bruce Rauner and Rep. Jeanne Ives were spotted together at Obed and Isaac's Microbrewery in Springfield. I showed up just in time to wonder whose SUV I saw pulling out of the lot at 8:53 p.m., and to be bitter about my inability to run a plate. GOP unity in the works?
*** UPDATE 1 *** With a hat tip to a commenter, somebody has a new website called LyingIves.com. The site was created on January 29th, but it appears to have been udpdated since the primary ended…
Ives has a long history of truth distorting and contempt for those she disagrees with.
Her colleagues call her abrasive and stubborn.
She’s only passed five inconsequential bills in the General Assembly.
She ran one of the most negative campaigns in Illinois history
Now she demands the Republican Party cater to her whims.
We are better than this.
There is no “paid for” disclosure on the site that I could find, but whoever is running it says: “This site is dedicated to exposing her lies till she leaves office.”
*** UPDATE 2 *** This was a good idea. He needs to start flipping public perception on Ives. She’s the one, after all, who never conceded to him…
RAUNER on his encounter with IVES at Springfield restaurant: "I went over to say hello and to wish her well and to tell her I look forward to getting together with her"#twill#ilgov
House Speaker Michael J. Madigan issued the following statement Thursday, following a meeting between legislative leaders and the governor:
“Today I advised the governor and the other leaders that we are already at work on the Fiscal Year 2019 budget with our colleagues across the aisle, just as we did a year ago when Republicans and Democrats stood together to end the Rauner budget crisis. If the governor is finally ready to accept responsibility for the management of the state and be an honest partner in trying to pass a budget, we welcome him to this process.
“In the past, Governor Rauner has resorted to severe cuts targeting women, children and the elderly. Democrats cannot accept this. If the governor’s agenda is to push more of his extreme cuts to health care, senior services, and resources for our most at-risk residents, or if he intends to again move the goalposts and create chaos, he should stay on the sidelines and allow serious leaders to continue working cooperatively to address the challenges facing our state.”
…Adding… The governor sent a letter to the leaders today asking them to appoint “budgeteers” so negotiations can begin. Click here.
…Adding… Senate GOP Leader Bill Brady said the “progress” today was two-fold: 1) The Democrats agreed to appoint budgeteers; 2) The Dems agree to certify a revenue estimate.
They coulda got that done by pony express.
…Adding… Raw audio of Cullerton’s media availability is here.
.@GovRauner and four legislative leaders to have a rare meeting this morning. Gov Wed. said he'll “lay out the game plan for a balanced budget. And I’m going to hold some dates and some deadlines to try to get ‘em to do it. The one thing I am is persistent."
* And for your captioning pleasure (if you so choose), the two Dem leaders confer ahead of the meeting with Gov. Rauner as Tim Mapes looks on…
House Speaker Michael Madigan, Senate President John Cullerton, House Republican Leader Jim Durkin and Senate Republican Leader Bill Brady are meeting with Governor Bruce Rauner right now. Rauner previously said they’re discussing the FY19 budget. pic.twitter.com/6TnwIcFskV
DGA Calls on Rauner to Renounce Greitens After Bombshell Legislative Report
Missouri Governor Appeared in Rauner TV Ad; New Report Accuses Greitens of Forced Sexual Encounter
Today, the Democratic Governors Association called on Bruce Rauner to renounce the endorsement of Missouri Governor Eric Greitens, following a Missouri House special committee investigative report that accused Greitens of a forced sexual encounter and attempt to blackmail his hairdresser.
Governor Bruce Rauner had Greitens appear in a television ad across Illinois. He has refused to renounce Greitens’ endorsement since the allegations first came to light, saying he wouldn’t take a position saying “those allegations need to be investigated.”
“The allegations have been investigated and it’s time for Bruce Rauner to do the right thing and call on Eric Greitens to step down,” said DGA Illinois Communications Director Sam Salustro. “Bruce Rauner should clearly say that this abusive behavior is unacceptable and renounce his political ally Eric Greitens.”
Some background is here. The full report contains some graphic stuff, so beware if you’re at work. Click here to read it.
…Adding… That Rauner ad is still online…
By blocking my reforms, Madigan is ensuring that Illinoisans continue to struggle. pic.twitter.com/Xs3xH10HHR
.@GovRauner calls the credible findings against MO Gov Eric Greitens “terrible” and “very disturbing” and echoes calls for Greitens to step down. pic.twitter.com/CroeziVQCm
Several senators were frustrated by the apparent nonchalant demeanor of Baldwin and IDOC chief financial officer Jared Brunk, who did not discuss the money request until a few minutes into their presentation. Lawmakers said the agency has downplayed the severity of the situation.
“This is a budget hearing. If you need that money, I would respectfully suggest that you come here and you advocate for it first thing out of the box,” said state Sen. Dale Righter, R-Mattoon.
State Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, said he had “heard more from the inmates about the need for a supplemental than I have from both of you sitting at this table.” […]
And ahead of an expected meeting on Thursday between Gov. Bruce Rauner and legislative leaders, state Sen. Heather Steans, D-Chicago, questioned why the urgent need for an appropriation was left off the governor’s list of priorities.
“My understanding is that the governor’s going to be having a leaders meeting,” Steans said. “If this is the nature of the situation, I don’t know why that wouldn’t be high that list of items that he was discussing with the leaders. It seems to merit that.”
Baldwin didn’t respond directly to the criticism, but said his staff has been “magnificent” at keeping the department going. To manage cash flow, they’ve had to cut back on things toilet paper and cleaning supplies.
Manar told Baldwin he’d heard about the toilet paper — but not from him, which he says is part of the problem.
“I’ve heard more from the inmates about the need for supplemental than I have from both of you sitting at this table,” Manar said.
But state Sen. Dale Righter, a Republican from Mattoon, says Democrats have been aware of the budget problems in the prisons.
“The bill that is necessary to appropriate the money for DOC has been on file. The bottom line is the Democratic majority hasn’t moved it,” Righter said.
High anxiety and frustration is expected among incarcerated criminals. But lately Governor Rauner’s administrators at the Illinois Department of Corrections are living under $420 million worth of pressure and they’re hoping lawmakers will quickly send them more money to operate.
Rauner’s Department of Corrections is unable to effectively operate and dig out of the deficit spending hole created by his drawn-out budget stalemate. IDOC officials say they’ve exhausted efficiency methods, all the way down to rationing of toilet paper available to inmates.
As serious as the situation seems, Senators from both sides of the aisle expressed frustration of IDOC Director John Baldwin’s lack of strong advocacy for the funds.
“If the Department of Corrections is out of money, the Governor has to shout it out,” said Senator Elgie Sims (D-Chicago). “Until today, I’ve really heard nothing about how desperate the situation is. I haven’t heard the governor say, ‘we need help, we need half-a-billion dollars for our prison system.’ Given all he has said about out-of-balance budgets and overspending from legislators, I don’t even know if Governor Rauner has a clue about this situation.”
Part of the challenge the Department of Corrections is facing is paying the obligations that were backlogged under the two-year budget impasse. During that period, spending continued in many agencies, including Corrections. After paying many of these bills, there are insufficient funds available to operate for a full year.
While there exists Republican legislation to help advance Governor Rauner’s request for $1 billion more additional spending, the Governor’s office has taken a quiet approach to exposing the need for a supplemental appropriation.
“In February, the governor’s budget director has used terms like ‘unappropriated liabilities’ instead of being blunt in saying he needs hundreds of millions of dollars more to spend,” said Senator Heather Steans, a top Democratic budget negotiator. “There’s a willingness to work to find a solution, but I wish the administration would stop trying to nuance the need.”
The bottom line is the SDems want Gov. Rauner to make a much more specific public ask for that cash. Your thoughts?
Morning Consult released their latest tracking poll of governors’ approval ratings, and it’s bad news for Bruce Rauner. The failed governor has a net approval rating of -34, the lowest of any incumbent running for re-election.
With his approval rating plummeting to 26% and disapproval rating soaring to 60%, Morning Consult singled Rauner out in their analysis:
Rauner dropped 10 percentage points in the first three months of the year. He emerged victorious in a March 20 primary contest against state Rep. Jeanne Ives, winning by almost 3 points. Three in 5 Illinois voters disapprove of Rauner’s job performance as he looks to hold off Democratic candidate J.B. Pritzker, a billionaire philanthropist and venture capitalist, in November.
“After Bruce Rauner’s disastrous record almost lost him the primary, the most vulnerable incumbent is stumbling through the general election and losing support by the day,” said Pritzker campaign communications director Galia Slayen. “Illinoisans know they can’t afford another four years of a failed governor that fatally mismanages the Quincy Veterans’ Home and drives the state economy into the ground.”
The poll is here. But, as always, be a bit wary. Its methodology is unusual.
According to Morning Consult, Rauner is the third most unpopular governor in the country and the most unpopular of those running for reelection this year.
* Almost exactly one year ago today, Morning Consult’s poll had Rauner trending upward…
Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) has improved his standing in traditionally blue Illinois. Forty-two percent of Illinoisans now approve of Rauner, up from 33 percent in September, while his disapproval rating has dropped from 56 percent to 49 percent over the same time period.
Then he fired his top staff and all heck broke loose.
* Some alternate history from a purged Raunerite…
He doesn’t fire us, he goes on tour to slam the GA. Runs new ads playing off his veto of the tax hike. No bad news all summer. He goes into education fight with leverage, issues clean AV of the bailout and runs ads saying Chicago is trying to shut down our schools. Clean AV of the abortion bill as promised and planned - go on offense calling on Madigan not to play politics with the right to choose. Never gets a primary. Runs ads against JB all winter. Emerges from primary stronger than ever.
Maybe. But even if all that worked out as planned, he’d still face a tough reelection because of the national headwinds.
The bottom line, though, is Rauner wouldn’t be nearly in such bad shape right now if he hadn’t decided to blow up his own office and campaign staffs last year (twice).
Over the past year, Quinn has done little to nothing to fix his image, and at 31 percent, Quinn’s job approval numbers trail only Rhode Island chief executive Lincoln Chafee among governors, making him the least-liked incumbent governor facing reelection this fall. […]
“The only thing the [Quinn campaign] can do is try to beat up Bruce Rauner—make him as unattractive as possible,” said Illinois political strategist Patrick Brady, a former chairman of the Illinois Republican Party who has been described as a Rauner supporter. “You haven’t seen any ads on what Pat Quinn is going to do in the next four years… All you’ve seen is ‘Bruce Rauner has horns.’ That’s their whole campaign strategy. They will literally spend tens of millions of dollars trying to convince Illinois voters that Bruce Rauner is evil.” […]
“He’s just not a good governor,” said Brady. “Being governor requires a lot of things. And he just hasn’t shown it. We pay for it and we’re really at a tipping point right now. If we don’t get our fiscal house in order, we are not going to be in a place where we can attract good jobs to keep people here.”
Despite his proclivity for extravagance, Rauner has crafted a campaign that promises much-needed changes on pensions, taxes, and government spending. But like many campaign promises, Rauner’s reforms are non-committal, and will likely be almost impossible to accomplish.
