Posted by Barton Lorimor
* Senate Minority Leader Bill Brady was asked by WMBD-TV this weekend if the Governor chose not to hold up the budget process this year on account of the election…
I wouldn’t say the Governor held up the budget process in the past for the Turnaround Agenda. He held it up in the past because it was unbalanced. The Democrats couldn’t put together a balanced budget in the past three years, and the Governor said it had to be balanced. I think because it’s an election year we were able to leverage some points. The Democrats are nervous. They didn’t want to go back and ask for re-election having another unbalanced or state-ordered spending plan. We were able to leverage that to get a balanced budget for the Governor.
J.B. Pritzker is pointing the finger squarely at the Turnaround Agenda for the impasse in a Daily Herald column today…
For the first time since Gov. Bruce Rauner took office three and a half years ago, Illinoisans will begin the next fiscal year with a budget intact.
Social service providers across the state will be able to plan a full year of programming to connect children, families, and seniors with the tools they need to build better lives.
Work crews will be able to arrive on the job site without worrying about whether they will be sent home because there’s no state budget.
Students at our colleges and universities can start the academic year knowing that their MAP scholarships will be funded.
That’s how it is supposed to work. But for years, Bruce Rauner stood in the way of a state budget, holding it hostage for his special interest agenda. Time and again, he didn’t just derail the process, he refused to negotiate and even vetoed a bipartisan budget last summer. This year, lawmakers had to sideline the failed governor in order to get the job done.
* Brady was also asked during the interview about the validity of claims the budget is balanced…
“It’s not unlike business. Businesses put budgets together that are based on assumptions. The assumptions in this budget are solid. They, I believe, are very solid. The economic performance of our state in this economy, would this budget be even better if we had the business reforms that Governor Rauner had pushed in the last several years? Yes, because we’d know that we had a better chance of economic growth enhancement. As the economy grows, revenues increase. But this is based on what realistic projections are for Illinois’s economy based on the current set of laws, policies, and procedures. If the economy under-performs, it’ll be challenging. If it over-performs, it’ll be even easier. There are a few things in here that we’re hoping to happen. One is the sale of the Thompson Center…So it’s pretty real. Anyone can throw stones at it, but the results will prove it out. Like any projections, there are challenges. The Governor’s gonna have to work. It won’t be an easy budget to manage, but it is certainly one that with the right discipline and the right effort can, I believe, come to a balanced nature at the end of the fiscal year.
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Jun 18, 18 @ 10:32 am:
===I wouldn’t say the Governor held up the budget process in the past for the Turnaround Agenda.===
This is dishonest. I’m sorry.
“I’m frustrated too but taking steps to reform Illinois is more important than a short term budget stalemate”
End of discussion.
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Jun 18, 18 @ 10:34 am:
===He held it up in the past because it was unbalanced.===
Nope.
“I’m frustrated too but taking steps to reform Illinois is more important than a short term budget stalemate”.
End of that discussion too.
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Jun 18, 18 @ 10:36 am:
===The Democrats are nervous. They didn’t want to go back and ask for re-election having another unbalanced or state-ordered spending plan.===
No.
A bipartisan legislature overrode Gov. Rauner’s veto to save Illinois from the purposeful destruction of Raunerites and Bruce Rauner.
Enough was enough.
This year by a vote of 152-20… there was no fear. Illinois was going to have her budget, no matter what Bruce Rauner demanded.
- wordslinger - Monday, Jun 18, 18 @ 10:37 am:
–I wouldn’t say the Governor held up the budget process in the past for the Turnaround Agenda.–
The governor would have disagreed with you, publicly and often, the first three budget cycles.
That’s War of Northern Aggression historical revisionism. “It was all about tariffs….”
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-met-bruce-rauner-illinois-budget-20180510-story.html
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Jun 18, 18 @ 10:40 am:
===I wouldn’t say the Governor held up the budget process in the past for the Turnaround Agenda.===
Ask former Leader Radogno, get back to me.
Leader Brady,
You are a better person, legislator, leader… than any of this.
You know this is, at best, “inaccurate”
- Rabid - Monday, Jun 18, 18 @ 10:45 am:
Careerfella is carrying Rauners bucket of Mississippi river now
- The Dude Abides - Monday, Jun 18, 18 @ 10:47 am:
Nonsense and revisionist history by Senator Brady. Rauner played nice this year because it’s an election year. He sought to show himself as the flexible and compromising Governor the voters want and figured if there was yet another budget impasse during an election year that would kill any chances of winning a 2nd term.
This years budget being balanced is based on some assumptions that won’t come to fruition. The Democrats weren’t worried, Rauner was, and he should be considering that he’s the most vulnerable GOP Governor in the country.
- We'll See - Monday, Jun 18, 18 @ 10:48 am:
If IL law gave governors line item veto authority Bruce could of balanced the budgets /s
- Grandson of Man - Monday, Jun 18, 18 @ 10:49 am:
The TA, or at least the anti-union part, crumbled very quickly. When Rauner ran the TA referendum, local governments overwhelmingly rejected it, thanks in large part to union members turning out and opposing it. That was early in Rauner’s term, but he ignored the meaning.
Still, Rauner held the budget hostage for policies that couldn’t pass. Where were the GA votes for stripping out lots of collective bargaining and repealing the TA at the local government level?
Rauner accepted zero budget compromise offers and got played out, because that negotiating style severely damaged our state. He should have never hijacked budget negotiations with non-budget items. What did Rauner get for his brinksmanship? Why would anyone trust a negotiating style that did so much damage for nothing?
- Annonin' - Monday, Jun 18, 18 @ 10:53 am:
Yup them nervous Ds were forced to do it this way.
He was funnier on WGN-AM cuase he predicted GovJunk will run on all his accomplishments — like dead vets at Qunicy, school fundin’ and his dead scholarship scheme and crushin’ colleges.
- Chicago Cynic - Monday, Jun 18, 18 @ 10:54 am:
That’s some mighty powerful historical revisionism there Bill. You know we were all watching, right? You know there’s tape and tweets and audio and video and interviews galore proving that what you said is a complete lie, right? I know you have to run on the ticket with the governor, but please stop lying. It won’t help you once he’s gone.
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Jun 18, 18 @ 10:55 am:
The entire 99th General Assembly had no budget signed, as only a governor can sign a budget.
It was held up… for the turnaround agenda… *exactly*, and without question, and not for discussion, and only by the Raunerites who refused to get overriding majorities, and Rauner’s own want of a crisis.
This is blatently dishonest, to even hint, wink, nod,… that The Owl didn’t mean what he tweeted, as it was the policy of the newly bought Raunerites… there’s no ambiguity.
“I’m frustrated too but taking steps to reform Illinois is more important than a short term budget stalemate”
Not one Raunerite… said this was false.
Not. One.
- Pelonski - Monday, Jun 18, 18 @ 10:59 am:
All politicians like to slant the truth to meet their agenda, but it appears the Republican Party has taken it to a new level. They’ve totally bought into the concept that if you tell lies often enough, everyone will believe them no matter how demonstrably false they are. I wonder if Baghdad Bob is now a Republican?
- TominChicago - Monday, Jun 18, 18 @ 11:03 am:
We’ll See - If IL law gave governors line item veto authority Bruce could of balanced the budgets /s
I am not sure if you are serious but the Governor in Illinois has express constitutional authority to not just veto a bill, but also to condition his approval on the legislature’s consent to his amendments to any bill that clears the GA. He could certainly use his amendatory veto power in a line item veto like fashion.
- Henry Francis - Monday, Jun 18, 18 @ 11:14 am:
Give the guy some credit here, not once did he blame Madigan.
- morningstar - Monday, Jun 18, 18 @ 11:18 am:
“blah blah blah Democrats couldn’t blah blah blah” Same ol’ same ol’ - we are not in charge.
- annonin' - Monday, Jun 18, 18 @ 11:41 am:
How about a review of the demand for the revenue estimate? What ever happened to that scheme?
- Leigh John-Ella - Monday, Jun 18, 18 @ 1:28 pm:
Whatever it takes to keep Bill “in charge” of his super-minority caucus.
- James - Monday, Jun 18, 18 @ 1:29 pm:
First we had Conway’s “alternative facts”, then Giuliani’s “truth is relative” to soften Trump’s repeated blatant lies to the electorate. Rauner’s been lying his entire term. Now Brady? These leaders are giving the Republican party brand a reputation for dishonesty. When leaders lie to the public, they lose trust, which affects innocent colleagues, and can never be fully recovered.