* The Tribune has a story today about a legislative battle that has been going on for months: The Rauner administration’s emergency rules that shut down most new access to the state’s childcare program as well as home care programs for the elderly and disabled.

We’ve talked about this topic numerous times, but here’s the GOP response as printed by the Trib…

“This may be shocking to the system and the protocol and the feel and jibe of what has been, I get that, but we are truly in new circumstances, these are unventured territories,” said Rep. Ron Sandack of Downers Grove, Republican co-chairman of the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, the panel that’s responsible for overseeing the minutiae of putting a law in place.

“There is only so much that the administration can control, and the few things they can are really difficult topics, it’s not fun,” he added. […]

“With no budget in place and the majority party refusing to pass a single reform to grow our economy, the state of Illinois is most certainly in a state of fiscal emergency,” Rauner spokeswoman Catherine Kelly said. “Illinois is facing a $4 billion deficit, and the administration is trying to responsibly manage the state’s finances amid statutorily required payments and various court orders and consent decrees.” […]

“We are on autopilot,” Sandack said. “For those who have made much to do about the rules process, I would ask have they been around for a budget impasse that’s lasted this long? The state has no appropriation authority and the ability to manage what amounts to pennies in the overall budget. If that’s not an emergency, I don’t know what would ever qualify.”

On a purely bean-counting basis, I get what they’re saying. But on a purely bean-counting basis, how do you then justify this?…

Gov. Bruce Rauner has offered packaged food giant ConAgra tax incentives to move its headquarters from Omaha to Chicago, according to a source familiar with the deal.

The revelation comes on the heels of news that ConAgra is negotiating to lease office space large enough to accommodate as many as 1,000 workers at River North’s Merchandise Mart. […]

(A) source familiar with the deal said Rauner met with ConAgra executives earlier this year and offered them Edge tax incentives to move to Illinois.

Though Rauner has since ordered a halt on such incentives until the state’s budget impasse is resolved, the commitment to ConAgra was made before that and will be honored, the source said.

Without businesses and jobs, we don’t bring in tax money. I totally get that. I’m not opposed to this tax incentive.

I’m just saying that when you’re cutting off grandma and grandbaby it might not be such a great time to be handing out bigtime tax breaks to Chef Boyardee.

*** UPDATE *** An interesting press release…

State Representative Grant Wehrli today called on the Rauner administration to work with the Naperville community and the Naperville Development Partnership to replace hundreds of local jobs that will be lost when food giant ConAgra relocates the Naperville jobs to Chicago. Representative Wehrli (R-Naperville) said the Naperville-to-Chicago move is part of a larger agreement that will provide ConAgra EDGE tax incentives for relocating their corporate headquarters to Chicago from Naperville and Omaha, Nebraska.

“These incentives are used to mask the poor business climate in Illinois. Without reforming things like workers compensation and unemployment insurance, we are left in the position of having to buy jobs with these unsustainable incentives,” Rep. Wehrli said.

“We all want to bring new jobs here from other states; but when the deal, brokered with tax incentives, costs an Illinois community 400 jobs, then it’s a hollow victory. Governor Rauner needs to work equally hard to ‘back fill’ those jobs leaving Naperville. The governor’s office cannot just create a hole and walk away,” said Rep. Wehrli.

ConAgra’s Naperville headquarters provides jobs for 400 employees. Its home to many of the company’s largest brands, including Hunts, Chef Boyardee, Peter Pan, and Hebrew National. Corporate leaders announced earlier this week that they are negotiating for office space in Chicago’s Merchandise Mart that will accommodate 700 employees including the relocation of employees from both Naperville and Omaha.

“Shifting hundreds of jobs from one community to another creates winners and losers within our own state. I know the Governor worked hard to bring these jobs to Chicago. Now, he needs to work equally hard to help us bring jobs back to Naperville,” Rep. Wehrli concluded.