Today’s quotable
Tuesday, Jun 13, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The credit ratings agencies also prefer governors who don’t put their own personal crusades ahead of negotiating a reasonably balanced budget for their state. Just sayin…
Rauner also couldn’t stop himself from taking a dig at the Pritzker’s administration’s boasts about how the state has earned several credit rating upgrades in recent years.
“Credit agencies love tax hikes,” Rauner said. “And they love federal bailouts.”
…Adding… Here’s some context…
Back in April 2015, less than two months before the impasse started, Rauner suggested he could leverage a state budget crisis to win approval of his economic agenda.
“Crisis creates opportunity,” Rauner told the Chicago Tribune editorial board. “Crisis creates leverage to change … and we’ve got to use that leverage of the crisis to force structural change.”
The Springfield impasse did create a budget crisis, and for two years, Rauner kept Republicans unified.
* And after a bipartisan super-majority in both chambers finally voted to raise the income tax to just under where it had been before Rauner took office, and then Rauner vetoed that bill, we saw this…
With a $6.2 billion annual deficit and $14.7 billion in overdue bills, disaster is around the corner. The United Way predicts the demise of 36 percent of all human-services agencies in Illinois by year’s end. Billions of dollars in road construction work is shutting down. Public universities have been cut to the bone and face a loss of academic accreditation.
No other state has come close to Illinois when it comes to a budget impasse. The standoff entered a third straight year on July 1.
Credit-rating houses have threatened to downgrade the state’s creditworthiness to “junk,” signaling to investors that buying state debt is a highly speculative venture.
Rauner dismissed the possibility of another downgrade for Illinois, which already has the worst credit rating of any U.S. state.
“Don’t listen to Wall Street. Don’t listen to a bunch of politicians who want power,” he said after local business owners talked about rising property taxes and residents going to nearby Indiana to shop and fill up on gas. “Listen to the people of Illinois.”
And this…
The Ounce of Prevention Fund, an early childhood education foundation headed by Rauner’s wife Diana, issued a statement Wednesday calling for the House to override the governor’s veto.
“The governor vetoed the bills and the Senate has voted to override that veto,” the statement read. “We strongly urge the House of Representatives to now follow the Senate in voting to override the governor’s veto.”
The state currently has $14.7 billion in unpaid bills and has just entered its third consecutive fiscal year without a budget. Credit monitoring agencies have previously warned that without a budget, the state’s bond rating could fall to “junk” status, which would be a first for any state in the country.
- DuPage Dad - Tuesday, Jun 13, 23 @ 10:20 am:
I Think You (Bruce Rauner) Should Leave
- Appears - Tuesday, Jun 13, 23 @ 10:21 am:
Rauner failed. End of story. That is how he will be remembered.
- Flyin' Elvis'-Utah Chapter - Tuesday, Jun 13, 23 @ 10:22 am:
And you made your fortune intentionally bankrupting businesses.
Dude can’t be forgotten soon enough.
- Anon E Moose - Tuesday, Jun 13, 23 @ 10:23 am:
Maybe he can run some negligent nursing homes in Florida now?
- Candy Dogood - Tuesday, Jun 13, 23 @ 10:24 am:
===“Credit agencies love tax hikes,” Rauner said===
Bruce Rauner never once introduced a balance budget. Bruce Rauner’s own agency directors never showed up to the legislature with their plans to cut spending below where we needed to be without increasing taxes.
Credit rating agencies love it when people pay their bills. Tax hikes and bailouts help pay bills.
Bruce Rauner did not pay the bills and that’s why Bruce Rauner is a failure.
- Glengarry - Tuesday, Jun 13, 23 @ 10:24 am:
Rauner is/was the worst governor in Illinois history.
- Streator Curmudgeon - Tuesday, Jun 13, 23 @ 10:24 am:
To paraphrase Paul Simon:
“Still clueless after all these years.”
- Anon - Tuesday, Jun 13, 23 @ 10:25 am:
Love the subtle G drop
- Bruce( no not him) - Tuesday, Jun 13, 23 @ 10:25 am:
Still bitter after all these years.
- Levois - Tuesday, Jun 13, 23 @ 10:26 am:
Rauner had his chance, he blew it. Go back to Florida. Someone else will take it from here.
- Michelle Flaherty - Tuesday, Jun 13, 23 @ 10:28 am:
Credit rating agenices love stable and responsible. The Rauner administration was erratic and immature.
- Friendly Bob Adams - Tuesday, Jun 13, 23 @ 10:31 am:
Like the song says…How can I miss you when you won’t go away??
- Pundent - Tuesday, Jun 13, 23 @ 10:32 am:
What an absolute phony. Rauner told us he was willing to support a tax hike, but only after he was allowed to destroy public sector unions. And when he couldn’t get his wish he drove the state into a ditch. That will be his legacy.
- RNUG - Tuesday, Jun 13, 23 @ 10:33 am:
I still think Rauner’s whole term as Governor was the result of a bet between a couple of rich guys … and a bad joke on everyone else in the State.
- Three Dimensional Checkers - Tuesday, Jun 13, 23 @ 10:34 am:
The key to business success is unbalanced budgets and not paying your bills. Oh, and hiring Stuart Levine. That’s important too.
- Matt - Tuesday, Jun 13, 23 @ 10:41 am:
Well put, Candy Dogood.
- thechampaignlife - Tuesday, Jun 13, 23 @ 10:41 am:
Neither the tax hike nor the bailout were Pritzker’s doing, but neither were they Rauner’s. What was JB’s doing is balancing a budget and paying bills. He could have thrown a hissy fit, or blown all the new revenue on new programs, but he chose to govern. THAT is the difference.
- Norseman - Tuesday, Jun 13, 23 @ 10:42 am:
Rating agencies also dislike the abandonment of responsible fiscal management to pursue Quixotic crusades.
- Jocko - Tuesday, Jun 13, 23 @ 10:53 am:
==What an absolute phony.==
This all day. Between his trashcan van, immigrant grandparents, the elderly ladies telling him to ’stay the course’, and desire to be re-elected/remain in Illinois.
Everything that comes out of his mouth should be accompanied by an asterisk.
- Give Me A Break - Tuesday, Jun 13, 23 @ 10:57 am:
Credit rating agencies also like human service providers not waiting over a year for payments.
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Jun 13, 23 @ 10:58 am:
===immigrant grandparents===
Aside from the historic damage, repeatedly lying about his own grandparents completely turned my stomach.
https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/rauner-immigrant-grandparents-bga/23421/
- Michelle Flaherty - Tuesday, Jun 13, 23 @ 11:03 am:
Bruce Rauner was a sham governor.
- Gruntled University Employee - Tuesday, Jun 13, 23 @ 11:08 am:
If I remember correctly he had the largest landslide election loss of an incumbent Governor in State history. So he’s got that going for him.
- Henry Francis - Tuesday, Jun 13, 23 @ 11:21 am:
This site did a great job of showing us all the social services that were lost as a result of Rauner’s budget unreasonableness. People lost access to housing, food, healthcare, childcare, etc. The most basic of needs of very needy people were lost because of this man.
But hey, he lost some hair.
- Nick Name - Tuesday, Jun 13, 23 @ 11:23 am:
===Dude can’t be forgotten soon enough.===
No, he should be remembered, and posts like this are a good thing, if only because we need the occasional reminder of how awful he was and how close to the brink he brought us. Never again.
- New Day - Tuesday, Jun 13, 23 @ 11:26 am:
“I still think Rauner’s whole term as Governor was the result of a bet between a couple of rich guys … and a bad joke on everyone else in the State.”
And the bet was for…a dollar.
To the post, Rauner’s Administration was a train wreck. A dumpster fire. The damage he did to the state and to nonprofits that rely on the state is incalculable. He wasn’t just a bad governor. We’ve had those. He was a toxic governor who only knew how to destroy which is why he suffered a generational defeat. Oh, and in the process, he also destroyed the Republican party’s funding base and structure.
Other than that, he was awesome.
- New Day - Tuesday, Jun 13, 23 @ 11:28 am:
Oh, and one last thing.
“Credit agencies love tax hikes,”
No, Bruce. Ratings agencies love balanced budgets and responsible governance - two things you clearly knew nothing about.
- Tired Teacher - Tuesday, Jun 13, 23 @ 11:29 am:
Rauner just go away and never, ever come back.
- Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, Jun 13, 23 @ 11:48 am:
Why was it a personal crusade?
He ran on these issues and won the election.
- Grandson of Man - Tuesday, Jun 13, 23 @ 11:54 am:
Even US Speaker McCarthy, who supports and protects TFG, would not mess around with defaulting on debt and quickly made a deal with Biden. Default was out of the question. Not Rauner and his supporters. They created a Katrina hurricane to break and remake the public sector with multiple years of no budgets. Yet they still yap like they’re something. That’s almost the worst part, the lack of shame and accountability, the lack of having a conscience.
- The Captain - Tuesday, Jun 13, 23 @ 12:01 pm:
I was strongly opposed to Rauner back then, I remain strongly opposed to his approach today.
But mostly, now that we’ve recovered from all that, I’m just ready to move on.
- Dotnonymous x - Tuesday, Jun 13, 23 @ 12:07 pm:
I wonder if Rauner had someone else sit for the portait…like when he wanted anyone else to take his place.
- Siualum - Tuesday, Jun 13, 23 @ 12:16 pm:
“Don’t listen to Wall Street. Don’t listen to a bunch of politicians…. Listen to the people of Illinois”.
Guess he got that last part right.
- Ducky LaMoore - Tuesday, Jun 13, 23 @ 12:29 pm:
Some people in life gain wisdom through experience. And some people just get really good at being ignorant. Rauner falls into the latter camp. The level of cluelessness is staggering.
- Lurker - Tuesday, Jun 13, 23 @ 12:32 pm:
He was breaking more than midway through his term as many of us were tired of it the third-grade mentality and were leaving. But when his wife publicly asked the house to follow the senate to override his veto, that was the final straw that broke him. I was quite happy but I had just recently left my dream job. I wish I could have made it a couple more months.
- Pundent - Tuesday, Jun 13, 23 @ 12:38 pm:
=He ran on these issues and won the election.=
Rauner said that he had no issue with public sector unions when he ran and then went about destroying them and depriving the state a budget the centerpiece of his tenure. And the rest as they say is history.
- Honeybear - Tuesday, Jun 13, 23 @ 12:47 pm:
Always perfidious…always. I am so thankful the here in the Metro East our United Way was headquartered in St Louis Missouri. We didn’t lose as much safety net as most in the state. I look back at Rauners perfidy with such rage. He alone caused so much suffering to so many.
I’m so very glad Chicago chose another Mayor instead of Raunerite Vallas whose perfidy was revealed by joining IPI.
I hope we never forget the lessons we learned.
- Dotnonymous x - Tuesday, Jun 13, 23 @ 1:01 pm:
- He ran on these issues and won the election. -
That’s one revisionist version.
- Interim Retiree - Tuesday, Jun 13, 23 @ 1:23 pm:
One “good” about Bruce Rauner is that he makes me a bit forgetful about Pat Quinn. I almost typed Blago, but Blago himself won’t let us forget him.
Thank you JB for helping me soon forget Bruce.
- ArchPundit - Tuesday, Jun 13, 23 @ 1:46 pm:
Whenever I’m sick of hearing about Pat Quinn, Rauner reminds me of who I want to hear even less from.
- Demoralized - Tuesday, Jun 13, 23 @ 4:44 pm:
==Why was it a personal crusade?==
It doesn’t surprise me the least little bit that you wouldn’t understand that point.