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Friday, Oct 30, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller

In the latest lob of back-and-forth insults between Gov. Rauner and Mayor Emanuel, the governor stopped by a Lakeview grocery store to buy dead fish he vowed to send to the mayor.

It’s a jab at the old story of Emanuel sending a dead fish to pollster he was unhappy with in 1988. And that was a play off the scene in “The Godfather,” when the Corleone family was sent a dead fish as a message that their enforcer, Luca Brasi, was dead and “now sleeps with the fishes.”

On Friday, Rauner said he hoped two plastic-wrapped tuna steaks would send the same message, especially with regard to this week’s landmark property tax hike.

“This mayor has put in the biggest tax hike in Chicago’s history with no structural reform,” Rauner said. “I understand why he’s sensitive right now — he’s got a lot of angry constituents, and they’re angry for good reason.”

* The pic…

Gov. @BruceRauner stopped by @PaulinaMarket to buy Rahm Emanuel a dead fish. #nottheonion https://t.co/aLw3DSzY6Q pic.twitter.com/vHHwQ9BOwu

— Ariel Cheung (@arielfab) October 30, 2015

* And this is odd, because the mayor has repeatedly said he wants to work with the governor on workers’ comp…

Rauner at Paulina Meat Market says Mayor Emanuel supports his workers comp plan; there's "hiding, dodging" going on pic.twitter.com/ChBwmAtDKx

— Tony Arnold (@tonyjarnold) October 30, 2015

A Rahm quote from two weeks ago…

“Having supported workers’ comp before, in 2011 when we passed the last major reform of workers’ comp, there’s a place I’ll work with you. And I want to see a municipal part of that because, as one of the largest employers in the state, we have a vested interest in reform to workers’ comp.”

*** UPDATE 1 *** Tribune…

Gov. Bruce Rauner on Friday tried to inject some levity into his back-and-forth with Mayor Rahm Emanuel, telling told reporters he planned to send a piece of “dead fish” to City Hall.

Just hours after Emanuel suggested that the rookie Republican governor “stop name-calling and just do your job,” Rauner held a news conference at a North Side meat market, where he bought some double-cut pork chops, a beef tenderloin, and a piece of tuna steak.

The tuna, Rauner said, was “a gift for a special person.”

“I bought some fish, to send some dead fish to the mayor,” Rauner said. “I think he will deeply appreciate that, as only he can.”

*** UPDATE 2 *** Raw audio…

Click to listen

169 Comments

*** UPDATED x1 *** The “hostage” meme spreads

Friday, Oct 30, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller

* I assume we’ll soon be seeing a Chicago Tribune editorial addressing this growing trend…

The state needs to get its fiscal act together because college students, domestic violence victims and low-income working families are among those hurt by the state not having a budget, participants at a rally held at Northern Illinois University said Thursday. […]

“Politicians are forcing domestic violence victims back to their abusers,” read the sign that Lynnea Erickson held at the rally. She is an abuse intervention services coordinator at DeKalb County-based Safe Passage, a nonprofit agency that assists victims of domestic violence.

Although the rally didn’t take a political side, Erickson said the governor, ultimately, is responsible for the the state’s budget impasse. She blames the state not having a budget for social agencies losing funding, cutting services and, in come cases, closing.

“The governor is holding social services hostage to negotiate the deal he wants for business,” she said.

*** UPDATE *** The fuming, thunderous Tribune editorial came faster than even I figured it would. Click here.

48 Comments

*** UPDATED x1 *** A desperate plea for help

Friday, Oct 30, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller

*** UPDATE *** We helped her reach her goal, plus some. Keep it coming, folks…

Oh my goodness, THANK YOU, everyone! I can breathe a sigh of relief on the debts, so troubling , getting behind, wondering when an employer is going to call. It is not for the faint of heart when you have to sell your car to pay rent, but you learn to persevere.

We will get through this, but we never had a chance without your help… Thank you again I was actually jumping up and down on the bed with the kids a minute ago - so great to feel that way!

[ *** End Of Update *** ]

* I caught a glimpse of Ashley Goodwin’s Twitter feed not long ago. She had tweeted something critical about the governor, so it popped up on one of my routine searches…

No jobs, no hope, Illinois is a joke, preparing for homelessness….

— Ashley Goodwin (@AshandAnt1) October 17, 2015

#illinoisbudget #brucerauner thanks for helping my children become homeless…

— Ashley Goodwin (@AshandAnt1) October 19, 2015

* Goodwin appears to be an intelligent woman who is struggling to understand how she got to where she is and how to get out. She and her family are literally on the verge of homelessness, but she and her husband can’t find work or government help. Her feed is definitely worth a scroll…

I am #livingproof the system is a failure , so I am preparing for homelessness without any assistance https://t.co/ZYSVLXzj3u

— Ashley Goodwin (@AshandAnt1) October 21, 2015

#BruceRauner Supportive Housing Svcs, cut from $30.8 million to $16.7 million, so 10,311 formerly homeless households would be unfunded.

— Ashley Goodwin (@AshandAnt1) October 21, 2015

We're sorry, the assistance you are needing - has been disconnected. Please need help at another time, thank you. pic.twitter.com/YiT9kMIaOC

— Ashley Goodwin (@AshandAnt1) October 23, 2015

@Licia360 @GovRauner I am #livingproof , getting ready for homelessness with 2 toddlers due to no funding - #thxto #BruceRauner #ILDHS

— Ashley Goodwin (@AshandAnt1) October 24, 2015

I never thought I could actually give up on #iilinois, never seemed possible… #thxto @BruceRauner #impasse #homelessness #SpeakOut

— Ashley Goodwin (@AshandAnt1) October 26, 2015

* The Illinois Policy Institute has a decent writeup…

Ever since their Danville, Illinois, apartment building burned down three years ago, Anthony and Ashley Goodwin have been hustling to survive.

Anthony dug through the rubble for three days, searching for his wallet. But after working in tech repair and starting a resale business on eBay to stay afloat, the Goodwins have again found themselves in dire straits.

They don’t have enough money for rent. The gas has been turned off at their home. And Anthony walks three miles to the nearest Wal-Mart to buy groceries. Anthony, Ashley, their three-year-old daughter, Ana, and two-year-old son, Alex, face homelessness by mid-November.

They both want work, but there isn’t much to be found nearby.

“I can’t get a job at any of the 15 employers that hire unskilled labor in our community,” Anthony said. “The jobs aren’t there.”

The Goodwins are far from the exception in Illinois. They are not alone. […]

“If we could move out of Illinois, we would,” Ashley said. But her family can’t afford to leave.

The Goodwins have never taken government rental assistance, but their recent struggles have them calling state agencies every day looking for answers. There’s just one problem: Because Illinois doesn’t have a state budget in place, operations have ground to a halt at many social-service departments.

“The homelessness-prevention hotline is disconnected,” Ashley said. “That defeats the whole point of a hotline. It is really frustrating. For the first time in our lives, we are reaching out to the state for help, but there’s no one on the other end of the line.”

The broader context is the lack of jobs. Danville is not a great place to find work, and the family appears to have moved to Watseka, which, take it from me, isn’t much better.

* From her GoFundMe page…

Please share where you can - Trying to get help in Illinois is pointless, as most agencies do not answer, or are temporarily closed, there is nothing but a run-around and no answers from DHS or any other government agency.

I own my own mobile home in a small mobile home park, have lived here for two years, then had a recent change in income so we have gotten behing the last 2 and a half months, now, facing an eviction notice I recently received, I have come to realize just how the Illinois budget impasse has effected our lives.

I have a 2 and 3 year old and yesterday, according to United Way, since most agencies rely on the funds that have been frozen due to the impasse, I have run out of options so I need to prepare to lose my home that I own for a lousy $680 in back lot rent, because apparently, Illinois does not have $680. Not to mention our power is going to be shut off due to the impasse and LIHEAP (energy assistance) funds being frozen. All together, we have a $540 gas bill, they already shut us off, and our electric is $180, which will be shut off any day as well.

This has been an eye-opening nightmare, I have been calling every agency in the State, those that do answer, have no clue what to do as the funding is not available or try to pass me on to someone else who is even less help, but most don’t even answer, including the ever-worthless DHS “help line” at 800-843-6154, the number they give if you need help.. I have been calling every day for a week now, never get a person, no answer, and you cant even leave a message.

I am at a loss - something has to be done with this situation in Illinois. Someone has to look into what has gone wrong here. I have never gotten rental assistance in my life , yet am treated like I have no options, what is it all for?

…Adding… Many thanks to Rep. Dave McSweeney for his $786 contribution which helped Ashley meet her GoFundMe goal!

68 Comments

*** UPDATED x2 - Rahm fires back *** Because… Rahm

Friday, Oct 30, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller

* But, wait, I thought they got along fine and could easily cut a deal if it wasn’t for that certain someone…

Gov. Bruce Rauner’s office called Emanuel “just another tax-and-spend politician,” Thursday afternoon and at an event later last night in DeKalb, Rauner lit into the mayor for blaming Chicago’s financial woes on the General Assembly. “That’s not created by Springfield,” Rauner said. “That is a failure on the mayor’s part and a failure to take on reforms.”

– “It’s clear that less than 24 hours after passing the largest property tax hike in city history, the mayor is already laying the ground work for another tax hike because he is refusing to engage in passing structural reforms that will save Chicago taxpayer hundreds of millions of dollars,” Rauner spokesman Mike Schrimpf said in a statement. “The mayor needs to get serious about whether he is going to be a reformer or just another tax-and-spend politician who wants to blame someone else for their failures.”

– Responding to … — On Wednesday, Emanuel told reporters: “It’s a very strange economic strategy to try and hurt your economic engine, that’s how you’re gonna grow the economy…Name me a governor in the other 49 states that is attacking the economic engine of their state. Is the gov of Washington state going after Seattle? Is the Gov of Oregon going after Portland?”

– It’s your own fault, Rauner says: “Unfortunately, in hearing the mayor’s comments in Chicago, it sounds like he’s trying to lay the blame for the failure of Chicago on other people, on Springfield,” Rauner said in DeKalb, according to audio obtained by POLITICO. “Chicago has been fundamentally mismanaged for years and the mayor is forcing a massive property tax hike — the biggest tax hike in Chicago history … and it doesn’t even fix the problem … even with that… there are going to be more tax hikes coming because Mayor Emanuel has not done fundamental structural reform for the long term.”

– Basically Rahm, you’re a ‘failure’: “He’s already admitted after this big tax hike he doesn’t have enough money to properly fund the pensions. He’s admitted he doesn’t have enough money to fund for the school year,” Rauner said. “That’s not created by Springfield. That is a failure on the mayor’s part and a failure to take on reforms.”

Please note that the governor said those things in DeKalb. I wonder if he’s ever said anything like that to the mayor himself.

*** UPDATE 1 *** From the twitters…

Rahm to Rauner: "Stop name calling and just do your job"

— Lauren Chooljian (@laurenchooljian) October 30, 2015

*** UPDATE 2 *** Full quote from the Tribune…

“My view is we (passed a budget) without rancor, but actually doing exactly what we need to do,” Emanuel said Friday. “I think what Springfield needs to do is not call names to anybody, you’re 120 days and counting behind schedule, 6,000-plus kids have been thrown out of daycare. The job to get done is to actually go back to the negotiating table and get a budget. Calling people names doesn’t get you a budget.”

“My view is, and I would just say this to the governor and the governor’s office: you’re 120 days behind budget, $6 billion and counting in not paying bills. Stop name-calling and just do your job.”

81 Comments

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