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Rauner targets 7 House districts with anti-tax robocalls

Tuesday, May 20, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller

* From a press release…

Gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner today released automated calls to voters in six key state legislative districts where the General Assembly’s vote on making Pat Quinn’s state income tax increase permanent could be decided.

“Pat Quinn thinks you don’t pay enough in taxes – but I disagree,” Rauner says in the calls. “There’s still time to help me fight Pat Quinn’s tax increase – and to let State Representative Deb Conroy know you want her to protect you from higher income taxes.”

The calls come one day after media reported that Quinn and House Speaker Michael Madigan convened a secret backroom meeting with Democratic lawmakers to pressure them to vote for Quinn’s tax hike. Reports indicate the meeting did not go well for Quinn with lawmakers rejecting the governor’s false choice between raising taxes and funding education.

Rauner encouraged voters to stand against Pat Quinn’s tax increase proposal and ensure State Representatives Deb Conroy (LD 46), Marty Moylan (LD 55), Carol Sente (LD 59), Sam Yingling (LD 62), Mike Smiddy (LD 71), Kate Cloonen (LD 79), and Sue Scherer (LD 96) vote against it if Madigan calls a vote.

That’s seven, not six, as the press release says.

And I know Rauner is unfamiliar with the Statehouse, but room 114 isn’t a “backroom.” It’s a hearing room.

* The robocall…

* Script…

Hello, this is Bruce Rauner. Yesterday, Governor Pat Quinn and Mike Madigan held a secret backroom meeting with State Representatives, pressuring them to raise your income taxes. Pat Quinn thinks you don’t pay enough in taxes – but I disagree. There’s still time to help me fight Pat Quinn’s tax increase – and to let State Representative [insert name] know you want [him/her] to protect you from higher income taxes. If you oppose higher income taxes and want to get more involved in my campaign, call me at 312-583-0704. Paid for by Citizens for Rauner, Inc

If you call the number, you’re asked to “dial zero” for an operator. I did so and was put on hold and then transferred into a voicemail account for volunteers.

Usually, these sorts of robocalls offer to connect you to your legislators. So Rauner’s calls aren’t interactive in the traditional sense.

…Adding… If Rauner really wanted to have an impact on the vote itself, he wouldn’t target most of those folks listed above. They’re already solid “No” votes on a tax hike extension. Instead, he’d go after Democrats who aren’t quite decided, or are staying mum.

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“It’s not my job”

Tuesday, May 20, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller

* At about the 2:30 mark in a YouTube video uploaded this morning by the Bruce Rauner campaign, WTTW’s Phil Ponce asks reporter Paris Schutz if Rauner has yet come up with an alternative plan to making the income tax hike permanent. Schutz’s response…

“Phil, he hasn’t. And today he said he wanted to wait for those lawmakers to figure out what they’re going to do before he unveiled the specifics of his [plan].”

Watch…

* So, which is it? Either he doesn’t have a plan or he has one and he’s waiting until after session ends.

I asked Rauner’s spokesman for a clarification…

I just listened to the audio from the gaggle and this is what Bruce said:

“We are going to be coming out with our own plan of spending priorities and tax strategies in the not too distant future.”

* But why wait?

I mean, if the tax hike is so bad, if it hurts the economy so much, then why make Illinoisans wait until next year to get rid of it?

If Rauner really does have some ideas, isn’t now the time to lay them out, before the Legislature has adjourned?

* The Rauner campaign’s response to this notion…

But to your larger point, Pat Quinn, Mike Madigan and John Cullerton are in charge now. It’s up to them to pass a budget during the session. As Bruce said he will put forth a budget plan in the not too distant future.

* Look, I totally get the politics here. There’s no good political reason to jump into a self-made train wreck like this Democrats-only tax hike debate.

And it is their job, not his at the moment, to craft a solution to this vexing problem.

But he is a life-long citizen of Illinois. And he has loudly and bitterly complained for well over a year about how the tax hike is killing Illinois and driving away businesses and families. If he has some ideas for dealing with this awful mess, shouldn’t he try to help his state?

/rant

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Madigan: “We are significantly away from 60 today”

Tuesday, May 20, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller

* House Speaker Michael Madigan talked to reporters after yesterday’s marathon meeting with House Democrats and Gov. Pat Quinn…

Madigan said that Quinn worked hard to present his case, but he doesn’t know yet if any minds were changed. “I thought he did an excellent job of presenting his position, arguing for his position, taking questions. He took every question. He answered every question. He got very animated on a lot of his answers because, at times, he wasn’t hearing what he wanted to hear,” Madigan said.

“I think it’s significant that there was opposition expressed from all sectors of our caucus. I’m going to continue to work to find 60 Democrats to vote for the governor’s bill. We are significantly away from 60 today.” When asked how he would get the votes, Madigan said, “It’s going to take a great deal of persuasion.” He refused to answer questions about possible alternative revenue sources or what would happen with the budget if he cannot get the votes for the extension.

Opposition was, indeed, expressed from “all sectors” of the caucus. As I tweeted yesterday during the meeting…

Hearing the HDem caucus with the governor has become a "bloodbath"

— Rich Miller (@capitolfax) May 19, 2014

Subscribers have more details.

* The governor tried to be more upbeat…

“It was really enjoyable. Everybody had a good chance to speak their minds,” the governor said afterward.

Quinn declined to talk in specifics about how much support he thinks there is for the tax issue. […]

Quinn centered his presentation Monday on the state’s responsibility to fund education, even carrying a copy of the state Constitution into the meeting to emphasize that it says the state is primarily responsible for education.

So, it was an “up day”?

Sigh.

* But he did demonstrate that he understands the reality of his situation…

“I think we need to make sure that we properly invest in our schools. Our state over relies right now on property tax to fund education. I think we have to do better. We have to use a tax based on ability to pay, the income tax, to properly fund our schools. I spoke about that quite a bit in the caucus,” Quinn said after he addressed the Democrats. […]

“You’re always building a majority on any issue; it’s a building of a majority to get to 60. I think we’re doing our very best to get that majority. I think my philosophy in life is hope for the best and work for it. So, we’re working real hard on getting those 60 votes in the House of Representatives. Obviously, we have to keep on working until we get there.”

* The reaction from Bruce Rauner was expected…

Monday’s meeting between the governor and his erstwhile House Democratic allies came after he endured another withering day of being beaten up by Republican gubernatorial rival Bruce Rauner, who labeled Quinn a “tax-and-spend” politician and failed leader who can’t move Democratic supermajorities in the House and Senate to do his bidding.

“They’re playing political games and showing a lack of leadership and unfortunately in Springfield, that’s been the status quo,” Rauner said after a campaign event in Northbrook.

“Right now, they’re trying to portray themselves as just doing whatever the voters want. They’re saying voters like more spending so we’re gonna give them more spending. Voters don’t like taxes so we’re just not going to vote on taxes,” Rauner charged.

“That’s political gamesmanship. That’s playing political football with our financial health. It’s a huge mistake. It’s a failure of leadership. It’s a failure of the General Assembly and the governor down there,” Rauner said.

It’s not that I disagree, it’s just that I’d kinda like to see a plan from Rauner. It doesn’t have to be a 500-page line item appropriations bill. Just sketch something out on a napkin or something. Anything.

* More…

If Madigan is “determined and he needs his 60 votes, he finds a way to get there,” [House GOP Leader Jim Durkin] said. “But he’s not going to get it with Republican participation.”

Madigan and Quinn both dismissed remarks from Durkin and Republican governor candidate Bruce Rauner, who was critical of Democrats for pushing a tax hike that he says is not needed. Rauner has contended the high taxes are causing businesses and people to leave Illinois.

Madigan shot back: “People are leaving because they’re looking at the prospect of Rauner as the governor.”

Nice pivot, but I kinda doubt that.

* Watch the raw video of both Quinn and Madigan via our good friends at BlueRoomStream.com…

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