* From WLDS AM…

A long-time political reporter doubts the state will get a new budget before next summer.

In fact, Chicago Tribune’s Ray Long says there may be no budget until Democrats try to get Governor Bruce Rauner out of office in the 2018 elections.

* You may recall that I asked Gov. Rauner about this almost a year ago, back in January. Oscar the Puppy made the interview slightly difficult, however…

Miller: Do you see [Speaker Madigan] cutting a deal before the primary? Or before the General Election?

Rauner: I don’t know what timing he is going to choose. You know my buddies over in the Democratic caucus, some say that there’s a chance he’ll do it soon, others have said there is no way it’s happening before the primary. And more and more are sayin’ no way until after the general. At some point we got to lead.

Miller: How do you get there? You’ve faced complicated situations in business. You didn’t become who you were by just waiting everyone out.

::Oscar growing increasingly agitated::

Rauner: I haven’t played every card in my hand, I haven’t done everything I can do. I’m just going to keep doing what I can do to try and get a compromise.

Miller: Are you going to wait four years? Before we get a budget? Your entire term?

Rauner: Here’s the thing – I will not sign off on a tax hike that doesn’t have reforms in it.

::Oscar barking madly::

Miller: Oscar please!!

Miller: So, four years? Are you really willing to wait four years?

::Oscar continues barking as if to stop the interview all together::

Miller: Are you really willing to wait four years?

Rauner: I’m not waiting, I’m working my ass off 24/7.

Miller: Ok, are you willing to work your ass off and get nothing 24/7 for four years?

Rauner: We’ve already got a lot in the first year. I’m all about improvin’ the future for the people of Illinois.

Miller: (After a pause) Uh-huh.

Raw audo is here.

*** UPDATE ***  That above interview was when the governor promised me economic and fiscal projections for his Turnaround Agenda. When I published them, Rauner promptly disowned his own numbers and then falsely claimed I was a former Madigan employee to distract from his woefully anemic projections of a $500 million revenue increase.

So, along those lines, here’s Wordslinger in comments today…

–We’re two years into Rauner’s term and I continue to be amazed that he thinks he’s going to get what he wants by opting for a 24/7/365 war against Madigan. Is he really any closer to his policy objectives than he was when he was first elected?–

Therein, I think, is a fundamental miscalculation many are making.

If squeeze-the-beast is the real agenda, and I think it is, then everything Rauner is doing makes perfect sense.

By his own (since disowned) calculation, Rauner estimated that his “agenda” would generate $500 million a year in extra state revenue.

So, do you push an FY17 budget with an $8 billion deficit (now estimated at $13 billion), and triple the backlog of bills to an estimated $14 billion by June 30, to hold out for an extra $500 million a year?

That would be the act of a lunatic. And Rauner ain’t crazy. He knows what he’s doing, and he’s accomplishing what he set out to do.

He just didn’t tell anyone what that was, for good reason.

Your thoughts?

…Adding… 47th Ward offers a counter-point…

He’s just so far removed from the carnage that he doesn’t care about the damage he is doing. The damage he is inflicting is in service of his anti-union zeal. He will stop at nothing to eliminate public unions. Period.

He knows he can’t get this done without breaking the whole political system so that’s what he’s doing, and damn the consequences.

I tend to side with 47 on this one.