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Arduin continues winning streak
Wednesday, Sep 18, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller * We’ve talked about this story before, so here’s an update. From the Anchorage Daily News…
* The governor apparently went into self-protection mode…
As a buddy of mine noted this morning, people say they hate taxes but they really, really, really hate major budget cuts. Gov. Rauner’s tenure, of which Arduin was a part, made that pretty clear to Illinoisans. Now, Alaskans are learning the same lesson. …Adding… As I explained in comments, the budget cuts were made so the governor could fulfill a campaign promise and increase the amount of annual oil royalty payments to individual Alaskans. So, Alaskans are actually furious that the governor was trying to give put more money in their own pockets by slashing state spending. Whew. The only person who pulled this off and grew his popularity was former California Gov. Jerry Brown, who cut spending to the bone in order to build public support for additional revenues. Brown’s cuts weren’t an end in themselves like they were in Alaska. They were a means to an end. He is the best US governor of my lifetime by far.
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- Grandson of Man - Wednesday, Sep 18, 19 @ 11:19 am:
People like Arduin are there to purposely hurt states and people for government-hating right wing zealots like the IPI, Charles Koch, Rauner and others.
- SAP - Wednesday, Sep 18, 19 @ 11:24 am:
Alaska didn’t even have large deficits or high taxes to begin with. Not sure what beast she was trying to starve.
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Sep 18, 19 @ 11:28 am:
It was the starving of higher education that caused a great deal of angst as closing of institutions was a real possibility due to funding.
Arduin will find another state to ruin. She’s not a pariah yet.
- Al - Wednesday, Sep 18, 19 @ 11:29 am:
Imagine how far we would be with solar power, advanced battery technology , mass transit and wind power had we President Brown rather than Reagan.
- Grandson of Man - Wednesday, Sep 18, 19 @ 11:30 am:
California has or had a budget surplus, and Gov. Brown said he wanted to sock away money for a future economic downturn. He could be called a conservative so much more than debt-exploding right wingers like our former governor and the likes of former Gov. Brownback in Kansas.
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Sep 18, 19 @ 11:31 am:
===Not sure what beast she was trying to starve===
The cuts were made to increase the amount of the annual oil royalties payment to Alaskans. So, Alaskans are actually furious that the government was trying to give them more money by slashing spending.
But don’t tell IPI. It might upset them.
- Ducky LaMoore - Wednesday, Sep 18, 19 @ 11:32 am:
I do enjoy some of the schadenfreude. You had two rival candidates begging people not to vote for him, with one dropping out and endorsing the other. The people of Alaska got what they voted for. Unfortunately, asking people anywhere to be more thoughtful and knowledgeable in making decisions is apostasy. You want it, you got it. We lived through it. Now, learn from it.
- NIU Grad - Wednesday, Sep 18, 19 @ 11:32 am:
I hope someone writes an in-depth look of the Brown administration (the second one) to demonstrate the lessons learned and challenges.
- JIbba - Wednesday, Sep 18, 19 @ 11:35 am:
==He is the best US governor of my lifetime by far.===
Amen. And were he 10 years younger, I’d hope to draft him for President.
- Pot calling kettle - Wednesday, Sep 18, 19 @ 11:35 am:
==people say they hate taxes but they really, really, really hate major budget cuts==
This shows up very consistently in surveys by the Paul Simon institute.
==Arduin will find another state to ruin. She’s not a pariah yet. ==
It really makes you wonder about the folks doing the hiring. Don’t they look at the actual track record?
- lakeside - Wednesday, Sep 18, 19 @ 11:35 am:
Oh mh gosh. I forgot Rauner tried to pay her 30k a month.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/2015/6/8/18456704/rauner-slices-fee-for-high-paid-budget-consultant
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Sep 18, 19 @ 11:41 am:
Not giving Arduin an ounce of cover, but Rauner was trying to squeeze the beast to force a destruction on labor and Rauner was phony enough to peddle
“Destroy labor, I’ll let you vote raise taxes”
Rauner’s own ignorance exacerbated Arduin’s own “skills”
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Sep 18, 19 @ 11:41 am:
===Don’t they look at the actual track record? ===
It’s a feature, not a bug.
- Anonish - Wednesday, Sep 18, 19 @ 11:42 am:
Did anyone check the reports to verify she isn’t getting paid by a democratic pac?
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Sep 18, 19 @ 11:51 am:
===It is well past time to purge the remaining acolytes of Donna Arduin from our own state government.===
It’s a huge head scratcher. The worst resume one can have right now is both IPI and Rauner Administration as work history. Throw in Arduin, at some point, you have to wonder if in a year, personnel *is* policy will become cemented.
===Why is… still the General Counsel of GOMB? He has an IPI bio page. Why is … the CFO of IDOR? There are so many others.===
Named or not, personnel *is* policy.
In this case, Illinois Policy Institute folks.
- Grandson of Man - Wednesday, Sep 18, 19 @ 11:55 am:
The Democrats I know get irate about tax hikes. But their political worlds don’t revolve just around taxes, as they support social services and other things liberals support. Rauner thought he can parlay tax anger that so many feel into winning again. We know how that went.
- Moe Berg - Wednesday, Sep 18, 19 @ 11:57 am:
Arson for Fun & Profit: The Donna Arduin Story
- Annonin' - Wednesday, Sep 18, 19 @ 12:02 pm:
We assume “winning streak” you mention is that she continues to get her checks, perks, meal money every month?
- JS Mill - Wednesday, Sep 18, 19 @ 12:06 pm:
=The cuts were made to increase the amount of the annual oil royalties payment to Alaskans.=
If that isn’t socialism I don’t know what is.
=He is the best US governor of my lifetime by far.=
High praise.
Without question Brown is one of the most interesting politicians of all time.
- Confused... - Wednesday, Sep 18, 19 @ 12:27 pm:
=It is well past time to purge the remaining acolytes of Donna Arduin from our own state government…Why is Cory Staley the CFO of IDOR?=
I’ve worked for Revenue since 1996, long before Donna Arduin. I don’t even know the lady…
- Orland Park Resident - Wednesday, Sep 18, 19 @ 12:40 pm:
Mayor Pekau has been a Major failure after being elected. He also is the Liquor Commissioner and Gambling Commissioner. He continues to get donations form the Bars he regulates. We had a Twin Peaks Restaurant where the establishment was ticked for basically running a strip show and so were 4 women. This should have caused a Liquor License revocation. But nothing happened and Mayor Pekau got a 1500 dollar Campaign Donation from the owners of Twin Peaks
- revvedup - Wednesday, Sep 18, 19 @ 12:59 pm:
This sounds like a Rauner campaign promise “I’ll tax you less, while destroying public services”. I admit I do not get the relationship between the tax rates and Permanent Fund payments, since the PF payment is based on Fund income, not tax rates (https://apfc.org/who-we-are/history-of-the-alaska-permanent-fund/)
- Anyone Remember - Wednesday, Sep 18, 19 @ 1:06 pm:
==He is the best US governor of my lifetime by far.==
Agreed. It must be noted if his first term had been 3 elections later, term limits would have prohibited his second stint as governor. Term limits enacted to take out a powerful speaker (Willie Brown). Those with Madigan Derangement Syndrome may want to consider that.
- Grandson of Man - Wednesday, Sep 18, 19 @ 1:21 pm:
“If that isn’t socialism I don’t know what is”
There have been people who got government help, some for many years, who said with a straight face that they hate handouts and socialism. But the hatred is directed at other people, particularly poor people of color, not their special selves who got helped by taxpayers.
- State of DenIL - Wednesday, Sep 18, 19 @ 1:27 pm:
Raunerites gonna Rauner…
Arduin, Staley, others facilitated the dumpster fire of that Administration.
The devastation is a feature, not a bug.
- Confused Also - Wednesday, Sep 18, 19 @ 2:15 pm:
I’m also confused why Cory Staley’s name was brought up. I’ve had dozens of conversations with him and he’s one of the best CFOs in the State. Also never heard one political thing from him, just numbers. One of the most bizarre comments I’ve read on this blog to attack such a nice guy that has been with the State forever.
- SAP - Wednesday, Sep 18, 19 @ 2:15 pm:
The Department of Revenue CFO does not set fiscal policy. He or she manages the Department’s budget. And in Cory’s case, he was promoted to CFO during the Quinn administration. Maybe the Rauner administration was smart enough to leave a competent, non-political employee where he was.
- Earl Hickey - Wednesday, Sep 18, 19 @ 2:23 pm:
Everyone wants services but no one wants to pay for them.
- Discovery - Wednesday, Sep 18, 19 @ 2:58 pm:
CFO’s under Rauner were the money movers. They actively hid the damage being done, covered Rauners tracks, and somehow came up with the funds to pay millions to outside contractors without a budget for over two years.
- Curious - Wednesday, Sep 18, 19 @ 3:22 pm:
Where did they stick Scott Harry wasn’t he at GOMB under Rauner?
- Yep - Wednesday, Sep 18, 19 @ 3:53 pm:
Scott Harry was Zigmund’s predecessor as Director of GOMB. His Linkedn profile lists him as the current Director of a Budget for Illinois State Board of Education.
Wow…Rauners main budget guy in charge of a democratic governors ISBE budget.
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Sep 18, 19 @ 4:04 pm:
===Rauners main budget guy===
He’s good with numbers and he wasn’t a Raunerite.
- Blake - Wednesday, Sep 18, 19 @ 4:06 pm:
I don’t know Cory Staley, but I am wondering if there is some bad behavior that Rich ought to do something about the claim OneLittleCherry made of Staley. If Steere has an IPI affiliation that’s fair to criticize, but where does OneLittleCherry get the claim about Staley?
- Rasselas - Wednesday, Sep 18, 19 @ 4:11 pm:
OK, I don’t know who OneLittleCherry is, but googled and he seems to have a thing for Staley at IDOR (found other comments attacking him).
But his bio at LinkedIn says Staley has been with the State for decades and was promoted under Quinn.
My experience is that the numbers guys defer to the policy people and just do their job, regardless of who’s calling the shots. If you lop off the heads of the career guys because they cooperated with your predecessor (their boss at the time), you lose institutional memory, and say something pretty ugly about career public service and loyalty.
Perhaps OneLittleCherry should find another hobbie.
- Bertrum Cates - Wednesday, Sep 18, 19 @ 4:25 pm:
= He’s good with numbers and he wasn’t a Raunerite. =
And Alexis Sturm was his Chief of Staff.
- Running for Fun - Wednesday, Sep 18, 19 @ 5:42 pm:
Didn’t Gov Pritzker just tell agencies to be prepared to cut their budgets by 6.5%?
- RNUG - Wednesday, Sep 18, 19 @ 7:46 pm:
== somehow came up with the funds to pay millions to outside contractors without a budget ==
Found the money by leveraging the multiple CMS revolving funds that, when there is no budget with a cap on each fund, have pretty much unlimited spending authority … a loophole of sorts that Rauner exploited.
- Hottot - Thursday, Sep 19, 19 @ 7:48 am:
Rauner hired and overpaid Donna Arduin so he could have a hand-picked “expert” tell him what he wanted to hear. She was worthless for Illinois.