57 Comments - Blue Dog - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 4:46 am: I agree with Senator McClure. - Draznnl - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 4:59 am: I have an idea Sen. McClure. Why doesn’t the state just stop providing services at all? Eliminate all those feather bedding employees. Everyone can just call their legislators’ offices when they need something. I hope you’re good at answering the phone, because your staff is included in my cutback plan. Think of all the money we’ll save. - @misterjayem - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 5:30 am: “There has to be serious cuts in a way in which we can actually cause people to want to come back to this state” I’m not sure that “Illinois: Like Alabama — but with five months of winter” would be the big draw that McClure imagines. – MrJM - Pacman - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 6:35 am: I left Illinois and moved to South Carolina. Taxes are lower here, but you get what you pay for. The infrastructure here has not kept up with the surge in population growth. - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 6:53 am: From the link. === “There has to be serious cuts in a way in which we can actually cause people to want to come back to this state, particularly after our businesses have been devastated because of COVID,” he said. “I need to see a plan from the governor that is a big ‘Illinois is open for business’ sign for all of these businesses that are struggling right now.” - State Senator Steve McClure (R-Springfield) === Utter gibberish. This isn’t even Ad-Libs worthy. What states haven’t had businesses hurt by Covid 19? He knows it’s a global pandemic, right? Global? Like “everywhere” global? These are the ramblings of a not too bright legislator who has no answers. - Flyin' Elvis'-Utah Chapter - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 7:18 am: Senator McClure is on board with closing Jacksonville CC and it’s satellite facility? Bold move, sir. - Pundent - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 7:30 am: Sounds like McClure us advocating for something akin to the Brownback experiment. How’d that work out? - Give Us Barabbas - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 7:42 am: Hi, I’m Senator Steve McClure; You may know me from such movies as “Give Me All Your Baby’s Food”, and “I’ll Never Need Your Votes Again.” - BTO2 - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 7:59 am: Maybe our fine Senator could meet with each person he wants laid off and explain, it’s not me, it’s the budget. I doubt you see the Sangamon County GOP come out in support of laying off GOP supportors/voters. He really does nothing, so he’s grabbing a headline. - Jocko - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 8:01 am: ==I agree with Senator McClure.== That’s like telling everyone in your family “we’re going on a diet (exclamation point)” Regardless of age or physical condition, you’re going to lose 7-8% of body weight. - Sloppy Joseph - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 8:02 am: He’s not wrong, and I work in Springfield. The biggest expenditure in almost every organization is payroll. - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 8:14 am: === He’s not wrong, and I work in Springfield.=== lol Describe the state head count in comparison to other states *and* to 2010 numbers. Thanks. - Tommydanger - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 8:20 am: And in other nearly impossible asks, Governor could you trim my weight by about 7-8%; not across the board,just my midsection? - Skeptic - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 8:21 am: Perhaps a 7-8% reduction in the House is in order as well. “The biggest expenditure in almost every organization is payroll.” Your point is…? There’s a reason people cost money, they do things that those “organizations” need to have done in order to fulfill their function. - Essential State Employee - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 8:30 am: =I hope you’re good at answering the phone, because your staff is included in my cutback plan.= =Perhaps a 7-8% reduction in the House is in order as well.= When I saw these replies, I initially thought, “I hope Pat Quinn doesn’t read this thread. He might start passing petitions for his new Cutback Amendment II. Cutting the membership of both the House and Senate by at least 7-8%.” - FormerILLobster - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 8:30 am: I didn’t realize any State employees were actually left in Springfield since Blagojevich/s - AC - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 8:35 am: It’ll probably be a winning strategy, Sangamon County residents don’t have a great track record when it comes to voting in their own economic self interest. - Nick Name - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 8:47 am: Illinois’ 50th would like to apologize for Sen. McClure. - Nick Name - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 8:51 am: ===Sangamon County residents don’t have a great track record=== The 50th state senate district includes all or portions of nine counties, and stretches all the way to the Mississippi and all the way down to Alton. Lots of angry rural white male GOP voters there. - Sloppy Joseph - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 8:52 am: * Describe the state head count * Technology modernization leads to a decreased need in paper pushers, so there’s that. Being a “republican” (lol, yeah right), I would think you would appreciate a smaller, more efficient state workforce. - Jibba - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 8:53 am: Cutting employees is the clear solution to problems at DCFS, IDES, Corrections, and the homes. After all, too many cooks spoil the broth, amirite? - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 8:56 am: === Technology modernization leads to a decreased need=== No. Use the Google. Headcount. Illinois’ rank… then 2010 to 2020. === Being a “republican” … I would think you…=== … understand that a functioning government doing less with more *is* what is happening… it’s the long term debt that’s eating budgetary cash… that and legal and legislative budgetary requirements (which we know all too well during Rauner’s destruction) showed where cuts are. Keep up. - Club J - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 9:01 am: So you’ve got State Senator Steve McClure (R-Springfield) saying Governor Pritzker and the legislature needs to cut 7-8% across the board. Then you have newly elected Murphy and Springfield’s Mayor and a couple Council Aldermen who are saying remote governing can’t happen because it will kill Springfield’s economy. Cutting 8% of the State workers will definitely make major impact. Maybe it’s time Republicans put their heads together and stop complaining and stop with these knee jerk reactions and start looking for more suitable ways to fix the problems. They want to say this and slap the Governor in the face with it. Why haven’t they came up with something of value to help in the last 12 months while the Governor was trying to fight the pandemic. My Dad might have only had an eighth grade education, but he always said. Less talk and more work will produce you better results. He and Mom produced three successful sons. So I’m inclined to say it works. - Norseman - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 9:03 am: GOP economic theory: job losses improve the economy. Somehow, my economic professor didn’t teach me that one. - Confusion - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 9:03 am: ==The biggest expenditure in almost every organization is payroll== It depends on the agency. Some agencies with small payrolls and large grant funds are a bit different. However, the approp code finals for 2020 looks like Illinois spent $7,229,177,891 on payroll, insurance, social security, retirement contributions, etc. Cutting that number by 7% across the board would be irresponsible because some agencies really just do not have the numbers to justify it. Furthermore, it does not solve the real issue in state agencies which is management of human capital. The best cost savings is closing some prisons. We have far less offenders now than 2 years ago. So, we could close some of the older prisons that are not mission critical. It sucks for the workers and the communities but if you are talking about reducing spending and saying prisons are off the table, you are not being serious. - Perrid - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 9:07 am: Sloppy Joseph, you really think the State’s infrastructure, much of which is still like 30 years old, has been modernized so much in the last 10 years that THAT’S the reason for the loss of state workers? … …… ……… Ok. - HangingOn - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 9:12 am: *Technology modernization leads to a decreased need in paper pushers* I am the only “paper pusher” in my office. At one time there were 4. I’m also the only person considered “essential” who has to be at work every day right now. Modernization did not give us machines to sort (and sometimes interpret) mail, answer and transfer phone calls based on “I don’t know exactly what I need done”, provide customer service, sort through files, etc. A lot of my job right now ends up being trying to explain to the public why they can’t talk to someone right away because each person is handling a minimum of 4 counties (2 guys handle 14 counties all by themselves) and are out of the office, in the field, doing their job more often than not. - DuPage Dave - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 9:14 am: Strange as it may seem there are a lot of anti-government state employees living in that district and working in Springfield. Presumably they believe that all the job cuts would affect others, most likely employees in the Chicago area. So mu guess is this guy knows his constituents pretty well. - CapitolRob - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 9:14 am: ==Utter gibberish. This isn’t even Ad-Libs worthy. What states haven’t had businesses hurt by Covid 19?== Where did Senator McClure say other states were not hurt by the pandemic? Really odd that you are against reducing spending that is relatively small (7-8%) and that could be done by just trimming pork and not costing any jobs. - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 9:18 am: === Where did Senator McClure say other states were not hurt by the pandemic?=== Reading is fundamental, try it sometime. === “There has to be serious cuts in a way in which we can actually cause people to want to come back to this state, particularly after our businesses have been devastated because of COVID,” he (Sen. McClure) said.=== What, comparing Illinois to other states’ responses, and how others are doing… hmm. === Really odd that you are against reducing spending that is relatively small (7-8%) and that could be done by just trimming pork and not costing any jobs.=== Really odd you are utterly as clueless as McClure, given how Rauner had two years, a whole General Assembly, without a budget and *still* that “across the boards” cuts couldn’t be realized, even then. Are you trying or just as silly as McClure? - Arsenal - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 9:20 am: Sounds good until you remember that everyone laid off will apply to IDES (and other state services) so very little money is actually gonna be saved. - JoanP - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 9:24 am: He must be related to that (now ex-)mayor in Texas: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/02/17/texas-mayor-power-outages-colorado/ - zatoichi - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 9:29 am: Sen McClure, asking for cuts across the board is easy. Why 7%-8%? Why not 10%-12% or 3%-5%? What will the performance impact of these cuts be? Gonna cut residential programs, road crews, police, CMS purchases, IDPH, and state software programs all the same percentage? Need a couple of more details on the plan. - Third Reading - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 9:34 am: Local man whose bio consists solely of govt jobs wants local govt jobs cut. I have an idea where to start. - Candy Dogood - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 9:37 am: We must forgive our State Workers, for a significant amount of time the only way get hired by the State of Illinois was to have actively supported a specific Republican politician on one of their political allies and so historically there is a tendency to have supported or to continue to support Republican politicians because Republican political corruption created undue influence on the make up of the employee pool. While this blatant practice of wasteful and illegal corruption ended some time ago, the people that were hired through that means didn’t go away and the attitude of “that’s how it works” remained in place to one degree or another. So, while I understand the temptation to look at how the state’s employees tend to vote and how they tend to have voted on the Fair Tax amendment exists, please remember that a significant portion of them are hapless victims of political graft scheme that doesn’t exist anymore, so they don’t really understand that the Leopards are coming to eat their faces. It’s up to the rational adults in the room to ignore the bed that many state workers are making for themselves in our own collective interests to have a State government that is capable of addressing the public needs and actually providing the public services we expect. Sure, we can lay off a bunch of public employees, but we’re going to be laying off the folks that just started their careers with the state. We’ll be throwing away whatever it cost to train them, we’ll be kicking people out the door that came to state employment with more qualifications (as a cohort) than the state workers who proceeded them, and eliminating employees that were hired through a much more meritocratic system than making sure you bought tickets to someone’s fundraiser. So, while there are certainly some state workers that deserve to be laid off based off of how they vote — it’s unlikely those state workers are the ones we’ll actually be laying off. Our State Government isn’t exactly the best or easiest place to work for, and we have asked our public servants to suffer under a lot — including middle and upper management that got their positions by “buying tickets to fund raisers” and aren’t necessarily the best or most educated managers we can find and that the agency’s HR teams and Labor Relations folks have a tendency to protect those bad managers rather than try to create a pool of talented and qualified middle and senior level managers dedicated to the mission of the state. So, forgive the people that vote R just because that’s how they got their job. If you can’t forgive, look the other way because giving them what they voted for isn’t just bad for them. It’s bad for all of us. - Reddevil1 - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 9:43 am: This is funny coming from the guy that has only had government jobs and really only got elected by the connections his family has … - Third Reading - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 10:11 am: They’ve already slashed the Senate Republican Caucus down to 18 members and McClure wants even deeper cuts? OK. - Give Me A Break - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 10:12 am: I’m thinking the Senator will be the first at the table at the COGFA closure hearings screaming about the jobs being lost. - City Guy - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 10:45 am: I always find it “interesting” that politicians want across the board cuts when it often results in funding going back to the federal government. Part of the idea of economic development is to import dollars into the local economy. Legislators and the Governor should have strategies in place to sensibly maximize the grant funding coming into Illinois. - JerryRodgers - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 11:24 am: I have been scrolling through these comments rolling my eyes. A lot of keyboard warriors that seem to know everything and nothing at the same time. Where did the senator say that those 7-8% cuts would be layoffs? I’ve typed variations of this comment at least three times and they were deleted. I guess common sense is the only thing banned from this board. - Demoralized - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 11:26 am: ==Really odd that you are against reducing spending that is relatively small (7-8%) and that could be done by just trimming pork and not costing any jobs.== Lol. 8% is far more than a trim to pork. - Rich Miller - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 11:28 am: ===could be done by just trimming pork=== Details, please. - Rich Miller - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 11:30 am: ===Where did the senator say that those 7-8% cuts would be layoffs?=== You can’t cut that much without forcing layoffs or reducing services so much that people are just standing around doing nothing. - JerryRodgers - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 11:30 am: == Lol. 8% is far more than a trim to pork.== I disagree. And I worked in state government for over 30 years. - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 11:32 am: === And I worked in state government for over 30 years.=== The “I Know” defense is not a defense. List the cuts. Show your work. - Dotnonymous - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 11:44 am: “Strange as it may seem there are a lot of anti-government state employees living in that district and working in Springfield.” - DuPage Dave Strange recently lost it’s meaning. - JS Mill - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 12:08 pm: =List the cuts. Show your work.= OW, I know that was meant for someone else but I want to take a crack at it if I can be so indulged… Option 1- ILGA meets once every two years. No compensation of per diems for years they do not meet, and no pension costs during non-meeting years. Eliminate all but one staffer per ILGA member and only get paid for years the ILGA meets. ILGA ONLY meets virtually. No need for office space or capitol, sell those properties move everyone to the old capitol. All office are paid for by member campaigns and are only in their district. Reduce all other support structures as needed. Option 2- all of the above plus eliminate the House and move to a unicameral legislature. option 3- realize we do not want to be Alabama or Texas (how are they doing these days? I have a few 20# propane tanks I am offering for $1000 a piece) and increase revenue to the extent that is needed. Maybe ask those who benefit the most to pay a little more. Don’t add more expenditures. But pay our bills. Mr. McClure can always offer a bill, but it is easier to call for someone else to do the dirty work. So brave this one. - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 12:17 pm: ===if I can be so indulged…=== At least you have options to consider. :) - Norseman - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 12:30 pm: === could be done by just trimming pork === LOL. Anyone remember Rauner’s lame attempt at identifying pork, or waste and fraud as he called it. It identified a drop in the bucket and mainly consisted of different priorities rather than actual waste. - SuburbanRepublican - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 1:05 pm: I could support the Governor’s proposals on the closing of business tax breaks that were passed in 2019, but shouldn’t there also be some spending reductions put forth? We always hear about a balanced approach of taxes and spending reductions from Democrats (which the GOP almost always opposes). - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 1:10 pm: === I could support the Governor’s proposals on the closing of business tax breaks that were passed in 2019, but shouldn’t there also be some spending reductions put forth?=== Example? - JS Mill - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 1:13 pm: = but shouldn’t there also be some spending reductions put forth? = You mean like the $700 million in cuts he proposed/enacted? Try to make some effort to keep up. - Squround - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 2:26 pm: This morning’s comment from Give Us Barabbas slaps hard on so many levels. Thank you for the belly laughs. - Froganon - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 2:42 pm: -State Sen. McClure- Illinois needs a 7% to 8% reduction in services. Fixed it for him. We need a reduction in snow plowing and maintenance, we’ll get to your roads in a few days or maybe a week, depending on how many plows and operators are working. Need unemployment to eat? We randomly delete 7 to 8% of cases. Children being abused or neglected, sorry, 7 to 8% of calls are randomly discarded. We’re cutting student population by to 7 to 8% in order to better educate some kids at the expense of those who are cut from school. Apply next year to see if your child can be included then. FOID card issue/renewal requests are suspended until we catch up…cutting services and jobs to make the economy grow - a proven failure every time. - John Deere Green - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 5:38 pm: ==I disagree. And I worked in state government for over 30 years.== Then you and CapitolRob should have no problem specifically identifying the approximately $333 million in General Funds “pork” that 8% of the proposed FY 2022 budget expenditures would represent. We all look forward to your detailed explanation of these cuts and where exactly in the budget you would make them. Page and line, please. You can even use the enacted FY 2021 ops budget, so all the numbers are right there for you. ==I guess common sense is the only thing banned from this board.== The cheese to go with that whine is next to the deli, Mr. Common Sense. - M - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 8:18 pm: The unemployment office cannot afford any cuts. - M - Wednesday, Feb 17, 21 @ 8:20 pm: ===could be done by just trimming pork=== Where is the pork? Name names please. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.