*** UPDATE - 10:23 am *** As I figured, all this Chicago media hype about today’s big budget cut announcement is simply a retread of the cuts Quinn outlined last week in Springfield.
[ *** End of Update *** ]
* Gov. Quinn held a meeting yesterday about the state budget with almost 40 suburban lawmakers. By looking at the media coverage, it didn’t really go very well…
Rep. Jack Franks, a Woodstock Democrat who attended today’s meeting, said the governor hasn’t proven to the public that a tax increase is a last resort. Instead of identifying specific spending cuts and negotiating with unions early in the spring, the governor has waited until the new fiscal year this summer to lay the groundwork for a tax hike. “This should have been the very last option on the table. And for him, it was the first and only,” he said. […]
Few legislators had high expectations for next week’s special session. “I think next will be a colossal waste of time,” said Rep. Dennis Reboletti, an Elmhurst Republican. “I don’t think any suburban legislators’ mind was changed by this meeting.”
Part of the problem, of course, was the audience itself. Many of those at the meeting were Republicans who won’t vote for a tax hike no matter what, or Democrats like Jack Franks who also will never, ever vote for a tax increase. And then there are those who are planning a statewide bid (Franks included), who won’t be on board no matter what…
“Again, until there is no more talk of a tax hike, I think we’re going down the wrong road,” [GOP gubernatorial candidate Sen. Matt Murphy (R-Palatine) said.
“We need a Quinn budget that isn’t based on a Blagojevich strategy,” [Rep. Mike Tryon (R-Crystal Lake)] said. “Would you give these guys more money to spend?”
South suburban Democrats emerged from the meeting aligning with Quinn, saying a combination of an income tax increase and cuts to services will solve the budgetary mess.
“There’s no way we’re going to get out of this without cuts and revenue enhancements,” said state Sen. Toi Hutchinson (D-Olympia Fields). “Walking around acting like we can do this without an income tax increase is disingenuous at best.”
State Rep. Al Riley (D-Olympia Fields) said the process now comes down to casting aside worries over what voters might remember when they next pull the ballot box lever.
* As for the cuts, Quinn already laid out a billion dollars in reductions last week, so it’s not clear to me if today’s announcement is for another billion or is just a retread of this. The press coverage indicates it’s a retread, which would mean today’s event is a complete fabrication…
$185 million: state operations
• 12 furlough days
• More than 1,600 layoffs for non-Department of Corrections staff
$140 million: Medicaid and health insurance
• Includes $100 million saved by moving Medicaid patients to managed care
$250 million: grants
• Cuts will be targeted to maximize federal matching funds
$175 million: education
• Maintains funding at fiscal 2009 levels and preserves all federal ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) funds
$125 million: Department of Corrections
• More than 1,000 layoffs of DOC personnel
$100 million: additional reserves
$25 million: other state offices, departments and agencies not under the governor
* Raw video of the governor’s press availability from yesterday…
* AFSCME spokesman offered up his union’s side to Fox Chicago this morning…
